.. reproducible research tutorial file, created by ARichards

Editors
=======

What is a text editor?
-------------------------------

An editor is a `text editor <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Text_editor>`_ that is used to write computer code.  If you do not already have a favorite text editor we have created on :doc:`lpEdit <lpEdit>` as it was written by our team and designed exactly for the purposes of :doc:`literate programming <LiterateProgramming>`.  

If you are only interested in using R and :math:`\textrm{\LaTeX}` then install `RStudio <https://www.rstudio.com>`_.  Otherwise if you are looking for a bit more flexibility there are plenty of other editors out there.

Alternative editors that may be useful are the easy-to-use versions of `Emacs <http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/>`_.  For Windows and GNU/Linux this is `XEmacs <www.xemacs.org>`_ and in the OS X world it is `Aquamacs <http://aquamacs.org>`_.  There many are different editors available, just be sure that you understand the distinction between a text editor and a word processor before you select one.  XEmacs and Aquamacs are free, open-source, stable and have all the same shortcuts that Windows and OS X users are accustomed to.

If you have the time and patience the official version of `Emacs <http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/>`_, although more difficult to
use, is a more powerful text editor than the ported versions.  The other commonly used text editor that like Emacs requires a bit of a
learning curve is `Vim <http://www.vim.org>`_.

To use XEmacs
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

* Windows users `download XEmacs <http://www.xemacs.org/Download/win32/index.html#InnoSetup-Stable-Download>`_
* OS X users `download Aquamacs <http://aquamacs.org/download.shtml>`_
* Debian based distro users
    .. code-block:: none

      ~$ sudo apt-get install xemacs21

Documentation
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  * `XEmacs documentation <http://www.xemacs.org/Documentation/index.html>`_
  * For Aquamacs there is a manual in the ``Help Menu`` and a `wiki <http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/wiki/AquamacsEmacs>`_

Getting started
^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^^

To create a new file click on ``buffers``.  Then click on ``Go To Buffer`` and enter the file name.

Resources
^^^^^^^^^^^^^

  * `Wiki's Comparison of text editors <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_text_editors>`_