If you could have anything in vi ...

[aaron.l.hoffmeyer]

In article <7220 at ecs.soton.ac.uk> tjc at ecs.soton.ac.uk (Tim Chown) writes:
>In <7214 at ecs.soton.ac.uk> mrd at ecs.soton.ac.uk (Mark Dobie) writes:
>
>>In <1991Mar18.195343.665 at cs.widener.edu> brendan at cs.widener.edu (Brendan Kehoe) writes:
>
>>> I'm working on a "free" version of vi. It's to fully emulate the
>>>current Berkeley-derived versions. After that, it's prettymuch a
>>>free-for-all.
>>> So .. what would you have added to vi, if you could? What would you
>>>have made an option? What would you change?
>
>>Well, judging by what crops up in this group repeatedly you couldn't
>>go far wrong in providing,
>
>>1) A built in way of justifying text.
>>2) A more flexible way of editing several files and transferring
>>   between them. 
>
>Yes please.  And the ability to edit on columns rather than rows
>would be useful in some circumstances.
>
>Tim


I've heard several programmers wish for a more powerful rewind
capability.  For instance, when using tags to search through multiple
files of source code, it would be great if the programmer could specify
which file to rewind to, rather than always going back to the first
edited file.  You would probably have to increase the number of file
buffers and make the rewind command more powerful, but I think the
programmers would really get a kick out of it.

Also, new user's of vi are completely lost for about the first two
months and are really in trouble for the first few weeks.  So, to help
alleviate this common problem, maybe you could provide excellent
documentation that would ensure that new users can effectively,
efficiently and quickly learn how to use your editor.  How about also
including a great tutorial - one that can take a novice to advanced
skills in multiple sessions.  In other words, make it comprehensive,
make it remember where the user has been, and make it fun to use - make
them edit some really neat files.

Refer to THE ULTIMATE GUIDE TO THE VI AND EX TEXT EDITORS by Hewlett
Packard for the definitive vi documentation.  Make your's this good and
you'll win many friends.

I've found people that have been using vi for literally six months that
didn't even know how to make lines wrap.  And few people, even excellent
programmers, have a .exrc file that does much of anything.  They start
asking some really simple questions when thay have to use vi at say 2400
baud instead of the normal 9600.  

Make it as powerful as gnuemacs without the pinky cramps, but don't make
it a memory hog.

Provide a macro language that is more powerful and more intuitive than
anything that exists in vi or gnuemacs (no LISP - we didn't all go to
MIT - (rac (your brains))).  Maybe something like the macro language in
WordPerfect.  How about making it recognize your key strokes while in
macro programming mode, then let you edit it in macro editing mode?

Oh, one more thing:  include the BSD fmt command with your code.  fmt is
what I consider a required add-on for vi.

Boy, if you could do all this, you could wind up on the cover of
Newsweek.

Aaron L. Hoffmeyer
TR at CBNEA.ATT.COM 

In my journey to the end of the night, I must rely not only on
dialectical paths of reason.  I must have a good solid automobile, one
that eschews the futile trappings of worldly ennui and asks only for
basic maintenance.  My Dodge Dartre offers me this elemental solace,
and as interior parts fall off I am struck by the realization of their
pointlessness.	I may not know if the window is up or down.  It is of
no consequence.
                -- From an ad, JEAN-PAUL SARTRE FOR DODGE DARTRE, that
                   once appeared in Reed College's student newspaper