nick said on Tue, 12 Nov 2024 12:00:32 +1100

>As part of my efforts I eventually discovered PMATE is a TECO clone
>(this was not at all obvious even though it occasionally appears on
>lists of TECO implementations). So I tried several unix/linux TECO
>implementations. Unfortunately I could not get my head around these
>due to the very confusing way that the console and the instant
>commands work in real TECO, basically rough edges becuase TECO was
>originally a line editor in the same way as vi is a graphical shell
>around ex. Coupled with the differences in the Q and X command sets
>between PMATE and TECO I never felt comfortable in real TECO. But the
>scripting language which you say is dangerous, is perfect for small
>editing tasks. It is a terse write-only language specialized for
>editing text and lets you quickly perform complex repetitive tasks.

If my memory is correct there was one huge difference between ex and
TECO. Ex showed you the line you were on, and could be made to show you
a screenful of lines in a row. From what I remember while watching my
mentor use TECO, it displayed nothing, so you needed to keep a mental
map of the document, navigate the map keeping track of where you were,
make your changes, and add the changes to your mental map. My mentor
was a genius but I'm not smart enough to operate that way.

I would have absolutely no problem using ex the way you describe using
TECO, because I could do it interactively once, write down the steps,
and make a program out of it.

SteveT

Steve Litt

http://444domains.com