Using Visual Editors and a Debugger on the EECS UNIX System

Below are brief instructions for the XEmacs and NEdit editors, as well as the ddd debugger. Of the two editors, NEdit is simpler and would be more familiar for those comfortable with an Intel-PC environment. XEmacs is more configurable and powerful, but also more complex.

NEdit

In a console window, type: nedit &

• File/Open to open a file. You can select directories and files using the left mouse button.
• Preferences/Highlight Syntax does syntax highlighting.
• Preferences/Statistics Line shows what line you are on
• Edit/Shift left and Edit/Shift right allow you to highlight a section of text and indent/exdent it.
• Search/Goto Line number allows you to jump to a particular line

NEdit has cut/copy/paste keys similar to MS Word, if you're familiar with those.

XEmacs

In a console window, type: xemacs &

• In the file open window, use the middle mouse button to browse through your file hierarchy to select a file to be opened.
• Under the Options menu select Syntax Highlighting. Select Automatic, as well as Colors and More. (Experiment with the settings here).
• Also under the Options menu select one of the options under Paren Highlighting.
• After you have made the above changes, choose Options/Save Options so you don't have to do them all over again the next time.
• Other things that will be useful:
  • Edit/Goto Line, and Edit/What line
  • Tools/Shell can be used to run commands from within the environment
  • Options/Size can be used to change the font size on the screen

I don't know how to select a region to be indented/exdented, but it wouldn't suprise me if it is in there somewhere.

ddd Debugger

• To use the debugger on a program, you must first compile with the -g option.
  For instance, if your source file is called program.c, then compiling would look like:
  

g++ -o program program.c -g 

• Choose File/Open to open a program that has been compiled with the -g option.
• First click on the left-hand margin of the line at which you want your program to pause.
• Then click on the "Break at ()" button on the command bar just below the text window.
• Then run your program by choosing the green Run button on the ddd execution menu that should be floating over your screen.
• At any point you can click on a variable name and choose the "Display ()" button on the command bar just below the text window, and the value of that variable will be displayed.

If you really want to understand how to use this, check out the gnu ddd debugger tutorial, which includes pictures.