The below is a a long winded path to the question, "What is the killer
feature of SPF/PRO?"
Secondary question, "Have you tried 'The Hybrid Editor XE'? If so, how
did you like it?"
https://github.com/sakachin2/XE
Warning!!! Reading below this line is known to cause drowsiness.
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
This might be a bit of a ramble. Please forgive me. You see, I don't
have a lot of people to talk to about my favorite editor :)
One of my favorite techie jokes:
Q: VI or EMACS?
A: SPF of course!
I started using SPF with SPF/PC 2.0. At least I think it was called
SPF/PC at the time. I got it from a dodgy floppy before I was
introduced . It wasn't until some time later I bought a license. This
was shortly after DBASE IV came out. I used it as the editor in dbase
and as my primary editor in msdos. A friend and I wrote a program to
manage a football pool in dbase and ran it for 15 or so years. As time
and OSs went on I started running it in dosbox or dosemu+freedos. Both
dbase and spf/pc run fine in either. I didn't like the newer versions
enough to switch but I would search to see if there was a free spf like
editor every few months until I found The Hybrid Editor XE in about
2004, which is a multi platform, reasonably actively maintained, SPF
editor I believe that can be configured to match most people's preferences.
Oh, did I mention it's multi platform? List of some of the platforms it
is known to run on. Some of these may no longer get updates but the last
version for that platform should still work:
msdos, freedos, OS2, AIX, Linux, Windows(if memory servers, I've run
this on everything from win95 to win10, Android, I don't see links for
all versions. Might need to contact the creator if you would like to
know it if will run on your plat form of choice.
It doesn't support rexx or creating panels like ispf but for home use
that's not an issue for me. The editing environment, once configured, is
so very similar to what I use at work, that none of the 20 or so spf
like editors I've tried come close. I think I've tried just about all
of them.
"XE" has been very solid in experience over the years. There were a few
times where there were issues when a new version came out but Sakachin(I
believe that's the creator's name), has been very quick to squash bugs
when reported. There was one time where the new version had a feature I
wanted to use but I couldn't get it install in linux for a couple of
weeks until a bug was fixed. But even in that case it wasn't an issue
because the windows version runs perfectly in wine.
He's also quick to respond with either a reason he can't take your very
fins suggestion or with a new version when he does take them. Going from
memory, I recommended he release under a free software license, add
crosshairs, and consider making an android version. And, if I'm not
mistaken he'd implemented each of those, at different time, within about
3 months. Oh, and he moved to git soon after I suggested he look into
that rather than geocities japan after a guy at work told me he didn't
feel comfortable OKing installing sometime from geocities :)
There are only a few things I wish were different.
1. It's a bit of a pain to configure until you learn the tricks. I
suspect this alone might put some people off because it's a bit 'funky'
out of the box. I should probably create a doc or video containing those
tricks. Maybe some sample config files for people to use, too. Note:
I've been saying that for about 10 years!
2. It would be great if it supported rexx and ispf like panels. I
suspect this will not happen. I did ask the creator about this. I forget
exactly what he said but sometime about there being other ways to
accomplish those kinds of tasks. I tend to agree since I've found
alternatives when I needed.
3. I guess there's only 2 I can think at the moment.
Jason Dodd
----------------------------------------------------------------------
For IBM-MAIN subscribe / signoff / archive access instructions,
send email to [email protected] with the message: INFO IBM-MAIN
