texteditor, C + Lua: Wordgrinder

[DiTBho]

"WordGrinder is a Unicode-aware character cell word processor that runs in a terminal. It is designed to get the hell out of your way and let you get some work done"

What do you think? 

It's written in C, starting from version v0.4 it requires Lua-v5.2. Previous versions require Lua-v5.1.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I've got Word, Notepad, Notepad++, Write, Wordpad. I see no point in yet another.

Seriously, for just banging out text, how does Word "get in the way"??

[DiTBho]

For Linux there are basically three classes of editors
- simple text, e.g. Nano, Vi, Emacs, Joe, Le, ... usually used to write code and simple documentation
- structured text, e.g. OpenOffice, AbiWord, ... usually used to write documents and manuals
- LaTex deserves  its own class ... you write code and the tool builds the document ... usually used to write thesis, books, scientific documents, very useful when combined with git, svn, ...

Wordgrinder is ... a weird program. It's looks simple text, but it's a bit structured, and it's written combining Lua scripts with C code.

[SiliconWizard]

"WordGrinder is a Unicode-aware character cell word processor that runs in a terminal. It is designed to get the hell out of your way and let you get some work done"

What do you think? 

Nothing much, I already have text editing tools that are completely fine, I don't need yet another. I don't need a text editor that is defined by its own author as "It is not a text editor."

But hey, whatever floats your boat!

[DiTBho]

I use Nano for everything. Bash scripts. Python scripts. C code. Rust code. LaTex documents. It's fine.

I use OpenOffice for fast documentation. When I need to open a program, to type something structured and to print it immediately on paper. If I have more time, and if the documentation needs more care (e.g. scientific articles), then I use LaTex, even because pictures are usually build by external tools, and I find boring to manually copy and place each of them in a OpenOffice document. With LaTek, you specify "external image", and the tool will include the pic in the right place. Better! A lot better!

I am learning Scribus and InkScape, but they are not ... "text editor" or "word processor" applications 

Two days ago I found a couple of ".wg" files in a customer' project. What's ".wg"? Never seen before
Google pointed me to "Wordgrinder", so I compiled it in order to read those files.


Now I have to decide if to delete it, or if to keep it 

[SiliconWizard]

To each their own, again.

I personally haven't used a console-based text editor in literally ages (very early nineties), except for the occasional editing of conf files or scripts on Linux if it's a quick job or if I am accessing a Linux box through SSH with no GUI. For that, I mainly use nano as well.

But for all other tasks, I use a GUI text editor with syntax highligting and "project" management (sets of files, etc.)

That said, when it comes to scripting, I like lua better than, say, LISP used in EMACS for instance.

[ejeffrey]

I kind of dig the concept... A terminal friendly word processor for people who really prefer text editors.  That said I grew up on wordstar for CP/M so non wysiwig text mode display word processors do appeal to my nostalgia.

But honestly it still isn't appealing enough for me to actually use.  Libre Office and Google docs are both fine as word processors for my needs and I am a lot less likely to have to tell someone how to handle some odd file format than with wordgrinder.

[JohnnyMalaria]

I used to use the T3 Scientific Word Processor on MS-DOS back in the late '80s and I've hated most text editors ever since

https://sci-hub.st/10.1021/ci00060a010

When one is starting to use the T3 word processor, the best policy is to forget everything about editing and text processing. Many of the most commonly used features (for example, starting with a new document, inserting and deleting characters) are used differently from what an experienced user would expect.

[emece67]

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[DiTBho]

Jedit isn't written in Java?

[fabiodl]

Emacs. Same editor for assembly/verilog/latex/c++/python, compilation in a buffer, inline graphs with ein, chat with erc, python prompt, shell, seamless remote editing and compilation with tramp, checking binary files with hexl-find-file, managing all the mail with notmuch, , calendar reminders, editing csvs with csv-mode, and all the things I don't recall because they became second nature.

[emece67]

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