10.6 Editing Code

Files containing program source code form a very specific class of structured documents. Unlike documents meant for human consumption that are often only loosely structured, program source (as a concession to the computer’s intolerance of lack of structure) are per force well-structured and adhere to a fairly stringent syntax.

The Emacs environment provides editing modes that are specific to creating and maintaining software written in most popular programming languages. Many of these editing modes are speech-enabled by Emacspeak. Speech-enabling these modes includes providing a rich set of navigational commands that allow you to move through the source efficiently. In addition, Emacspeak’s core voice-lock facilities are used to produce audio formatted output — this helps you spot errors quickly.