Both Textpad for Windows and Emacs for Linux have the ability to recognize parts of some programming languages as you are writing and color it according to its meaning. For example, comments may be green and commands blue. This can help in avoiding syntax errors.
Textpad
Our standard installation of Textpad already has syntax coloring set up, so if you are running it on Winstat, or if we set it up on your PC for you, you're all set. Textpad identifies files by their extension (*.sas, *.do, etc.), which does mean you must save the file and give it a name before it can be colored. If syntax coloring is not set up on your machine, or you want to add additional file types, you can download syntax files from Textpad's web site (they have a huge list of languages available). Instructions for installing them are found at the end of the list of available files.
Emacs
The ability to color files for statistical programs such as SAS and Stata is included in a package called ESS (Emacs Speaks Statistics), which is installed by default.
Last Revised: 2/7/2008