.. _editors:

=============================================================
Text editors
=============================================================

Leafpad
-------

A simple and lightweight editor, installed on the course VM.

To use it, click on the green leaf in the bottom menu, or at the bash
prompt::

    $ leafpad <filename>


gedit
-----

``gedit`` is a simple, easy-to-use text editor with support for syntax
highlighting for a variety of programming languages, including Python
and Fortran.  It is installed by default on most GNOME-based Linux
systems, such as Ubuntu.  It can be installed on the course VM via::

    $ sudo apt-get install gedit

NEdit
-----

Another easy-to-use editor, available from `<http://www.nedit.org/>`_.
NEdit is available for almost all Unix systems, including Linux and
Mac OS X; OS X support requires an X Windows server.

XCode
-----

XCode is a free integrated development environment available for Mac
OS X from Apple at
`<http://developer.apple.com/technologies/tools/xcode.html>`_.  It
should be more than adequate for the needs of this class.

TextWrangler
------------

TextWrangler is another free programmer's text editor for Mac OS X,
available at `<http://www.barebones.com/products/TextWrangler/>`_.

vi or vim
---------

``vi`` ("Visual Interface") / ``vim`` ("``vi`` iMproved") is a fast,
powerful text editor.  Its interface is extremely different from
modern editors, and can be difficult to get used to, but ``vi`` can
offer substantially higher productivity for an experienced user.  It
is available for all operating systems; see `<http://www.vim.org/>`_
for downloads and documentation.  

A command line version of ``vi`` is already installed in the class VM.

emacs
-----

``emacs`` ("Editing Macros") is another powerful text editor.  Its
interface may be slightly easier to get used to than that of ``vi``,
but it is still extremely different from modern editors, and is also
extremely different from ``vi``.  It offers similar productivity
benefits to ``vi``.  See `<http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/>`_ for
downloads and documentation.  On a Debian or Ubuntu Linux system, such
as the class VM, you can install it via::

    $ sudo apt-get install emacs