Re: Documentation on supported line editor commands (the '∇-editor')

[Dr . Jürgen Sauermann]

    Hi Russ,
      
      the documentation strategy of GNU APL is to primarily document
      deviation from standards.
      The behavior of the ∇-editor is describer in the IBM APL2 language
      reference and a link
      to is is provided in README-7-more-info.
      
      Regarding APL new-comers, I believe they are far better off
      writing APL functions in text files.
      The old ∇-editor was only implemented for backward compatibility
      for people that are used to it.
    
    Best Regards,
    Jürgen

On 12/30/20 4:40 AM, Russtopia wrote:

The [GNU APL documentation][1] on the line editor seems to assume one already knows how to use it. I only see brief mention of what commands/syntax '... are not fully supported in GNU APL'.

I looked through the SVN trunk's various README- files and in doc/, but not exhaustively so my apologies if I missed the obvious.

Compare with the documentation of [Dyalog's APL ∇-editor][2], or [MicroAPL][3]. A succinct table of command syntax would be extremely useful to APL newcomers.

I'd be willing to prepare a patch to submit for the documentation if someone can point me to more resources.

(Related question: can GNU APL spawn an external editor specified by the user and use its resultant buffer as input? While nice, I'd still like to add documentation for the built-in editor).

Thank you,

-Russ

  [1]: https://www.gnu.org/software/apl/apl.html#Section-3_002e13
  [2]: https://help.dyalog.com/18.0/index.htm#Language/Defined%20Functions%20and%20Operators/TradFns/APL%20Line%20Editor.htm
  [3]: http://www.microapl.com/apl_help/ch_020_020_940.htm