Date: Wed, 26 Jan 2000 16:22:07 -0600 (CST) From: Jerry Dunham <jdunham@fc.net> To: grog@lemis.com (Greg Lehey) Cc: jcm@dogma.freebsd-uk.eu.org (Jonathon McKitrick), freebsd-questions@FreeBSD.ORG Subject: Re: programmer's editor choice Message-ID: <200001262222.QAA95197@freeside.fc.net> In-Reply-To: <20000127083154.X44457@freebie.lemis.com> from Greg Lehey at "Jan 27, 2000 08:31:54 am"
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Greg Lehey babbled:
> On Wednesday, 26 January 2000 at 14:11:24 +0000, Jonathon McKitrick wrote:
> > On Sat, 22 Jan 2000, Greg Lehey wrote:
> >> On Friday, 21 January 2000 at 23:39:12 +0000, Jonathon McKitrick wrote:
> >
> >>> Not to start a war or anything, but i'm trying to decide on a fast
> >>> powerful editor. I've been using joe, and i just started learning
> >>> vi, and i like it so far. But there are new editors and new
> >>> versions of vi that seem to have a lot to offer. I've narrowed it
> >>> down to vi, an enhanced version of vi (vile or vim?) uemacs, or joe.
> >>
> >>> I really like the efficiency of vi so far, but i have a long ways to
> >>> go before i am proficient.
> >>
> >> It's a steep curve.
> >
> > Well, i installed emacs 19 and then 20 (didn't see much of a difference, IIRC,
> > but the problem i had was there seems to be no rhyme or reason to the
> > key bindings. The keys for moving the cursor make some sense,
> > but when it comes to extra commands, well, it just doesn't seem intuitive.
> > Maybe i'll get the hang of it in time.
>
> They're not intuitive. Neither are vi commands. The fact is that it
> doesn't matter too much; you learn them just as quickly.
Or just as slowly. The learning curve for vi is very painful, and I
understand the curve for Emacs is no better.
I'm a vi user, and use it on every platform I use: UNIX, WinNT, and Atari.
I really appreciate that it's so universal. Even so, the interface sucks.
It's a shame we often have religious wars over a choice where all the
available religions fall so short. How am I supposed to work up a proper
religious fervor for something I know sucks? Yet I use vi more than any
other piece of software on the planet, and can see no good reason to
change. For me it's still the best choice.
*sigh*
--
Jerry Dunham FreeBSD Atarian ordinaire
jdunham@fc.net (512)335-0674 (H)
Gerald_Dunham@dell.com (512)728-4026 (O)
E Pluribus Unix
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