SlickEdit
Encyclopedia
SlickEdit, previously known as Visual SlickEdit, is a cross-platform commercial source code editor
by SlickEdit, Inc. SlickEdit provides syntax highlighting
, code navigation and customizable keyboard shortcut
s. Versions from 2007 and later also support programmable code templates.
and OS/2
. Clark Maurer, currently CEO of SlickEdit Inc. (formerly MicroEdge Inc.), was employed at IBM
's Watson research lab. He was one of the developers of the internal IBM editor E
; this experience enabled him to quit IBM and begin development of the first SlickEdit releases.
At the beginning of the '90s, under DOS most editors were struggling with limitations of 16-bit address space or DOS memory handling (640k). SlickEdit's programmers found a way to overcome these limitations, with the result that SlickEdit could handle what were at the time "large" files of several megabytes in size.
As operating systems with graphical user interfaces became more popular, SlickEdit continued to produce versions of the program with high functionality and good usage.
s and file types, including e.g. C
, C++
, Java
, HTML
, PHP
, XML
, Windows
batch file
s, AWK, Makefiles or INI
files.
Some of these are only supported with syntax highlighting, such as Makefiles and INI
files. Like most other code editors, SlickEdit allows the user to add support for additional languages and to modify the way it operates on the ones listed above.
SlickEdit states to support 76 different encodings and to run on seven operating system
s, which are:
Until version 4.0b, SlickEdit supported the OS/2
operating system.
As the name suggests, the language resembles C, though it has some elements from REXX
(parse, substr, ...). The original author of Slick-C liked the string parsing features of REXX
and added similar features to Slick-C .
Source code editor
A source code editor is a text editor program designed specifically for editing source code of computer programs by programmers. It may be a standalone application or it may be built into an integrated development environment ....
by SlickEdit, Inc. SlickEdit provides syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting
Syntax highlighting is a feature of some text editors that display text—especially source code—in different colors and fonts according to the category of terms. This feature eases writing in a structured language such as a programming language or a markup language as both structures and...
, code navigation and customizable keyboard shortcut
Keyboard shortcut
In computing, a keyboard shortcut is a finite set of one or more keys that invoke a software or operating system operation when triggered by the user. A meaning of term "keyboard shortcut" can vary depending on software manufacturer...
s. Versions from 2007 and later also support programmable code templates.
History
SlickEdit began in 1988 as a character-mode editor for DOSDOS
DOS, short for "Disk Operating System", is an acronym for several closely related operating systems that dominated the IBM PC compatible market between 1981 and 1995, or until about 2000 if one includes the partially DOS-based Microsoft Windows versions 95, 98, and Millennium Edition.Related...
and OS/2
OS/2
OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
. Clark Maurer, currently CEO of SlickEdit Inc. (formerly MicroEdge Inc.), was employed at IBM
IBM
International Business Machines Corporation or IBM is an American multinational technology and consulting corporation headquartered in Armonk, New York, United States. IBM manufactures and sells computer hardware and software, and it offers infrastructure, hosting and consulting services in areas...
's Watson research lab. He was one of the developers of the internal IBM editor E
E (PC-DOS)
E is the text editor which was made part of PC DOS with version 6.1 in June 1993, and later with version 7 and PC DOS 2000. In version 6.1, IBM dropped QBASIC, which, in its edit mode, was also the system text editor...
; this experience enabled him to quit IBM and begin development of the first SlickEdit releases.
At the beginning of the '90s, under DOS most editors were struggling with limitations of 16-bit address space or DOS memory handling (640k). SlickEdit's programmers found a way to overcome these limitations, with the result that SlickEdit could handle what were at the time "large" files of several megabytes in size.
As operating systems with graphical user interfaces became more popular, SlickEdit continued to produce versions of the program with high functionality and good usage.
Supported languages and operating systems
SlickEdit lists around 60 supported programming languageProgramming language
A programming language is an artificial language designed to communicate instructions to a machine, particularly a computer. Programming languages can be used to create programs that control the behavior of a machine and/or to express algorithms precisely....
s and file types, including e.g. C
C (programming language)
C is a general-purpose computer programming language developed between 1969 and 1973 by Dennis Ritchie at the Bell Telephone Laboratories for use with the Unix operating system....
