vi vs emacs in a student environment

[David Dyer-Bennet]

In article <370 at umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU>, rhealey at umn-d-ub.D.UMN.EDU (Rob Healey) writes:
>	[vi for student use...]
> 	<ESC>, arrow keys, i, a, x, dd, O, o, :wq
> 
> 	The keystrokes listed above are ALL that 90% of the STUDENTS need.
   Comparable emacs keystrokes appear to be
	arrow keys, ^K, ^X^S, ^X^C
   Sure is neat how much simpler VI is for easy tasks....

> 	Except for :wq
> 	and O all the above commands require the student to hit ONE key; no
> 	control, no shift, no meta, no multikey combination. 
   On the other hand, they have to understand about insert mode versus
command mode.  Come to think of it, unless my VI is slipping, you've neglected
any way to make corrections other than inserting characters, or deleting the
whole line and starting over.
   (We're both assuming that the delete or backspace key works normally,
right?)
   It's also easy to explain to the users that "normal" characters get
inserted at current position, whereas all commands are "special" characters
(and you can use only "control" characters for a minimal emacs subset for
beginners).
   I've had to guide several non-computer users (writers) into editors.
They seem to pick up Emacs several orders of magnitude faster than vi. 
Vi is downright user-hostile (that's the step BEYOND "user-surly" :-).
Your mileage may vary.
-- 
	-- David Dyer-Bennet
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