emacs vs vi

[Tracey Baker]

In <422 at ns.ns.com>, ddb at ns.ns.com (David Dyer-Bennet) wrote:
>  Try this, composed on the spot:
>
>To invoke editor on a file: emacs <filename>
>To save the file: ^X^S
>To exit without saving: ^X^C
>Cursor keys move you around.  Typing inserts the characters typed.  Delete
>deletes the character to the left of the cursor.
>To delete from current position to end of line: ^K
>To go to beginning of line: ^A  To end of line: ^E
>Backspace invokes help.

  Doesn't work here.  The cursor keys don't work, and backspace doesn't
invoke help.  That's the biggest problem I've found trying to learn emacs.
Someone tells me how to use it, it doesn't work that way, and then they
say "Oh yeah, you've got to bind this to that and write 27 macros to get
it to work that way.  Try this instead...", and the loop repeats.  I ask
for a reference card (I *hate* on-line help), and they say there isn't one
because everyone sets things up differently.

  When I tell someone how to use vi, I don't have to know what kind of
terminal, OS, or hardware they have.  I can put everything they need to
know for basic editing  on an index card, and it will work with any vi.

>[...]  Note that I didn't have
>to expend any words explaining the different modes and how to get between
>them.-- 

  But you do have to expend words explaining exactly what setup I need
to get your command list to work...

-- 
Tracey Baker  {att, rutgers!moss}!mhuxu!tab or tab at mhuxu.att.com  (201)582-5357
Rm. 2F-211,  AT&T Bell Laboratories, 600 Mountain Ave., Murray Hill NJ 07974
Any resemblance to actual opinions,       |"There ain't no cure when the rabid
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