Re: [dev] a suckless hex editor

From: Greg Reagle <greg.reagle_AT_umbc.edu>
Date: Fri, 13 Nov 2015 21:50:35 -0500

On Fri, Nov 13, 2015 at 07:54:07PM +0100, Nico Golde wrote:
> I'm sorry to be blunt, but this is not a suckless hex editor, but a poor mans
> hex editor that's barely useful for any real work in my opinion. I mean it may
> work fine for changing a single byte here or there and look at dumps, but it's
> not much more useful then dd or hd for that sake imho.
> I think to the very minimum, a proper hex editor should have the capability to
> show both hex and ascii in parallel, work well with large files, provide
> useful searches, and provide support for templates. Everything else is just a
> toy.

I appreciate honest feedback. I am well aware that this list is not known for
being warm and fuzzy, so don't worry about it. I am also well aware that this
list has some very talented programmers on it.

I agree that it is a "poor man's" hex editor. I am having fun with it, even if
it is a toy. I don't have the desire to write a sophisticated hex editor
(besides they already exist).

I like that the small shell script can turn any editor into a hex editor. BTW,
if od is replaced with hexdump -C or xxd or GNU od -tx1z, then the ascii will
be in the dump too.
Received on Sat Nov 14 2015 - 03:50:35 CET