2.5
Text Editors
Now that you've set up your computer and installed Perl, you
need to select and learn the basics of a
text editor. A text
editor is used to type documents, such as programs, and
to save the contents of those documents into files. So to write a
Perl program, you need to use a text editor. This can be a
medium-sized learning job if you have never used an editor before,
although some text editors are easy to learn. Here are some examples
of the most popular editors, arranged by operating-system type:
-
Unix or Linux
-
vi and emacs are complex
(but very good) editors. pico,
xedit, and several others
(nedit, gedit,
kedit) are easy to use and simple to learn but
less powerful. There is also a free, Microsoft Word-compatible editor
included in StarOffice (but be sure to save your files as ASCII or
text-only).
-
Macintosh
-
The built-in editor that comes with MacPerl is
fine. There is also a nice commercial editor called BBEdit that is
optimized for Perl, as well as a freeware version called BBEdit Lite.
You can also use the Alpha shareware editor or Microsoft Word (be
sure to save as ASCII text only).
-
Windows
-
Notepad works satisfactorily and may already be
familiar; Microsoft Word is also usable, but always save as ASCII or
text-only. Emacs on Windows is highly recommended for Perl
programming on Windows-based computers, but it's a little
complicated to learn. There are many other editors as well; I use a
free version of the Unix editor vi called
vim that has been ported to Windows.
Many other text editors are available. Most computers come with a
choice of several editors. (Many programmers try their hand at
writing an editor or extending an already existing editor at some
point in their careers, so the choices are truly legion.)
Some editors are very simple to learn and use. Others have a huge
variety of features, their own instruction books and discussion
groups and web sites and so on, and can take quite a while to learn.
If you're a new programmer, pick an easy one and save yourself
the headache. Later, if you feel adventurous, you can graduate to a
fancier editor with features that can speed your work. Not sure what
is available on your computer? Ask for help from a programmer or
another user, or consult the documentation that came with your
computer system.