Important features for editors

[Cameron Simpson]

On 05Jul2013 05:12, rusi <rustompmody at gmail.com> wrote:
| On Thursday, July 4, 2013 1:37:10 PM UTC+5:30, Göktuğ Kayaalp wrote:
| > Programmability comes to my mind, before anything else.  I'd suggest
| > to find out about designs of Emacs and Vi(m).
| 
| There's one reason I prefer emacs -- and I guess some people
| prefer Idle -- the interpreter and editor are tightly integrated.

That is indeed a strength of emacs over vi.

For myself, I generally don't want to program my editor beyond writing
keyboard macros, and vim's programming interface has yet to attract me.

When I want to manipulate text beyond a simple macro I tend to write
a sed script. Or awk, or python in increasing complexity of task.

[...]
| One expansion for EMACS is Editor for Middle Aged Computer
| Scientists -- so I am guessing if you're asking the question you
| dont qualify :-)

While I started with vi just slightly before encountering emacs
(mid-to-late 1980s, both), my main trouble with choosing emacs was
the heavy use of control keys. Vi's modal nature means that in
"edit" mode, all the keystrokes are available as edit controls.
Emacs' modeless nature means that all the edit controls must be
control-this and meta/escape-that.

For this reason, I often expand EMACS as Escape Meta Alt Control Shift.

I'm a vi user. Once I mastered "hit ESC by reflex when you pause
typing an insert" I was never confused above which mode I was in.

And now my fingers know vi.

Cheers,
-- 
Cameron Simpson <cs at zip.com.au>

A novice of the temple once approached the Chief Priest with a question.

  "Master, does Emacs have the Buddha nature?" the novice asked.

  The Chief Priest had been in the temple for many years and could be relied
  upon to know these things.  He thought for several minutes before replying.

  "I don't see why not.  It's got bloody well everything else."

  With that, the Chief Priest went to lunch.  The novice suddenly achieved
enlightenment, several years later.

Commentary:

        His Master is kind,
        Answering his FAQ quickly,
        With thought and sarcasm.