[Tutor] Re: pair programming.

Andrei Kulakov ak@silmarill.org
Sat, 29 Jun 2002 01:35:01 -0400


On Sat, Jun 29, 2002 at 12:14:53AM -0500, Derrick 'dman' Hudson wrote:
> On Fri, Jun 28, 2002 at 06:05:44PM -0400, Andrei Kulakov wrote:
> | On Fri, Jun 28, 2002 at 01:04:56PM +0200, Abel Daniel wrote:
> | > On Fri, Jun 28, 2002 at 02:25:34AM -0400 Andrei Kulakov (ak@silmarill.org) wrote
> | > > I never understood why don't vi or vim have a colored or a highlighted
> | > > bar on top or bottom that toggle between command/entry mode.
> 
> | > I use vim and in the last line it shows stuff like "-- INSERT --" or
> | > "-- VISUAL BLOCK -- " for different modes.
> 
> | Yeah I know but some people apparently still get confused.. If there
> | was a colored bar, you'd see it in the corner of your eye even if you
> | were looking at the middle of screen where you're typing..
> 
> If there was a white line with ALL CAPS TEXT it you'd see it out of
> the corner of your eye ... oh wait, it does have that.  My point is
> just that no matter what you will do, _some_ user will find a way to

That's true for any feature that is user-friendly. The reason for these
features is not to help all users (which is impossible) but to help
most :-)

> be confused.  My desktop has enough color on it already to obscure
> such a bar.  (xpenguin is cool too)
> 
> If you forget where you're at, just hit ESC repeatedly and when the
> computer beeps (or the screen flashes, or you've hit it a few times)
> you're guaranteed to be in command mode :-).
>
The biggest problem with modality in vi*'s is that you may be in
command mode but think you're in insert and type some stuff which
will garble your text in a scary random-looking manner. This was a much
worse problem in vi with no multi-undo, but in vim it's still bad for
newbies because it's a very distressing behavior, from a psychological
point of view.

I myself never found this to be much of a problem, but I know some
people do..

> 
> -D
> 
> -- 
> 
> If we claim we have not sinned, we make Him out to be a liar and His
> Word has no place in our lives.
>         I John 1:10
>  
> http://dman.ddts.net/~dman/
> 



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