Re: [MacPerl] Editors

[Fred Terry <pfterry@cadence.com>]

At 12:16 PM +0000 7/28/98, Jay Bedsole--replying to Vicki--wrote:
> Even cooler; Alpha can use a MacPerl script as a built-in filter
> to operate on whatever text you choose. I've added a number of
> filters. For instance, one can strip HTML tags from text (sure, I
> could have a droplet to do this, but with this filter I can select
> a portion of text within Alpha and only operate on this). Other
> more esoteric filters that I've built can transform non-standard
> file formats into standard ones, synchronize embedded data in
> multiple HTML files, sort data in files based on crazy, non-
> standard criteria, perform search and replace operations that are
> just not possible with regex, count "objects" like variables or
> HTML tags, generate CRCs, yadda, yadda, yadda.
>
> Trying to avoid evangelical opinions, I'd be interested in the
> honest assessments of people who have tried and evaluated both.
> This might be useful to others contemplating which editor to get...
>
> ...me, I just want to feel good about my choice! [wink]

I think your comment about MacPerl feeling like a "plug in"
for Alpha is pretty accurate. I'm a licensed BBEdit user and
have used it with the MacPerl plug ins. I *really like* BBEdit.

But recently when I was trying to develop some scripts for
the office, I found myself using Alpha more and more. The
scripts began under xemacs on my Sparc at the office, and I wanted
to work on them at home (well, on the deck, and I knew the
workstation wouldn't balance on my knees). I found Alpha
to be closer to my emacs experience. In particular, I noticed
this when I was running the Perl debugger. I kept trying to
switch back to BBEdit, but when I was running the debugger,
BBEdit never brought MacPerl to the front so I could step
through the script.

Now I can easily attribute this to pilot error. After all,
I was under the gun, and when I found something that worked,
I was less motivated to change things. Since I've completed
the first pass on the scripts, I've attempted to work with
BBEdit and MacPerl, but still haven't figured it out.

In BBEdit's favor, you can use the MacPerl plug ins to run
Perl scripts in it, though I haven't tried the kinds of
things you have.

What would be really cool would be to use the Perl debugger
in your Alpha window with the appropriate line being
highlighted as you step through the script. But I still
have emacs on my workstation for this.

pf

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