Ed Is The Standard Text Editor For Unix/Linux DistroTube
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Date: 2022-03-30
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Comments and reviews: 10
Dingo
My first line editor - after the punch cards - was I think 'ed'; Yr 11 at high school, 1977.
Later in the days of MS-DOS 2.0+ I learned 'edlin' which was essentially a DOS port of 'ed' and I wrote all my batch scripts and basic 16 bit C code in 'edlin'.
My first 'screen' editor was actually a DOS port of 'vi' and that was so great to use after making do with 'edlin'. When I first used Linux in the mid 1990's, I felt at home in 'vim'. Never did properly learn to use EMACS, though another DOS editor I used for work seemed based on it.
These days, I just use vim everywhere. It's pretty hard coded into the muscle memory.
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My first line editor - after the punch cards - was I think 'ed'; Yr 11 at high school, 1977.
Later in the days of MS-DOS 2.0+ I learned 'edlin' which was essentially a DOS port of 'ed' and I wrote all my batch scripts and basic 16 bit C code in 'edlin'.
My first 'screen' editor was actually a DOS port of 'vi' and that was so great to use after making do with 'edlin'. When I first used Linux in the mid 1990's, I felt at home in 'vim'. Never did properly learn to use EMACS, though another DOS editor I used for work seemed based on it.
These days, I just use vim everywhere. It's pretty hard coded into the muscle memory.
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rednight
The real vi shares it's code base with ed. Out of ed came sed, because people where using redirection to script ed so they made an easier way to do that. Also came as you pointed out grep. Then the Berekeley guys made an extended version of ed called ex, whic adds a lot of convenience functions. Then the visual mode was added to ex. This is vi. You can actually switch vi to ex mode and ex to vi mode. vi will also start in ex mode if your TERM variable is not set.
If you redirect your std output to some sort of line printer(e.g. a thrift shop dot matrix) suddenly line editors make a whole lot of sense.
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The real vi shares it's code base with ed. Out of ed came sed, because people where using redirection to script ed so they made an easier way to do that. Also came as you pointed out grep. Then the Berekeley guys made an extended version of ed called ex, whic adds a lot of convenience functions. Then the visual mode was added to ex. This is vi. You can actually switch vi to ex mode and ex to vi mode. vi will also start in ex mode if your TERM variable is not set.
If you redirect your std output to some sort of line printer(e.g. a thrift shop dot matrix) suddenly line editors make a whole lot of sense.
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Alexander
I see a trend developing, what ancient relics will DT cover next that no one uses any more. Why not go back to using the old Amdahl from the eighties, at least that would offer some sentimental value to me. Even that had more sophisticated editors than ed.
Hey, I even remember punch cards, although I am not that old to say they were in active use any more, but they were still lying around the labs everywhere. I had to go to the computer center to submit my jobs, and end up walking back with a big roll of paper of output, but no ed thankfully.
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I see a trend developing, what ancient relics will DT cover next that no one uses any more. Why not go back to using the old Amdahl from the eighties, at least that would offer some sentimental value to me. Even that had more sophisticated editors than ed.
Hey, I even remember punch cards, although I am not that old to say they were in active use any more, but they were still lying around the labs everywhere. I had to go to the computer center to submit my jobs, and end up walking back with a big roll of paper of output, but no ed thankfully.
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Rob
i found a real use for it. I am learning braille. I can't get out of vim from the braille terminal, because it uses an 8-dot keyboard. It's the closest thing to a text editor that works well with braille. (vim kind of works with a qwerty keyboard.). As for characters costing money.... A braille terminal is usually about 40 cells. $30/cell at least.
$600 for a 20 char term
$1400 for a 40 char term
$16000 for an 80 char term (!)
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i found a real use for it. I am learning braille. I can't get out of vim from the braille terminal, because it uses an 8-dot keyboard. It's the closest thing to a text editor that works well with braille. (vim kind of works with a qwerty keyboard.). As for characters costing money.... A braille terminal is usually about 40 cells. $30/cell at least.
$600 for a 20 char term
$1400 for a 40 char term
$16000 for an 80 char term (!)
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Chris
Thanks for the memories. Try editing code using a 110 baud ASCII teletype - you find out why ed is terse. Then came ex, and vi, and vim, and neovim - I'm on the latter now but no longer at 110 baud. Anyway, at my age I couldn't remember what's going on any more. An essential when using that kit, but better than patching your paper tape with a stick and some glue.
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Thanks for the memories. Try editing code using a 110 baud ASCII teletype - you find out why ed is terse. Then came ex, and vi, and vim, and neovim - I'm on the latter now but no longer at 110 baud. Anyway, at my age I couldn't remember what's going on any more. An essential when using that kit, but better than patching your paper tape with a stick and some glue.
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Micheal
ed reminds me of a DOS text editor program I used to use, RPED, which may have been related. In my 20+ years of using Linux, I have NEVER needed ed. I tried it out briefly, and gave up. It may have been necessary when output was printed on paper, but not needed now.
ed is just a historical curiosity now.
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ed reminds me of a DOS text editor program I used to use, RPED, which may have been related. In my 20+ years of using Linux, I have NEVER needed ed. I tried it out briefly, and gave up. It may have been necessary when output was printed on paper, but not needed now.
ed is just a historical curiosity now.
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Loren
Most of UNIX was actually written in ed. It's a perfectly capable text editor for almost anything you want to do. It just doesn't have all the bells and whistles we've all become used to, but it really does get the job done.
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Most of UNIX was actually written in ed. It's a perfectly capable text editor for almost anything you want to do. It just doesn't have all the bells and whistles we've all become used to, but it really does get the job done.
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Andy
Ed was for pussies! Real programmers used Teco - the editor where -every- keystroke did something. A keyboard smash could delete your whole file - or even all files on your system!
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Ed was for pussies! Real programmers used Teco - the editor where -every- keystroke did something. A keyboard smash could delete your whole file - or even all files on your system!
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Loren
ex was the new, improved ed and then vi was built on top of ex, which is, I assume, why you chose a colon for a prompt, to remind you of dropping to ex within vi.
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ex was the new, improved ed and then vi was built on top of ex, which is, I assume, why you chose a colon for a prompt, to remind you of dropping to ex within vi.
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replikvlt
DT did you know ed is one of editors that can work with files as bit as gigabytes (or more) in size. Ither editors, including vim would have shat themselves:)
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DT did you know ed is one of editors that can work with files as bit as gigabytes (or more) in size. Ither editors, including vim would have shat themselves:)
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