ParEdit (paredit.el) is a minor mode for performing structured editing of S-expression data. The typical example of this would be Lisp or Scheme source code.
ParEdit helps keep parentheses balanced and adds many keys for moving S-expressions and moving around in S-expressions.
That quote from EmacsWiki really undersells Paredit, though.
Paredit makes it virtually impossible to un-balance parentheses (aka round, square, and curly brackets).
This mode would be especially interesting for folks avoiding Lisp because of the nightmare of balancing parentheses is too much of an obstacle to overcome (in practice of course it really isn’t, even if you don’t use Paredit).
[shameless plug]
That’s also true of SchemeScript, a Scheme editor plugin for Eclipse, when you enable the “Structural Editing” mode.
http://sourceforge.net/apps/wordpress/schemeway/the-schemescript-plugin/
And for programmers already used to Eclipse, you don’t have to learn a new editor, which may be a big win. (I love Emacs, but I understand that some people may not like it as much as I do).
[/shameless plug]
Dominique:
Thanks for the tip; I know a lot of people love Eclipse and its ilk.
Whatever lowers the barrier of entry to Scheme and family is a “good thing”.
Thanks for the tip. I’ll check it out.