Ed Mastery

[ripe]

Ed Mastery
By Michael W Lucas

Mars 2018
ISBN-10 : 1642350036
ISBN-13 : 978-1642350036

Let me be perfectly clear: ed(1) is the standard Unix text editor. If you don’t know ed, you’re not a sysadmin. You’re a mere dabbler. A dilettante. Deficient.

Forty years after ed’s introduction, internationally acclaimed author Michael W Lucas has finally unlocked the mysteries of ed for everyone. With Ed Mastery, you too can become a proper sysadmin.

Ed Mastery will help you:
• understand buffers and addresses
• insert, remove, and mangle text
• master file management and shell escapes
• comprehend regular expressions, searches, and substitutions
• create high-performance scripts for transforming files

You must be at least this competent to use this computer. Read Ed Mastery today!

“I’m glad someone’s finally giving ed the attention it deserves.”
– Ken Thompson, co-creator of Unix

Ed Mastery

[ripe]

I discovered ed(1) by reading the topic Help with doas.conf OpenBSD 6.5 (thanks!).
Ed Mastery is a very good book to learn ed(1). Lucas explained very well how to use it: command, regex (regular expression), search, substitution, with scripting... step by step new informations are given to mastery ed, like this it is more easy to understand, it is uncomplexity. I know I have to pratice ed. Reading this book was an adventure I enjoy!
Like Ken Thompson said: “I’m glad someone’s finally giving ed the attention it deserves.”
Plus I like his writing style, his humor and his knowledge, I need another Lucas's books now ahah!!!

[frcc]

It does come in handy at times.
I find it installed in base systems almost always.
Back, in the day on many main frames, it was the "only" editor.
It does stimulate the brain, in that it does make thinking ahead a bit of a pleasure.
In addition it has a very small footprint.

[fvgit]

I haven't read the book, but I've become a big fan of ed for the simple fact that it's included in the OpenBSD base system and that it allows you to perform scripted file edits. I wasn't aware that you can do that until I came across this blog post by solene@ which pointed me in the right direction:
https://dataswamp.org/~solene/2018-1...n-diff-ed.html
Since then ed has become my favourite system administration tool. I make heavy use of it in my now 2500 line long /install.site

Let's look at a typical novice's session with the mighty ed:

golem$ ed

?
help
?
?
?
quit
?
exit
?
bye
?
hello?
?
eat flaming death
?
^C
?
^C
?
^D
?

---

Note the consistent user interface and error reportage. Ed is generous enough to flag errors, yet prudent enough not to overwhelm the novice with verbosity.

https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.html

[frcc]

One of my favorite quote's from https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.html
"Ed is for those who can remember what they are working on."


But Seriously!
My 2 cents
Ed facilitates and enhances the ability of one to "focus" on the "line" of code they are working on!

Back in the day - When ANSI certifying Power Plant Simulation Code Response to a multitude of failure testing, I thought Ed was superb for that purpose.

(That was 25-30 yrs ago, don't know or care what they use today)

[ripe]

Originally Posted by frcc

It does stimulate the brain, in that it does make thinking ahead a bit of a pleasure.
In addition it has a very small footprint.

Yes!
Cool!

fvgit, this quote is funny ahah!!!

[scottro]

Mike Lucas. $5.00 (many bills right now so can't give extra appreciation donation but)

Already downloaded. Thanks, as always. Mr. Lucas.

[Omphalotus_japonicus]

I read a document of this book a while ago as an introduction to the ed(itor), and I thoroughly enjoyed reading it, especially in a world where most manuals aren't fun to read, for whatever reason. I still actively use ed for text editing, as the inherent challenge that comes with it gives a sense of satisfaction--though I can't say it's very good for writing.

[scottro]

Yes, Mr. Lucas's books are always fun. For example, his list that starts with something Fight capitalism and he decides to change it to Obliterate capitalism. (I might have it slightly wrong). And as the whole book is saying, those newbies who need a terminal or newbie hand-holding with vi.
Honestly, I'm impressed that you use ed. A lot of his book shows that it many ways, the syntax of commands and search is much like vi, but of course, only one line at a time. Vs. vim.
For example, the other day I did an install of almalinux. Its default vimrc is so full of tricks, I found it almost unusable. For example did a word search, find the word, hit escape and it goes back to line one of the file. (Finally just renamed its global vimrc to VIMBS and then I could work with it.)
Sorry, just wanted to complain. Anyway, to go return from my fun (for me) digression, I agree it's not very good for writing, but youi should be proud of youirself that you use it. I'm impressed.

[bsdun]

Originally Posted by scottro

...
For example, the other day I did an install of almalinux. Its default vimrc is so full of tricks, I found it almost unusable. For example did a word search, find the word, hit escape and it goes back to line one of the file. (Finally just renamed its global vimrc to VIMBS and then I could work with it.)
...

I would be very interested in studying the contents of Almalinux vimrc. If you still have it, could you please attach it to a message or post it's contents here, or send me it in a private message?

[scottro]

Sure, I still have it saved as VIMBS. (I'm petty, that way), I'll post it for you shortly

[scottro]

Tried to attach it, but the forum told me it was invalid. (I suspect I did something wrong.)
I've uploaded it, you can get it from
https://srobb.net/almavimrc

[J65nko]

Originally Posted by scottro

Tried to attach it, but the forum told me it was invalid. (I suspect I did something wrong.)

The forum software foolishly insists that the attachments have an approved valid file extension.These are

bmp bz2 c cnf conf cpp css diff gif gz h hpp html
jpeg jpg patch pdf php pl png ps py rb sgml sh shar
svg t2t tar tbz tgz txt vim xcf xsl xslt xwd zip

IMHO this are clearly listed in the box "Attach files"

PS I downloaded the file, gave it the extension .txt and attached it without any problem .....

[scottro]

Like I said, I probably did something wrong, and sure enough I did. I didn't put a txt extension. In fairness to myself., it was just as easy to upload it to my website, so when it didn't upload, I just shrugged and uploaded. I didn't even look at the note about legit extensions.

[bsdun]

Quite interesting vimscript there, thanks!

[scottro]

My pleasure.