Re: [X]Emacs vs. vi[m] (was Re: Why is XEmacs better than Emacs?)
> * I don't like mouses. I have 10 fingers and I like fast
> keystrokes. It's amazing what you can do with 10 fingers, and at what
> speed you can do it :-) This means that for instance, I prefer to type
> `M-x man' and get a manpage with hyperlinks and all the stuff you want
> in the same window, rather than grabbing the mouse, chaging window,
> read, regrab the mouse, return.
Well, I prefer keystrokes myself and try and avoid apps that don't
support them, but I don't avoid the mouse like the plague, either. I've
got a nice 19" screen and I like to use it. With VIM, I can (with a
couple of keystrokes) turn the "K" command into a command to open a man
page in tkman, and view it next to my editing window. I'd need to use
the mouse to scroll through it, but I don't find that a hindrance. My
priority is on being able to see the file I'm editing, the application
interface or shell, and any docs I need to see. That's where windows
are great.
> * I like to configure /in depth/ the stuff that I use. Emacs is the
> most configurable piece of code I've ever seen, and will probably stay
> so for a long time.
I too prefer configurable apps. vim lets you do a lot (as does nedit).
And so do *lots* of other things. I've hacked the hell out of my copy
of exmh. tkman comes in source, too, and there's no better way to
customize a GUI than having the source.
Netscape's not so great in this area. Mozilla, however, should
certainly solve that.
> All of this apply to Emacs as well, I think. What's funny about
> Emacs is that either you can't stand the appearant complexity of the
> keystrokes and the like, or it becomes soon a religion.
Which makes it hard for people who haven't used it to know if it's
useful to *them*, but I think we've managed to rationally discuss *why*
each of us prefer our own environments. As I said at the outset,
different strokes...
If anyone is trying to figure out which editor to use, try not to figure
out which is the "best", but rather which one best fits you. There are
choices beyond vim and emacs (and there's even choices within each of
those), so the first question you need to ask is what YOU want it to do.
Since programmers spend so much time editing, a choice of editors is
really crucial. Everyone should at least LOOK at other editors. The
bottom line in your decision is does the editor honestly help you, or
does it just get in the way like MicroSoft's Clippy.
If you work on multiple platforms (and it's hard not to nowadays), you
should also make sure your favorite editor is available everywhere (both
vim and emacs are).
rgds-- TA (tallard@frb.gov)
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