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Simultaneous editing

Simultaneous editing is a science topic covered in the lgStudy science library. This page brings together a partial reference excerpt, illustrations, worked examples, real-world applications and a short study plan, so you can understand Simultaneous editing rather than just read about it. In short: In human–computer interaction, simultaneous editing is an text editing technique allowing a single user to make multiple simultaneous edits in a multiple selection at once through direct manipulation. Multiple selections and cursors are typically created by using a keyboard shortcut to select repeated instances of the same text or text fragments surrounded by the same delimiters, by using a search feature to select…

Simultaneous editing — main illustration
Simultaneous editing — illustration

Key takeaways

  • Simultaneous editing belongs to science; place it in that map before memorising details.
  • Learn the definition first, then one example that makes the definition concrete.
  • Connect Simultaneous editing to a quantity you can measure, compute or draw — that is where exam questions come from.
  • Reproduce the core statement of Simultaneous editing from memory before moving on to harder problems.

Reference excerpt

In human–computer interaction, simultaneous editing is an text editing technique allowing a single user to make multiple simultaneous edits in a multiple selection at once through direct manipulation. Multiple selections and cursors are typically created by using a keyboard shortcut to select repeated instances of the same text or text fragments surrounded by the same delimiters, by using a search feature to select all instances of a search term, by selecting the same column in multiple lines, or by selecting text or cursor positions with a mouse. The Lapis experimental web browser and text editor is also able to infer selections based on concept learning from positive and negative examples given by the user during a process known as selection guessing. Tools for data wrangling (mass reformatting) also sometimes include commands for simultaneous editing of all data in a column or category.

Editors supporting simultaneous editing Simultaneous editing in Lapis Multiple selections in Sublime Text Multiple cursors in Cloud9 Multi-cursor package in Atom Multiple selections in Visual Studio Code Multiple selections in Firefox developer tools Multiple-cursors in Emacs Multi Edit plug-in for gedit Multi-Editing Settings in Notepad++ Multiple carets in PyCharm Column Edit Mode in Vi and Vi derivatives such as Vim

See also Batch renaming

References

Copy-and-Paste between Overlapping Windows by Olivier Chapuis, Nicolas Roussel. In Proceedings of CHI'07. "Other systems have been proposed to support fast copy-paste of multiple selections or text entities like phone numbers" Citeseer LAPIS: Smart Editing with Text Structure introductory article. Lightweight Structured Text Processing, an extended description Robert C. Miller, Brad A. Myers: Multiple selections in smart text editing. 103–110, IUI 2002, Proceedings of the 2002 International Conference on Intelligent User Interfaces, January 13–16, 2002, San Francisco, California, USA. ACM, 2002, ISBN 1-58113-459-2

Worked examples

Example 1 — a first encounter with Simultaneous editing

Start with the simplest possible case. Write down what Simultaneous editing claims or describes in one sentence, then invent the smallest concrete situation in which that sentence is true. In science, the smallest case is usually a single object, a single equation or a single measurement. Check that every symbol or term in your sentence has a meaning in that case.

Example 2 — changing one variable

Take the situation from Example 1 and change exactly one quantity: double it, halve it, or set it to zero. Predict what should happen to Simultaneous editing before you calculate. Comparing your prediction with the result is the fastest way to find out whether you understand the idea or only the words.

Example 3 — an exam-style question

Typical questions about Simultaneous editing ask you to (a) state it precisely, (b) apply it to given data, and (c) explain a limitation. Practise writing all three answers in under five minutes; the third part is what separates a full-mark answer from an average one.

Applications of Simultaneous editing

In research
Simultaneous editing appears in science research whenever the underlying quantities have to be modelled precisely. Papers usually cite it as a starting assumption and then explore where it breaks down.
In technology and industry
Engineering practice reuses Simultaneous editing in design rules, simulations and safety margins. Knowing the idea lets you read a specification sheet and understand why the numbers look the way they do.
In the classroom
Simultaneous editing is common in secondary-school and first-year university syllabi. It links to neighbouring topics Text editor features, User interface techniques, so understanding it makes those chapters shorter.
In everyday life
Look for Simultaneous editing outside the textbook — in sport, cooking, traffic, electronics or the sky above you. An example you found yourself is remembered far longer than one you were given.

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How to study Simultaneous editing in 20 minutes

  1. Read the reference excerpt below once, without taking notes.
  2. Close the page and write down what Simultaneous editing means in your own words.
  3. Compare your version with the excerpt and mark what you missed.
  4. Work through the three examples above with pen and paper.
  5. Explain Simultaneous editing out loud to somebody else — or to Teacher Smith in the lgStudy chat.

Frequently asked questions

What is Simultaneous editing in simple terms?

In human–computer interaction, simultaneous editing is an text editing technique allowing a single user to make multiple simultaneous edits in a multiple selection at once through direct manipulation. Multiple selections and cursors are typically created by using a keyboard shortcut to select repea…

Why does Simultaneous editing matter?

Because it connects several science ideas at once: it gives you a definition you can apply, a quantity you can calculate, and a way to check whether a result is plausible.

How should I study Simultaneous editing?

Read the excerpt, restate it from memory, then work through the examples and applications listed on this page. The five-step study plan above takes about twenty minutes.

What does this page cover?

It gives you a compact reference excerpt plus original lgStudy explanations, examples, applications and study material on Simultaneous editing.

Tags

  • Text editor features
  • User interface techniques

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