Things that could be done to improve vi

[dave at murphy.UUCP]

My two cents' worth on the editor wars: although I'm not to get into the
"my editor is better than your editor" thing (sounds like net.sport.baseball),
I would like to see a couple of things in vi that would make it a little less
frustrating to use in certain applications.  They are:

1. An on-screen mode indicator, so that you know whether you're in a text
entry mode or a command mode.  (Also, an indicator that would show whether
or not you've made any changes to the current file would be nice.)

2. A software caps-lock function that would shift all alpha keys typed in
a text-entry mode to upper case.  What do I want this for?  We have a number
of Fortran (no flames) programs that were ported from another operating
system which are written in all upper case.  To maintain the style and
readability of these programs, we have a rule that all new code put into them
must be done in upper case (except comments).  Well, the temptation when
working on these is to just hit the caps-lock button and go to work; the
problem is that if you go back to command mode and forget to take off the
caps lock, your commands will be in upper case and will do something you
didn't expect.

3. A way to change the text-entry exit key to something other than <ESC>.
The reason is that if you're working on a VT100-type terminal, and you
accidentally go for an arrow key while you're in a text entry mode, the
<ESC> that is transmitted at the beginning of the key's sequence will
throw you back to command mode, and the remaining characters will do
something rude to your buffer.  If the text-entry termination key isn't
<ESC>, all that happens is that you get three garbage characters which
you can easily backspace over.

4. A "help" function that would present an on-screen quick-and-dirty cheat
sheet would be nice.  (Actually, this would be more of a reminder function
that you could use when you can't remember the key for a certain command,
not a substitute for the manual section.)

5. When the "noeb" (no error bells) option is set, THE DAMN THING SHOULD
*NOT* SEND BELLS -- EVER!

---
It's been said by many a wise philosopher that when you die and your soul
goes to its final resting place, it has to make a connection in Atlanta.

Dave Cornutt, Gould Computer Systems, Ft. Lauderdale, FL
UUCP:  ...{sun,pur-ee,brl-bmd}!gould!dcornutt
 or ...!ucf-cs!novavax!houligan!dcornutt
ARPA: wait a minute, I've almost got it...

"The opinions expressed herein are not necessarily those of my employer,
not necessarily mine, and probably not necessary."