Red (also known as AppleRed) is no-frills unicode-capable
modeless (and colourless) text editor with a simple implementation
that can be customized using the redscript language (a Lisp-like
notation). Its underlying capabilities can be straightforwardly
extended using scala. It has no pretensions to being an
all-encompassing workplace, and unlike many IDE and modern editors
does not confuse its user by spontaneously trying to be helpful:
everything it does it does in response to user input from mouse,
pad, or keyboard.
Red comes equipped with configuration facilities that make working with a
wide range of unicode characters straightforward. Configurations may
include mnemonic abbreviations for character sequences that include unicode
symbols. For example (material to the right of # is a comment):
UI:abbrev "exists" "\u2203" # ∃
UI:abbrev "notexists" "\u2204" # ∄
UI:abbrev "~∃" "\u2204" # ∄
UI:abbrev "in" "\u2208" # ∈
UI:abbrev "notin" "\u2190" # ∉
UI:abbrev "<-" "\u2190" # ←
UI:abbrev "lb" "pound"
UI:abbrev "lbs" "pounds and pounds"
When the abbrev key (often ESC) is pressed at the right of a
mnemonic in text, that mnemonic is replaced by the corresponding
character (sequence).
They may also bind specific keystrokes to actions that insert
character sequences that include unicode symbols. For example,
this (perhaps-eccentric) declaration binds ALT, and ALT-SHIFT
of the up, down, left, and right keys to various unicode arrows.
(UI:keys
("LEFT(SA)" ↦ (insert "⇐"))
("RIGHT(SA)" ↦ (insert "⇒"))
("LEFT(A)" ↦ (insert "←"))
("RIGHT(A)" ↦ (insert "→"))
("UP(SA)" ↦ (insert "⇑"))
("DOWN(SA)" ↦ (insert "⇓"))
("UP(A)" ↦ (insert "↑"))
("DOWN(A)" ↦ (insert "↓"))
)
The following declarations bind ALT variants of some ordinary keys
to unicode characters.
(ALTS: "," "←" "≤") # map ALT "," to "←" and ALT-SHIFT "," to "≤"
(ALTS: "." "→" "≥")
(ALTS: "1" "⇓" "⇑")
(ALTS: "6" "↓" "↑")
(ALTS: "7" "∧" "∨")
(ALTS: "o" "∘" "•")
(ALT: "A" "∀")
(ALT: "E" "∃")
(ALT: "Z" "↯")
Red was designed to work comfortably with Latex/Xelatex manuscripts,
and to that end implements single-click actions that make the flow
of work in producing, typesetting, and proofreading such manuscripts
straightforward.
It also comes equipped with actions to support convenient selection and
motion of nested \begin-\end blocks.
Markdown manuscripts are also straighforward to work with; though the varieties of markdown-like manuscript languages and dialects means that some local configuration may be necessary in order to work with a particular dialect.
Bernard Sufrin
Oxford, May and December 2022