Java™ Application Development on Linux®

Chapter 2. An Embarrassment of Riches: Editors

Here the joys of creating and changing text files are introduced, the rudiments of the venerable vi editor are presented, and the power of text is exalted.

What You Will Learn

Readers are encouraged, but not required, to plumb the depths of vi. Other text editor choices are briefly covered.

Remember our recommendation: If you learn only one shell, learn bash. If you learn only one editor, learn vi. Some basic shell scripting will go a long way to eliminating mundane, repetitive tasks. Some basic vi editing will let you do things much faster than you can with GUI editors.

Eye to Eye with vi

Java programs consist of Java classes. Java classes are text files with Java statements and expressions. In order ...