Linux GUI FAQ/tutorial?

[Octavian Râsnita]

From: <trev.saunders at gmail.com>
>> execute the currently open program source code
>> with a specified interpreter that also offers me the possibility of
>> specifying some parameters,
>
> vim can do this with :!.  I tend to write the file with vim and switch to 
> a different shell in screen and use that to run the code.

That's what I want to avoid.

For example, in TextPad I just press Control+Shift+E, it appears a text box 
where I can type the command line parameters, and I press enter. The results 
(STDOUT and STDIN) are placed in a new document window, so they are 
accessible for selecting them, copying them, pasting, etc.
Switching to a new shell and typing the command line for running the program 
requires much more keystrokes, and the result is not automaticly placed in 
an editor where it can be accessed as well as possible, so it is not a very 
good method.

> find/replace using regular expressions with a
>> simple combination of keys, and very few other things.
>
> I feel like there is a way to do this in nano, but I don't remember what 
> it is.  Ireally like vim for this because it supports the same s/// 
> operater as perl php etc.  I believe gedit can do this too.

Is gedit a modern editor like the Windows ones, or an old style one like vi 
or emacs?

> certianly the way vim works is different from gedit / notepad etc, 
> howeverthis makes it very powerful.  it sounds like you might want an IDE? 
> If so I would suggest taking a look at eclipse it was reasonably ccessible 
> under linux atleast so far as my one quick look went.

Yes, actually I want an IDE, but under Windows I don't like Eclipse and 
Visual Studio at all because they are too complex, with too many useless 
windows and panes, and this is not a big problem, but they start very very 
slow.
A simple editor like TextPad/UltraEdit/EditPlus starts in a fraction of a 
second, while Eclipse takes very many seconds to load. Does it happen the 
same under Linux or it works faster?

Thank you.

Octavian