10.1 Introduction

The Functional Developer environment has a text editor that is specifically designed to make it easy to write and interact with your Dylan code. One of its most unique features is that it actually lets you compile selections of code as you develop your application. This is why we say the editor is interactive.

You can use the editor in one of two styles: Emacs or Windows. Using the editor options, as described in Appendix C, "Editor Options", you can choose from either an Emacs or Windows style keyboard layout and default settings.

The editor allows you to perform a wide range of operations by using menu commands, as well as keyboard commands. These operations range from simple tasks such as navigating around a file to more complex actions that have been specifically designed to ease the task of writing and working with Dylan code, such as compiling selected blocks of code, setting breakpoints, editing multiple sources, and browsing objects. You can do all of these things while your application is running.

This chapter describes the editor and gives you a general overview of how to use it. Some familiarity with Emacs and Windows usage is presumed.

While basic use of the editor is quite intuitive, by becoming familiar with the menus and options, you can more effectively use the editor to perform advanced operations.

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Getting Started with Functional Developer - 31 MAR 2000