wats1030-manipulating-text

An assignment based on editing text using command line text editors.

For this assignment, you must use three different text editors from the command line of your Digital Ocean Droplet. (You should still have the Droplet from the previous assignment. The instructions here will assume you are using an Ubuntu 14.04 server to complete this work.)

Pre-Requirements

In order to complete the Basic Requirements below, you will need to verify that all three editors are available to you. For this assignment you will need to complete the basic requirements in each of the three editors.

Nano

Nano is generally considered the easiest command line editor to use. There are only a few commands available and it is based on the editor that was included with the popular email software, Pine (which people used to use on Unix servers to check their email).

To check for nano, try to run it:

nano

If nano is not there, you can install it by running:

apt-get install nano

Emacs

Emacs was created with an eye towards "editor macros" (hence the name), and it remains strong with many macros available to tie emacs in to all sorts of systems and processes. It is a very flexible editor, with an idiosyncratic interface that is not like any other application.

To check for emacs, try to run it:

emacs

If emacs is not there, you can install it by running:

apt-get install emacs

Vi

Vi is a "mode-based" editor, meaning that it starts looking at files in "view" mode and you must switch into "interactive" mode to edit them. Vi is also designed to keep your fingers on the home row as much as possible, and fans of Vi love that they can use all sorts of keyboard shortcuts to navigate precisely within files. Like Emacs, Vi is not at all like any other text editor you've probably used.

Vi should be included in your system already, but you can check for it and install it just like the other packages. Check for it by trying to run it:

vi

If vi does not work, then install it:

apt-get install vi

Basic Requirements

Once you have all of your editors available on your Droplet, you can begin working on the tasks outlined below. There are three directories in this repo:

emacs/
nano/
vi/

You will work through this set of tasks in each of the three directories, allowing you to experience the differences between these three editors. Files have been copied into each directory already, so you have fresh files to work with in each directory. As you work through the tasks, be sure you are editing files in the correct directory.

Create a new file called unix_philosophy.txt and type in the text from the unix_philosophy.pdf file.
Open the file power_of_unix.html and remove all of the HTML tags. Save the file with a new filename: power_of_unix.txt. (Hint: You can zap those pesky comments with a "delete line" command in some editors...)
Open the file gancarz_unix_philosophy.txt and correct the typos of beautiflu and effishingly. Save and close the file when you're done.
Open the file 17_rules.txt and remove all of the bracketed footnote numbers left over from the copy/paste of text. (The footnote numbers look like this: [12]. They are sprinkled throughout the file. You could probably use some kind of search or find function to get them all...)
Update example.httpd.conf to have the following settings:

<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /www/unix
ServerName www.unix.com
</VirtualHost>

<VirtualHost *:80>
DocumentRoot /www/linux
ServerName www.unix.org
</VirtualHost>

In the short story "The Machine Stops" (contained in the the_machine_stops.txt file), the main characters are Vishta and Kuno. How many times does the word "Vishta" show up in the short story? How many times does the word "Kuno" show up in the short story? Add your word frequency counts to the wordFrequency.json in each of the working directories. (Be sure to count the unique the_machine_stops.txt file in EACH directory -- they are not the same!)
Create a file in the root of this repository (the same level as this README.md file) called favorite.md and write a statement about which editor you prefer. Be sure to discuss what you like and dislike about the editor, and give some sense of your evaluation compared to the other text editors you've tried in this project. (Obviously, you should use your favorite editor to create, edit, and save this file. Please also feel free to use Markdown formatting and links to enhance your text.)

Stretch Goals

Play Tetris in Emacs. Add a screenshot of you playing Tetris in Emacs to this repository (possibly using SCP to transfer the file, or uploading the file in another way).
How do you turn on line numbering in Vi? Emacs? (Type your answer here.)
Explore the Emacs file browser mode. Describe how it works here.