ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED IN LIMA NEWSLETTER MAY 1993
 
          REVIEW OF PREDITOR   
          By:  Andy Frueh, Lima UG 
 
     TI-Writer was introduced by TI sometime in 1983.  At that time, it was the
only practical word processor.  I must admit, it is one of TI's better
programs.  Unfortunately, they left the market before they could upgrade it.
Funnelweb came along and totally redefined TI-Writer with tons of added
features and a new TI "environment".  I should also note that TI released a
program editor with the Editor/Assembler.  It is essentially a stripped down
version of TI-Writer. 
 
     About the same time as Funnelweb, a commercial company released Companion,
which was meant to be a totally new word processor.  It does not use D/V 80
files or operate in a way similar to TI-Writer.  Harrison software has also
released a new word processor. 
 
     But what about a utility to make editing PROGRAMS easier?  Or source files
to be compiled by one of the many language compilers we have (but seldom use)?
Most of the time, programmers use the enhanced TI-Writer found in Funnelweb for
editing/writing programs.  It is handy for Assembly programmers because it has
a mode which automatically checks for correct syntax, symbols, ect.  But what
about other languages?  Besides, TI-Writer can be improved beyond what we have,
right? 
 
     Enter PrEditor, a totally new (but TI-Writer compatible) editor.  It IS a
100% new program and borrows nothing from TI-Writer.  Of course whenever you
write a program intended to replace an already existing one, two things happen.
First, you create many useful features not found in the previous program, and
two, you invent all kinds of new annoyances. 
 
     Not that PrEditor is in any way a bad program.  If you mainly write and
edit program files, it is worth your looking into.  It does not make a good
replacement for a word processor.  In my opinion, its hang-ups make word
processing too laborous. 
 
     As is usual with reviews, I'll start with the strong points.  Believe me,
there are plenty.  First of all, this program is totally configureable.  There
is hardly one aspect of PrEditor you can't change.  By configure, I mean more
than colors.  You can do that of course, but also change things like the cursor
flash/repeat rate (handy for slow/fast typists), the number of characters it
will window to the right (pressing FCTN 5 or going off the 40 columns currently
on the screen), windowing up and down, and get this, you can even reselect
which keys perform which functions.  PrEditor uses FCTN/CTRL presses for most
of its functions instead of a command line like TI-Writer, so you may wish to
set the keys to your choice.  Ever thought CTRL 1 should be INSERT?  Now you
can do that. 
 
     There is one keypress I really like.  It will show you how many bytes are
left in memory.  No more guessing when the buffer is full. 
 
     This feature may be handy for those of you who need just a few extra K to
write good routines.  You may configure PrEditor to use an extra 4-8 K RAM,
such as is in the Mini Memory or a SuperCart.  As far as I know, there is no
support for the Super SuperCart (32K). 
 
     Sometimes when you use FCTN/CTRL 8 to insert lines in TI-Writer, you find
the operation is unpredictable.  I believe when you move up/down, you cancel
the insert line mode.  With PrEditor, you toggle between an insert line mode.
A status line gives info such as if you are in insert character or line modes,
as-is text mode (explained later), as well as which line you are on.  It also
tells you where your blocks are located (more on that later as well). 
 
     What is as-is mode?  Because of the large number of functions requiring
keypresses, you need to enter a seperate mode to enter control codes.  It is
roughly the equivalent of TI-Writer's Control U mode, and is described about as
well in the manual. 
 
     Instead of specifying line numbers for move, copy, and delete, you mark a
block of text.  Some argue that having to set up a block is extra work, but it
is handy if you want to copy from the middle of the fourth line to the second
word of the seventh line (for example).  A big plus, in my opinion. 
 
     Another neat-O feature of PrEditor is the fact that it will let you load a
second file into memory, provided that there is room.  You can swap information
freely from both files.  Further, if you leave the first file at line 2, column
2, enter the second file and edit it somewhere else, then return to the first
file, you will return where you left off when you entered into the second file.
In this example, if I stopped editing the second file somewhere in line 142, I
do not return to line 142 of the first file, I will return to line 2 column 2.
A good idea by programmer Tom Bentley. 
 
     How about its weak points?  There are a few, and as I said, they don't
really hamper the performance of PrEditor, but it would be nice if they got
corrected. 
 
     One of the biggest "bugs" is that if you have not typed anything to the
right of the cursor, you can't use FCTN D (or whatever you set as the right
arrow) to move over that direction.  You need to press the space bar. 
 
     I seem to hate the standard TI character set.  There is no neat "CHARA1"
type font with PrEditor.  If you load it directly from XB or the EA module, you
get the resident TI character set, complete with small capitals for lower-case.
Yuck. 
 
     You can split a line similar to TI-Writer's INSERT when in Word Wrap mode,
but there is no "reformat."  Your only other insert choice is the insert mode
similar to the one in TI-Writer in "fixed" mode.  This is when you have to be
sure you don't push your line past the 80 column margin, or it gets erased.  I
suppose it makes sense to not have a reformat key when writing program files.
It is a nightmare to see lines and lines of source code reformat into a single
giant paragraph.  However, it is unbearable to not have reformat if you are
attempting word processing.  The manual says that PrEditor is well-suited as a
word processor. 
 
     Another sore point is the lack of "Recover Edit".  You can purge, but it
only purges the file you are currently on.  The second file, if loaded, is
safe.  It is possible to load two identical files into each of the two buffers,
that way if you acciedently purge one, the other is still available.  However,
any changes you made to the purged file will still be lost. 
 
     If you can live with its few hang-ups, PrEditor is well worth asking
Asgard software about. 
.PL 1