[Beowulf] EMACS vs VI

[Bob Drzyzgula]

On Thu, Feb 17, 2011 at 11:38 AM, Robert G. Brown <rgb at phy.duke.edu> wrote:
>
> Even older guys could still use ed on an actual
> teletype (not a tty interface, mind you, I'm talking the actual printer
> terminal).

Of course. Been there, done that, on a dial-up terminal with a thermal
printer at 110 baud over an acoustic coupler. If you know how to use
sed you probably can suss out ed. I had to know how to use edlin in
DOS, too. But if you had vi at all, you also had ex, so that was a
much better option.


>  I still more or less
> constantly pop up strange printscreen windows and so on inside
> browser-based editors because I forget and I pop a Ctrl-P in trying to
> move up a line.  My fingers move like lightning, and I can navigate
> instantly without my fingers leaving the home keys...

hjkl, at least, just leave you with text you have to edit out. My
problem is always that ESC can have some very unwanted consequences.

> I had the damnedest time when IBM moved the Ctrl-shift and introduced
> the Alt key.

http://pckeyboards.stores.yahoo.net/linux101.html

> Naturally, I'd be happy to challenge >>anybody<< to a typing
> speed/prolixity dual... and a lot of my speed advantage is, in fact, due
> to my use of jove....

I've certainly had dyed-in-the-wool emacs users be shocked at how fast
I could make complex edits to system files in vi. Again, it's all a
matter of what you've trained your fingers to do.

--Bob