Introduction to the UNIX Operating System * Pima Community College * CSC137 -- 4.3 Editor 1

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4.3 Editor 1 - About Me

Text editing is a required tool for computer users. It is worth spending the time to select a text editor that will help you get the most effective use of your time. All UNIX systems have ed (or ex) and vi text editors. Many will have emacs, pico, and xedit. All text editors have their place. Some are better for specific applications than others. Some require more resources to run. ed requires very little. emacs and xedit require the most. In this lab use pico, xedit or a different UNIX editor. pico and xedit each have (for me) a simple and easy-to-learn user interface. These editors are the easiest to use. ex (or ed) are line oriented text editors that I find difficult to use.

ed is a line-oriented text editor. It looks a lot like ex, another line oriented text editor. It is the basis for the vi text editor. It can be used from any terminal. (Do you still use a KSR-33?) If you need to set up a system or an account but cannot get a full screen editor to work, you may need to use ed. However, it is likely that just issuing one command (setenv TERM vt102) can get a full-screen editor to work. For the most part, you will want to use a full-screen text editor such as vi, pico, xedit, or emacs. You can use all of the ed commands in vi, so it can be a good place to start.
vi is one of the first full-screen text editors. I have been told that the author of vi now uses emacs. emacs and pico may not be on your system though. So initially you may need to use vi until you can locate an easier-to-use full screen editor. vi has various modes. Which mode you are in does not always show on the screen. It can be confusing to use. The system administration command vipw, used to edit the password file /etc/passwd, initially uses the vi text editor. elvis is a "clone" of vi.
pico is a small, simple, easy-to-use, text editor. It does not have a lot of fancy features. It is always in insert mode. There are two lines of help information at the bottom of the screen. It does not handle large (multiple megabyte) files very well. It is available off of the Internet for free. Installing pico is fairly easy.
emacs is a very capable text editor, and very large. On the gort system the emacs executable (1.8 Mbytes) is more than 14 times as large as the pico executable (.13 Mbytes). emacs does a lot of things very well. The full (free) distribution takes about 40 Mbytes on most systems. For documentation there are books, a tutorial, and an on-line (in emacs) hypertext manual.
xedit is a "simple" text editor. It requires an X-11 system (from MIT) to run. So, the text editor may be simple, but the support needed is substantial. At Pima Community College we currently have no X terminals available for students.

Please do the following:

Log on to a UNIX system.
Create, using the UNIX editor of your choice, a file with the following information about yourself. Place each of the first 4 items on separate lines. After the first 4 items, skip a line and enter a 5 to 10 line paragraph about yourself. Include your interests and why you are taking this class. Use the file name about.me
```
Your-full-name
day and month of your birthday NO year needed
My favorite color is color
My least favorite color is  color
 
A paragraph - 5 to 10 lines about 
yourself and/or your interests.
```
Print out the file about.me
gort:~> lpr about.me
Log off
gort:~> exit

Turn in the printout from step 4.3 marked as follows:

Your-name
TABER CSC137
Lab 4.3: Editor #1 - About Me

Place the lab in the instructor hand-in box in BUS R6E, the "terminal room".

Instructor: ltaber@pima.edu** Red's Home page** The Pima College Site