ale text editor

I recently had the opportunity to try out ale (Another Linux Editor), and overall, I was pleased with its functionality. Designed to work quickly and with a low overhead, ale is a small and efficient text editor with basic features for editing or creating config files and other text-based files. The editor also supports long line lengths up to 65535 characters, and the number of lines is limited only by available memory.

As expected, ale offers basic text editing functions such as a simple search function and goto line option. However, it's important to note that ale is not meant to be an IDE or to parse regex expressions. Instead, it emphasizes speed and simplicity for text-based tasks.

One positive feature of the latest release is that it fixes many bugs and adds alternate commands for more convenient usage. For instance, the input routines have been rewritten to handle key combinations more reliably. As a result, home and end keys no longer open the load file or save file dialogs. Additionally, ale now copies all of the marked areas, and the math for copy pointers has been fixed for improved accuracy.

Interestingly, ale also has the ability to adjust to the current terminal size, fixing an unhandled exception error that would occur if a terminal window was too small. Furthermore, the editor no longer requires the installation and running of gpm.

Overall, while ale may not be suitable for everyone, it is a solid choice for anyone looking for a lightweight, efficient text editor that can handle basic editing functions with ease.