What's STEAD :
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
"Sympathetic Tk-based Editor for Average Dummies" is a text-editor :
- handy : menus, mouse, key bindings, on-line help
- context dependant : menus are adapted to the file type (latex...),
- customizable : written in TCL , it allows easy customization
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Main caracteristics :
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
ATTENTION : need TK3.6 (nor yet ported for TK4.x)
EASY:
- multi-station UNIX : TCL is interpreted, so stead works without any
difference (other than speed) on SUN3, SUN4, HP-UX, and PC (UNIX BSD),
- on line help (but IN FRENCH),
- MACINTOSH-like conventions for selection and most functionalities,
- indentation and put into comment on sélection,
- current line printed every-time
- constant information about file state (saved or not)
- instant access to a given line en selecting its number even in another X
window (very useful when you ve got somewhere a compilation error, just click
on the line, go back to stead-window and it positions you on the error line!),
POWERFULL:
- you can pipe the selection through a UNIX filter (if you know a UNIX command
that STEAD does not support),
- researching and replacing with regular expressions
(line by line or globally),
- rectangular selection (handy for columns, for instance when you want to delete
or dupliquate symbols 5 to 10 of every line, manipulate pseudo-graphics
like mail-signatures, ...) (Hit for select a rectangle)
- UNDO (and REDO): multi-level and optional,
- modes gestion (particularly LATEX-mode), with, usually two or three
specifical menus per mode:
- menu including commands making compilation easy
- menu Template making edition of text easy in the specific mode
Example : menu "Template/environnement/tabular..." of LATEX mode;
navigation (circular) between fields,
- menu (name depending of the mode) allows easy navigation
in the file, accessing directly to a C "function" declaration,
to a "procedure" or "function" in pascal, to a "chapter",
"section", "subsection", etc... in latex, a "module" in Verilog...
- dynamic aliases (on words already written),
- static alias (research in dictionnary) mode sensitive (used by templates),
- you have also direct access to procedure on keyboard,
CONFIGURABLE:
- menu customization of colors, fonts, geometry,
- customizable in langage TCL : add menu, change bindings,
create new procedures... (look at the existing and commented exemples),
- possibility of creating new modes
SO WITH STEAD YOU CAN, FOR EXAMPLE:
- copy with a click on mouse button number 2 (X convention) but you can also
scroll with a drag on the same button (tk convention)
- converts ends of Macintosh lines in end of unix lines:
menu "Format/unix pipe..." hit tr \015 \012
- look after start of lines or end of lines like vi (chars ^ and $)
- replace one or more empty lines by only one ("\n+" by "\n"),
- deleting the 100 first pages of a postscript file you had almost
printed (see on-line help),
- insert 64 times the line "foo" by enter the command "ins foo\n 64"
- generates lines foo80, foo78, ...foo2 whith the command:
for {set i 80} {$i <= 2} {incr i -2} {ins foo$i\n}
- cut columns, manipulate pseudo-graphics (signatures)
- see the whole file plan (sections, sub-sections of a latex file and
move cursor position in it, with a simple mouse click)
- preview a latex formula or figure without having to compile all the file
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Limits :
^^^^^^^^
Main limit is the relative low speed for some functions for big files
(>100k) : Stead is entirely interpreted and we didn't try to optimize it.
STEAD is not (yet) multi-buffer: if you reedit the same file in another
window, you have to manage youself (le risque d'incohérence ????)
This editor (alpha version) is still being developped at ENSTA/LEI
(ENSTA is a french engineer school in Paris) by Christian ARTIGUES
(PHd student) and Maurice DIAMANTINI (engineer).
For lack of time we may not be able to improve stead a lot, but every
remark is wellcome (critics suggestions, needs, tricks... and every
contribution too!).
- on the newsgroup "ensta.babasse",
- or by mail at: diam@ensta.fr
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Installing STEAD on a new site
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
You can get it at :
http://www.ensta.fr/~diam/tcl/stead/distrib/
#################### This is out of date ###################
# Uncompress and untar the file stead-num-version.tar.gz hitting :
#
# gunzip stead-version.tar.gz
# tar xvf stead-version.tar
#
# THIS SCRIPT MANDATORILY NEEDS THE TK INTERPRETER "WISH"
# by default on:
#
# wish3.6
#
# - IF wish is not installed on your site, THEN you can (must))
# take it in your local mirror, the french one is
# ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/tcl/distrib/tk3.6.tar.gz
# ftp://ftp.ibp.fr/pub/tcl/distrib/tcl7.3.tar.gz
# (original site is ftp.cs.berkeley.edu)
#
# - IF wish is installed on your site, but its path is not
# /usr/local/bin/wish, THEN modify the first line of stead
# #!/usr/local/bin/wish -f
# and adapt it to your own path for wish
#
# The name of directory STEAD/, and of executable STEAD/stead
# can be renamed as you wish, but not the other files,
# nor the sub-directories STEAD/...
# by default it could be thing like :
# /usr/local/lib/tk/STEAD/stead)
#
# You may then create a "stead" link in /usr/local/bin/ that
# points at /usr/local/lib/tk/STEAD/stead
###########################################################################
CAUTION:
^^^^^^^^
Some functions may depend on the Unix programs of your own site, for example:
Menu Latex/latex File latex
Latex/bibtex File bibtex
Latex/xdvi File xdvi
Latex/dvips File dvips
Latex/ghostview File ghostview
Menu Format/fill sel fmt (it will be done in Tcl)
Menu Extra/Tkinspect tkinspect
###########################################################################
###########################################################################
Copyright et Co :
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^
STEAD (Sympathetic Tk-based Editor for Average Dummies)
Developped à :
ENSTA/LEI/AMD
Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Techniques Avancées
Laboratoire d'Électronique Informatique
groupe Architectures de Machines Dédiées
by : Christian ARTIGUES changing address
Maurice DIAMANTINI diam@ensta.fr
using:
- jedit editor of Jay Sekora, js@it.bu.edu
ftp://shore.net/members/js/js.html
and also stealing many ideas from:
- Alpha of Pete Keleher : LaTeX editor, etc...
(shareware 25$ for Macintosh)
pete@cs.rice.edu
- David C. Black for ElectricAlias, black@mpd.tandem.com+
- Beth of David Svobodasvoboda@ece.cmu.edu
- TkMan of Tom Phelps, phelps@cs.Berkeley.edu
- TkMail of Paul Raines, raines@bohr.physics.upenn.edu
- mxedit of Brent Welch, welch@parc.xerox.com
and NewsGroup community of : comp.lang.tcl
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