Many sophisticated and specialized editing programs have been developed in recent years. These editors help people manipulate data, but the diversity complicates rather than simplifies computer use. LEXX is an editing program that can work with the syntax and structure of the data it is presenting, yet is not restricted to just one kind of data. It is used for editing programs, documents, and other material and hence provides a consistent environment for the user regardless of the editing task. The new live parsing technique used by LEXX means that it can be programmed to handle a very wide variety of structured data. The structure information is, in turn, used to improve the presentation of data (through color, fonts, and formatting), which makes it easier for people to deal with the text being edited.