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3 General features of REDUCE mode

REDUCE mode can be selected by giving the command M-x reduce-mode, although normally it will be selected automatically, probably via the filename extension; Installation of the REDUCE IDE. REDUCE mode inherits from prog-mode and so shares some basic functionality common to all Emacs programming modes.

The commands provided by REDUCE mode are aware of REDUCE syntax and ignore the contents of strings and the case of characters. Except for the special comment commands, they also ignore comments; Support for REDUCE comments. The standard GNU Emacs indentation (see Indenting REDUCE code automatically) and comment commands are supported, either via the general Emacs mechanisms or by re-binding the standard keys to REDUCE mode versions of standard commands. The design of this mode is modelled primarily on Lisp mode and the %-comment conventions basically follow those of Lisp mode. I have also taken some ideas from FORTRAN mode.

The standard Emacs syntax tables are modified to reflect REDUCE syntax so that, for example, Emacs knows that the REDUCE escape character is !.

Blank lines separate “paragraphs”.

Loading the REDUCE mode library runs any functions on reduce-mode-load-hook, which can be used to customize global features of REDUCE mode such as its key map. Entry to REDUCE mode runs any functions on prog-mode-hook and then any functions on reduce-mode-hook, which can be used to customize buffer-local features of REDUCE mode, e.g. to turn on font-lock mode. See Installation of the REDUCE IDE. See Customization of REDUCE IDE.

REDUCE mode is intended to support both the algebraic and symbolic modes of REDUCE. It provides very limited support for Lisp syntax to the extent that it is likely to be used in symbolic-mode code, and hence it understands the significance of the quote symbol (') to some extent. Syntax-directed editing naturally works correctly only if the syntax of the source code being edited is correct. If it is not then strange things can happen, and the services of the Emacs undo facilities may be required!

A major mode menu provides convenient access to most of the major facilities of REDUCE mode.


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