SlickEdit and Emacs

Posted on 24 Jun 2009

Everyone has their favorite code editor. Different editors suit different needs, but I personally like two of them currently: SlickEdit and Emacs. Both are extremely flexible and efficient editors offering:

The big difference between SlickEdit and Emacs is that SlickEdit is commercial software and Emacs is open source. If you are on a budget Emacs is a good solution and also lets you run the editor from a console (emacs -nw), which is handy.

If you go down the Emacs road you will need a little configuration. Below is a minimal set of settings I often use. Pick and choose, and then place these in your .emacs file (in your home directory on Linux, or in your Application Data folder on Windows).

;; ~/.emacs
;;

(custom-set-variables
  ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
  ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
  ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
  ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(inhibit-startup-screen t)
 '(tool-bar-mode nil)
 '(transient-mark-mode t))

;; Resize window on load
(setq initial-frame-alist
      `((left . 0) (top . 0)
        (width . 100) (height . 60)))

;; Common User Access - Ctrl-X/C/V
(cua-mode)

;; In every buffer, the line which contains the cursor will be fully
;; highlighted
(global-hl-line-mode 1)

;; Prevent Emacs from making backup files
(setq make-backup-files nil) 

;; for emacs to insert spaces instead of tab chars
(setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil);

;; bind macro recording
(global-set-key [f7] 'start-kbd-macro)
(global-set-key [f8] 'end-kbd-macro)
(global-set-key [f9] 'call-last-kbd-macro)

;; scroll two line at a time with mouse scroll wheel, no acceleration
(setq mouse-wheel-scroll-amount '(2 ((shift) . 2) ((control) . nil)))
(setq mouse-wheel-progressive-speed nil)

;; column numbers
(setq column-number-mode t)

;; format title bar to show full path of current file
(setq-default frame-title-format
   (list '((buffer-file-name " %f"
             (dired-directory
              dired-directory
              (revert-buffer-function " %b"
              ("%b - Dir:  " default-directory))))))) 

;; allow use of the x-windows clipboard
(setq x-select-enable-clipboard t)
(setq interprogram-paste-function 'x-cut-buffer-or-selection-value)

;; ruby                                                                         
;; based on http://www.rubygarden.org/Ruby
;; /page/show/InstallingEmacsExtensions  
;;                                                                              
(add-to-list 'load-path "~/.emacs.d/site-lisp/ruby")

 (autoload 'ruby-mode "ruby-mode"
     "Mode for editing ruby source files")
 (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.rb$" . ruby-mode))
 (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.rhtml$" . html-mode))
 (add-to-list 'interpreter-mode-alist '("ruby" . ruby-mode))
 (autoload 'run-ruby "inf-ruby"
     "Run an inferior Ruby process")
 (autoload 'inf-ruby-keys "inf-ruby"
     "Set local key defs for inf-ruby in ruby-mode")
 (add-hook 'ruby-mode-hook
     '(lambda ()
         (inf-ruby-keys)))
 ;; If you have Emacs 19.2x or older, use rubydb2x                              
 (autoload 'rubydb "rubydb3x" "Ruby debugger" t)
 ;; uncomment the next line if you want syntax highlighting                     
 (add-hook 'ruby-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)