sam.el: please don't laugh

[jrs@world.std.com (Rick Sladkey)]

Last summer I read the Plan 9 manuals out of curiosity.  I read about
Sam and was a little interested since `ed' was the editor of choice
when I started using Unix and Sam reminded me of `ed'.

During December, I got the idea to rewrite Sam from scratch to see
what it was really like.  Just from reading the manual page.  So I
cobbled together an emulation of Sam in Emacs Lisp over one weekend.
I was right about the similarity of Sam to `ed' and I sort of liked
it.  Many of the details of interaction were probably wrong but it was
a fun way to kill a few weekends.

Shortly thereafter, I discovered by coincidence that Sam was free.  So
I got the real thing and tried it out.  I spent a couple of days
making the emulation better and fixing undocumented behaviors.

Then I got bored with the project and haven't worked on it since.  I
realize that the type of person who would like Sam would in general
hate Emacs so maybe the exercise was pointless.  Please do not feel
compelled to remark that it was worse than pointless.

Anyway, I myself use Emacs, `vi', and `ed' interchangably but haven't
really managed to become comfortable with Sam for day-to-day use yet.
Most of the things Sam would be good for I use throw-away `sed' or
`awk' programs.  So the incentive is not quite powerful enough yet to
convert me.

Anyway, this message is just to announce that it is available if
anyone could find a use for it.  I could see it being useful for Sam
types when logged in from a character-based terminal, on systems where
Sam isn't available or doesn't run, or someone who likes the idea of
Sam in principal but needs to work with Emacs for other reasons.

For example, you can just `sam' a buffer, make some quick changes and
get on with it.  If you are good with Sam you will already know in
what situations in which using the Sam language would be the language
of choice.

If there is enough demand, I can mail it to the list (it's about 40k).
Then you all can have a good laugh ridiculing it, me, and Emacs.

I don't subscribe to this list so if you want to me to send the code
to you, to see any comments, or for me to send you a reply, be sure
to cc any messages to me.

Thanks,

Rick