editor wars ad infinitum...

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> > > >  I am far more productive with "vi" on UNIX than with any of
> > > >the mouse-based editors I've run across on the Mac. 
> > > 
> > >   Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha HaHa Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha Ha
> > 
> > I am in 100% agreement with this. In my opinion, vi is the *worst*
> > screen-oriented editor that I have ever had the misfortune of using.
> > I am always finding new "features" that I wasn't aware of. Unfortunately,
> > the new features I discover usually wipe out random pieces of text
> > in mysterious ways that are difficult to reverse.

All editors can eat your file.  A prudent user covers his behind.
At least 'vi' has an 'undo' command to handle the most common errors a neophyte
user can make.  One can also use the "1p mechanism to recover the last n things
(up to 9) deleted.

> > 
> > It all comes of trying to make "ed" look like a screen editor. What
> > a kludge!
> 
> Mice don't speak regular expressions, macros, or repetitions of commands....

Indispensible features once you master them.

> I don't understand why vi has such a bad rep. The keys are mnemonic,
> which is more than I can say for emacs.
  
Touch typists adapt to 'vi' easier than those who hunt & peck.
EMACS is a sledge hammer to drive tack, and you can't swing a sledge hammer in
a Volkswagon.  Not all of us drive a bus.

> And what of mouse-based editors? Does anyone really use SUN's
> textedit nee edittool? Perhaps it is just a matter of time before
> mice become common enuf to plug into a DEC VT-999 and teenyboppers
> flood the world with pointy-touchy-feely software. Until then us
> crusty old farts will be typing our cryptic command lines.

Mice, trackballs, crosshairs, touchpads, touch sensitive screens and the ilk
work great in turn-key systems with lay operators and finite, well defined
interface requirements.  

I've used and like INTERLEAF's document editor which is heavily menu and
mouse related, now if they would add more command line capability so I could
short circuit a half-dozen menu pokes into a 10 character command...

All things have their place and time.  Evolution weeds out the unadaptable
species.  Think back on this in 5 years.  I'll bet 'vi' will still be widely
used long after a dozen mouse editors have vanished.

What we really want is a reduction in the "clumsy factor" regardless
of the input media.