Improving the AMPL emacs mode

I use the AMPL emacs mode from here. It is quite good, but I did make a few customizations. Specifically, I wanted the standard Emacs comment binding M-; to work for AMPL comments, so I added the following lines to my ampl-mode.el file:

(defun ampl-comment-dwim ()
"Comment or uncomment the current line or text selection."
(interactive)

;; If there's no text selection, comment or uncomment the line
;; depending whether the WHOLE line is a comment. If there is a text
;; selection, using the first line to determine whether to
;; comment/uncomment.
(let (p1 p2)
(if (region-active-p)
(save-excursion
(setq p1 (region-beginning) p2 (region-end))
(goto-char p1)
(if (wholeLineIsCmt-p)
(ampl-uncomment-region p1 p2)
(ampl-comment-region p1 p2)
))
(progn
(if (wholeLineIsCmt-p)
(ampl-uncomment-current-line)
(ampl-comment-current-line)
)) )))

(defun wholeLineIsCmt-p ()
(save-excursion
(beginning-of-line 1)
(looking-at "[ t]*#")
))

(defun ampl-comment-current-line ()
(interactive)
(beginning-of-line 1)
(insert "# ")
)

(defun ampl-uncomment-current-line ()
"Remove “#” (if any) in the beginning of current line."
(interactive)
(when (wholeLineIsCmt-p)
(beginning-of-line 1)
(search-forward "# ")
(delete-backward-char 2)
))

(defun ampl-comment-region (p1 p2)
"Add “# ” to the beginning of each line of selected text."
(interactive "r")
(let ((deactivate-mark nil))
(save-excursion
(goto-char p2)
(while (>= (point) p1)
(ampl-comment-current-line)
(previous-line)
))))

(defun ampl-uncomment-region (p1 p2)
"Remove “# ” (if any) in the beginning of each line of selected text."
(interactive "r")
(let ((deactivate-mark nil))
(save-excursion
(goto-char p2)
(while (>= (point) p1)
(ampl-uncomment-current-line)
(previous-line) )) ))

;; USE FOLLOWING IF YOU WANT REGULAR COMMENT-DWIM BEHAVIOR INSTEAD
;; ;; the command to comment/uncomment text
;; (defun ampl-comment-dwim (arg)
;; "Comment or uncomment current line or region in a smart way.
;; For detail, see `comment-dwim'."
;; (interactive "*P")
;; (require 'newcomment)
;; (let ((deactivate-mark nil) (comment-start "#") (comment-end ""))
;; (comment-dwim arg)))

;; modify the keymap
(define-key ampl-mode-map [remap comment-dwim] 'ampl-comment-dwim)


I found the template for this code here. Additionally, in my .emacs init file, I added the following lines:

(setq auto-mode-alist
      (cons '("\.mod$" . ampl-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist
      (cons '("\.dat$" . ampl-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist
      (cons '("\.run$" . ampl-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq auto-mode-alist
      (cons '("\.ampl$" . ampl-mode) auto-mode-alist))
(setq interpreter-mode-alist
      (cons '("ampl" . ampl-mode)
            interpreter-mode-alist))

(load "ampl-mode")

;; Enable syntax coloring
(add-hook 'ampl-mode-hook 'turn-on-font-lock)

;; If you find parenthesis matching a nuisance, turn it off by
;; removing the leading semi-colons on the following lines:

(setq ampl-auto-close-parenthesis nil)
(setq ampl-auto-close-brackets nil)
(setq ampl-auto-close-curlies nil)
(setq ampl-auto-close-double-quote nil)
(setq ampl-auto-close-single-quote nil)

These lines are provided by the AMPL mode file itself, but I made a few changes, uncommenting the last block of lines (as I find autocomplete parentheses, etc. annoying) and adding the lines
(setq auto-mode-alist
      (cons '("\.run$" . ampl-mode) auto-mode-alist))

so that emacs would recognize .run files as AMPL scripts.
                    
                                        
                    

                                            
About Benjamin Lockwood
                        
I am a PhD candidate in Business Economics at Harvard. I'm interested in normative economics, tax policy, and bicycle touring.