Re: Just My 2 Cents
Jens D. Baumgartner writes:
> On Tue, Dec 08, 1998 at 11:34:29AM -0800, Keith Beattie wrote:
>
> > Well, I disagree. Personally I dislike massively integrated
> > applications like Outlook and Explorer. They are too big, too slow
> > and too complicated (to use and maintain). And I'm convinced that my
> [...]
> > Create small programs that do a single task and do it well.
> > Support a common communication mechanism so that each of these
> > small programs can be used together to solve complex tasks.
>
> Mmmmmh, Emacs is big, and IMHO pretty complicated. I don't want to say
> that Emacs is a bad application - no, I really like it. But learning
> how to use it cannot be regarded "easy". ;-)
>
What I really love about Linux (and other unixes for that matter) is
how easy to use they are. I find Windows incredibly difficult to be
productive in but I would classify myself as a fairly advanced windows
user. This may sound a bit contradictory to people quite new to Linux
or unix in general but I think most people who have used unix for a
while will agree with me.
If we are taking Emacs as an example it certainly is not trivial to
become good with Emacs but I certainly wouldn't want to use a lesser
editor just because it is easy to learn. I can do things so much
faster and easier with Emacs that I have surely at least made up for
the time I spent learning it.
Pretty much all of the unix tools that have corresponding tools in
windows are considerably more complex and powerful. This can be quite
intimidating to new user and so I will suggest a strategy that has
worked well for me:
1. Learn how to do the basic things you knew how to do under windows
with the new program.
2. Once you feel comfortable, then try to expand into the more
advanced areas.
As an example, I am an avid Emacs user but recently I decided to
learn mutt and vim. In the process of learning the basics of how
things operate I noticed things I would like to work or look
differently. These observations easily carried me over into learning
how to reconfigure these programs as I already knew what stuff I
wanted to configure. This of course led to learning about other
interesting features.
This approach works with parts of a very complex program like Emacs.
Learning about each different mode or feature of Emacs is coniderably
easier if you don't try to learn the entire thing as a whole but
instead divide it up.
OTOH, I have not found this approach to be particularly successful on
MS apps. The beginning step is simple enough but without the
tremendous extensibility and customizability of Linux apps
(e.g. Emacs), it is difficult to find a logical path for expanding
one's knowledge.
--
Evan Parry
nave@azstarnet.com
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