Unix for the PC,AT --- abstract

[Darrel VanBuer]

When reading comments on full-screen editors remember that the reviewer's
opinion of full-screen editors is heavily colored by the editors (s)he
already knows.  There have been at least three radically different
full-screen editors on (mostly) minicomputers.
The Rand editor (INed, Apple Pie are derivatives and/or imitators).
Emacs
vi

The style of interaction of these are all radically different, enough so
that it's very disorienting to use a different one.
I used to use Ined (until it finally became de-supported locally by changes
in operating software).
At that point, I switched to Emacs (more because similar editors are
available under Tops-20 and some Lisp machines, and because of the language
for writing extensions, rather than style of interaction).
The switch to a different editor is harder than learning your first one,
because, not only do you have to learn a bunch of new techniques, you have
to unlearn reflexes which just don't work.

There have been many other full screen editors for other systems, a number
of them also fairly different (e.g. Edgar for VM/CMS, Wordstar and
Wordmaster on CP/M, Tedit on Xerox Lisp machines--where the mouse
considerably simplifies the paradigm in full screen editing.  The keyboard
does text, the mouse does positioning, selection, commands all by pointing.
Highlighting and underlining provide feedback)
-- 
Darrel J. Van Buer, PhD
System Development Corp.
2500 Colorado Ave
Santa Monica, CA 90406
(213)820-4111 x5449
...{allegra,burdvax,cbosgd,hplabs,ihnp4,orstcs,sdcsvax,ucla-cs,akgua}
                                                            !sdcrdcf!darrelj
VANBUER at USC-ECL.ARPA