I'm always interested to hear opinions from Acme/Sam users. While these "editors" have some unique features, don't you find annoying the lack of basic code completion and syntax highlighting?
Don't you find annoying the lack of built-in file browser and powerful regex-based transformation language?
Don't you find annoying the lack of quick access to search/navigate/execute/copy-paste mechanics via mouse click?
In Acme, all text is hypertext. The difference between Acme and previous generation editors (Vim, EMACS etc.) is like between The Web and a library of paper books.
> Don't you find annoying the lack of quick access to search/navigate/execute/copy-paste mechanics via mouse click?
Yes, which is why I've written some acme emulation for vim twice. (Incidentally, I was working on that yesterday before this link was posted: https://github.com/fmoralesc/plan9-for-vimspace I have to improve the button 2 functionality, and chords are still not supported, but I'm on it. A plumbing system is planned, although I'm not sure if its best to reuse plan9port's plumber or reimplement it.)
> In Acme, all text is hypertext.
Exactly. Which is why, even though I am a serious vim junkie, I love acme so much.
Not at all. I find syntax highlighting awful for actual programming (it's sort of useful for the first few days of learning a new language). It makes code less readable, and encourages some of the worst practices of programming. People have written tons about this. At its best, it's a crutch.
I think code completion is more of a mixed bag. It's useful when you're stuck in ugly environments with FrameworksAndLibraries[withFunctionsLikeThese], but I just avoid those environments.
Also, people have built external commands that do code completion. They're not as nicely integrated, but could be improved enough to be quite comfortable, if that's what you're after. (syntax highlighting couldn't ever really work in acme or sam)
