Edit text conveniently in a terminal window with Slap

Leaps and Bounds

Article from Issue 178/2015
Author(s):

The Slap editor supports easy navigation, even through large volumes of data, but the promising software has a couple of hiccups along the way.

The choice of text editors on Linux is seemingly infinite – whether for the terminal or with a sophisticated graphical user interface, you are likely to find the right tool for any application if you look hard enough. Although newcomers tend to choose intuitively usable programs like Nano [1] or Pico [2] if they need to edit text-based files at the command line, more experienced users may prefer versatile veterans like Vim or feature-rich classics like Emacs.

Migrating from one editor to another is not easy, mainly because the many keyboard shortcuts differ, stifling your ability to move between editors. The Slap [3] text editor is gathering a fan community rapidly by positioning itself precisely between the newcomer and professional editor camps. Instead of relying on many hotkeys, it uses mouse support and interacts with the Linux clipboard.

Young and Different

Slap is unusual in many respects. Whereas other programs in this field can look back on a long history and are typically the work of many individuals – or even whole communities – Slap is a one-man project by Dan Kaplun [4]. Unlike Nano, Vim, or Emacs, Slap is based on the JavaScript scripting language, which is more typically used for websites or web applications.

[...]

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