, C++
C++
C++ is a statically typed, free-form, multi-paradigm, compiled, general-purpose programming language. It is regarded as an intermediate-level language, as it comprises a combination of both high-level and low-level language features. It was developed by Bjarne Stroustrup starting in 1979 at Bell...
, Java
Java (programming language)
Java is a programming language originally developed by James Gosling at Sun Microsystems and released in 1995 as a core component of Sun Microsystems' Java platform. The language derives much of its syntax from C and C++ but has a simpler object model and fewer low-level facilities...
, HTML
HTML
HyperText Markup Language is the predominant markup language for web pages. HTML elements are the basic building-blocks of webpages....
, PHP
PHP
PHP is a general-purpose server-side scripting language originally designed for web development to produce dynamic web pages. For this purpose, PHP code is embedded into the HTML source document and interpreted by a web server with a PHP processor module, which generates the web page document...
, XML
XML
Extensible Markup Language is a set of rules for encoding documents in machine-readable form. It is defined in the XML 1.0 Specification produced by the W3C, and several other related specifications, all gratis open standards....
, Windows
Microsoft Windows
Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
batch file
Batch file
In DOS, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows, batch file is the name given to a type of script file, a text file containing a series of commands to be executed by the command interpreter....
s, AWK, Makefiles or INI
Initialization file
The INI file format is a standard for configuration files for some platforms or software. INI files are simple text files with a basic structure composed of "sections" and "properties"....
files.
Some of these are only supported with syntax highlighting, such as Makefiles and INI
Initialization file
The INI file format is a standard for configuration files for some platforms or software. INI files are simple text files with a basic structure composed of "sections" and "properties"....
files. Like most other code editors, SlickEdit allows the user to add support for additional languages and to modify the way it operates on the ones listed above.
SlickEdit states to support 76 different encodings and to run on seven operating system
Operating system
An operating system is a set of programs that manage computer hardware resources and provide common services for application software. The operating system is the most important type of system software in a computer system...
s, which are:
- AIX
- HP-UXHP-UXHP-UX is Hewlett-Packard's proprietary implementation of the Unix operating system, based on UNIX System V and first released in 1984...
- LinuxLinuxLinux is a Unix-like computer operating system assembled under the model of free and open source software development and distribution. The defining component of any Linux system is the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released October 5, 1991 by Linus Torvalds...
- Mac OS XMac OS XMac OS X is a series of Unix-based operating systems and graphical user interfaces developed, marketed, and sold by Apple Inc. Since 2002, has been included with all new Macintosh computer systems...
(current version uses X11, native version planned for 2012) - Microsoft WindowsMicrosoft WindowsMicrosoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...
- Solaris (SPARC and x86)
Until version 4.0b, SlickEdit supported the OS/2
OS/2
OS/2 is a computer operating system, initially created by Microsoft and IBM, then later developed by IBM exclusively. The name stands for "Operating System/2," because it was introduced as part of the same generation change release as IBM's "Personal System/2 " line of second-generation personal...
operating system.
Slick-C
Slick-C is the proprietary scripting language of the editor. Much of the editor is actually written in Slick-C, and all the Slick-C source code is included with the product. This means that the user can take a look at how things work and modify the behavior to suit her/his needs better.As the name suggests, the language resembles C, though it has some elements from REXX
REXX
REXX is an interpreted programming language that was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language that was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read...
(parse, substr, ...). The original author of Slick-C liked the string parsing features of REXX
REXX
REXX is an interpreted programming language that was developed at IBM. It is a structured high-level programming language that was designed to be both easy to learn and easy to read...
and added similar features to Slick-C .
Support
In addition to direct support for customers, SlickEdit also hosts a web forum where users can help one another.Criticisms
According to some, SlickEdit suffers from an overabundance of features. In a review of version 11 of SlickEdit, released in 2006, Tom Plunket wrote:Related products
- SlickEdit Plug-In: Integrates the SlickEdit editor for use in the EclipseEclipse (software)Eclipse is a multi-language software development environment comprising an integrated development environment and an extensible plug-in system...
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