Acme is a

text editor A text editor is a type of computer program that edits plain text. Such programs are sometimes known as "notepad" software (e.g. Windows Notepad). Text editors are provided with operating systems and software development packages, and can be u ...

and graphical shell from the

Plan 9 from Bell Labs Plan 9 from Bell Labs is a distributed operating system which originated from the Computing Science Research Center (CSRC) at Bell Labs in the mid-1980s and built on UNIX concepts first developed there in the late 1960s. Since 2000, Plan 9 has b ...

operating system An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

, designed and implemented by Rob Pike. It can use the

Sam Sam, SAM or variants may refer to: Places * Sam, Benin * Sam, Boulkiemdé, Burkina Faso * Sam, Bourzanga, Burkina Faso * Sam, Kongoussi, Burkina Faso * Sam, Iran * Sam, Teton County, Idaho, United States, a populated place People and fictional ...

command language. The design of the interface was influenced by

Oberon Oberon () is a king of the fairies in medieval and Renaissance literature. He is best known as a character in William Shakespeare's play ''A Midsummer Night's Dream'', in which he is King of the Fairies and spouse of Titania, Queen of the Fair ...

. It is different from other editing environments in that it acts as a 9P server. A distinctive element of the

user interface In the industrial design field of human–computer interaction, a user interface (UI) is the space where interactions between humans and machines occur. The goal of this interaction is to allow effective operation and control of the machine f ...

is mouse chording.

Overview

Acme can be used as a

mail The mail or post is a system for physically transporting postcards, letter (message), letters, and parcel (package), parcels. A postal service can be private or public, though many governments place restrictions on private systems. Since the mid ...

and

news reader News is information about current events. This may be provided through many different media: word of mouth, printing, postal systems, broadcasting, electronic communication, or through the testimony of observers and witnesses to events. New ...

, or as a frontend to wikifs. These applications are made possible by external components interacting with acme through its file system interface. Rob Pike has mentioned that the name "Acme" was suggested to him by Penn Jillette of

Penn & Teller Penn & Teller, Penn Jillette and Teller, are American magicians, entertainers, and scientific skeptics who have performed together since the late 1970s. They are noted for their ongoing act that combines elements of comedy with magic. The duo h ...

during a movie night at

Times Square Times Square is a major commercial intersection, tourist destination, entertainment hub, and neighborhood in Midtown Manhattan, New York City. It is formed by the junction of Broadway, Seventh Avenue, and 42nd Street. Together with adjacent ...

when he asked for a suitable name for a text editor that does "everything".

Ports

A port to the Inferno operating system is part of Inferno's default distribution. Inferno can run as an application on top of other operating systems, allowing Inferno's port of acme to be used on most operating systems, including Microsoft Windows and

Linux Linux ( or ) is a family of open-source Unix-like operating systems based on the Linux kernel, an operating system kernel first released on September 17, 1991, by Linus Torvalds. Linux is typically packaged as a Linux distribution, which i ...

. A project called ''acme: stand alone complex'' intends to make acme run as a standalone application on the host operating system. A working port of acme for

Unix-like A Unix-like (sometimes referred to as UN*X or *nix) operating system is one that behaves in a manner similar to a Unix system, although not necessarily conforming to or being certified to any version of the Single UNIX Specification. A Unix-li ...

operating systems is included in Plan 9 from User Space, a collection of various ported programs from

Plan 9 Plan 9 or Plan Nine may refer to: Music * Plan 9 (band), a psychedelic rock band from Rhode Island * ''Plan 9'', an album by Big Guitars From Memphis with Rick Lindy * "Plan 9", a song on the 1993 album ''Gorgeous'' by electronica band 808 Stat ...

. Currently it has been tested on a variety of

operating systems An operating system (OS) is system software that manages computer hardware, software resources, and provides common daemon (computing), services for computer programs. Time-sharing operating systems scheduler (computing), schedule tasks for ef ...

including:

Mac OS X macOS (; previously OS X and originally Mac OS X) is a Unix operating system developed and marketed by Apple Inc. since 2001. It is the primary operating system for Apple's Mac computers. Within the market of desktop and lapt ...

FreeBSD FreeBSD is a free and open-source Unix-like operating system descended from the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD), which was based on Research Unix. The first version of FreeBSD was released in 1993. In 2005, FreeBSD was the most popular ...

NetBSD NetBSD is a free and open-source Unix operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). It was the first open-source BSD descendant officially released after 386BSD was forked. It continues to be actively developed and is a ...

OpenBSD OpenBSD is a security-focused operating system, security-focused, free and open-source, Unix-like operating system based on the Berkeley Software Distribution (BSD). Theo de Raadt created OpenBSD in 1995 by fork (software development), forking N ...

, Solaris and

SunOS SunOS is a Unix-branded operating system developed by Sun Microsystems for their workstation and server computer systems. The ''SunOS'' name is usually only used to refer to versions 1.0 to 4.1.4, which were based on BSD, while versions 5.0 ...

Notable Acme users

* Dennis Ritchie *Russ Cox * Rob Pike (Acme Author) *Brian L. Stuart

References

External links

* * , the manuals.
Plan 9 from User Space
(aka plan9port) is a port of many Plan 9 programs from their native Plan 9 environment to

operating systems, including Mac OS X.
acme stand alone complex
- A distribution of the Inferno version of acme packaged for Windows, OS X and Linux and including many extras and tools (an IRC client, a wiki client, a web browser, a debugger, etc.)
Russ Cox demonstrating Acme
{{DEFAULTSORT:Acme (Text Editor) Free text editors Plan 9 from Bell Labs Inferno (operating system) MacOS text editors

Overview

Ports

Notable Acme users

See also

References

External links