[conspire] ed(1) book

[Michael Paoli]

Wow, ... I mean, *and entire book*, on ed?
I mean *maybe* if it includes a full well annotated history of its
development, including not only full source, but version control with
details on all the changes, ... *maybe*, but ... an entire book?

Well, okay, "only" 104 pages, and only $9.99 (unless one gets the
Manly McManface Edition), that's semi-reasonable.  But still.

ed(1) is highly comprehensible, albeit a bit terse.  I learned ed
from the man page (and of course some practice) - knowing vi and/or
ex helps, but not a requirement.  And, ... the man page for ed(1), let's
see ... 7th edition Unix ... 5 ... yes only *5* pages!  So, ... 5 pages,
very good (but a bit dated - but hey, it's not changed much) reference
on ed - pretty much all one needs to know, ... or $9.99 for a 104 page
book.  Hmmm.  Oh, let's see, ... nice current man page on ed ...
(yes, of course I have ed(1) installed) ... ugh, GNU, not a proper
man page ... egad, GNU takes 1,106 lines to cover it - that's about
17 pages.  Bloated, okay, but still, more concise than 104 pages.
Okay, so I've not read the book, maybe it makes for excellent reading.
Maybe lots of history/entertainment in there too?

Oh, back with UNIX Version 7 ... the original definition for
regular expressions at least in that version? ... all also contained within
the mere *5 pages* that fully describes ed - *and* regular expressions.
Everything else in UNIX Version 7 that used regular expressions referred
to ed(1) as the base reference definition, and if it deviated (e.g.
egrep), it explained how it differed (what it added or removed, or
how it was slightly different than the reference regular expression
definitions given within ed(1).

But hey, maybe it's time ed(1) get its very own book!  :-)

Heck, I could do a (short) book just on vim(1) annoyances -
nvi for the win! (nvi is the vi on BSD).

https://web.archive.org/web/20170601064537id_/http://plan9.bell-labs.com/7thEdMan/v7vol1.pdf


> Date: Sat, 21 Apr 2018 02:03:33 -0700
> From: Rick Moen <rick at linuxmafia.com>
> To: conspire at linuxmafia.com
> Subject: [conspire] nixCraft Linux / UNIX Newsletter
> Message-ID: <20180421090333.GA15469 at linuxmafia.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8
>
> Very droll.  More at the cyberciti.biz link.
>
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> Hacks, Tutorials, And Ideas In Blog Format" -----
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> [RSS/Feed] nixCraft: Linux Tips, Hacks, Tutorials, And Ideas In Blog Format
>
> ///////////////////////////////////////////
> Book review: Ed Mastery
>
> Posted: 01 Apr 2018 02:09 AM PDT
> https://www.cyberciti.biz/reviews/book-review-ed-mastery/
>
>
> ed is a powerful line text editor for the Linux and Unix-like systems.
> It was one of the first standard Unix text editor developed in 1969 by
> Ken Thompson. Much older and legacy Unix like system only shipped with
> ed for the rescue purpose. There was no vi. So learning ed might be a
> good idea. A low-level understanding of ed editor helps when one uses
> a high-level application such as vi or vim. The "Ed Mastery" book
> teaches you how to use the ed and forgotten art of Unix where the
> line-oriented paradigm is the only option. The author describe book
> as, "If you don't know ed, you're not a real sysadmin. Forty years
> after ed's introduction, author Michael W Lucas has finally unlocked
> the mysteries of ed for everyone. With Ed Mastery, you too can become
> a proper Unix sysadmin."
>
> The post Book review: Ed Mastery appeared first on nixCraft.