vi vs emacs in a student environment

[Nate Hess]

In article <2817 at tekcrl.CRL.TEK.COM> eirik at tekcrl.TEK.COM (Eirik Fuller) writes:
>Maybe you asked the wrong question.  Has anybody switched from vi to
>emacs for practical, logical reasons?  Mine are all silly, but a
>little detail like that won't change my mind.

[BTW, I used vi for about 4 years, and then learned Emacs.]

Reasons why I find vi claustrophobic and brain-dead (in no particular
order):

	o lacks multiple-windowing feature;

	o lacks multiple-buffer/file capability;

	o provides NO on-line help;

	o provides NO indication of mode or status;

	o treats command line as dumb terminal line;

	o non-obvious method of defining and preserving macros;

	o no ability to customize features to anywhere near the extent
	  that you can in Emacs;

	o NO features to handle rectangles of text;

	o NO incremental searching;

	o NO editor server mode ability;

	o NO file, buffer, or command completion;

	o NO reformatting with or without right justification and an
	  arbitrary left fill.

	o NO understanding of many different programming languages,
	  outlines, TeX, nroff, etc., etc.;

	o NO batch mode of operation, for performing general editing
	  functions bundled in a script (which is written in Lisp).

Hey, I was once a staunch vi user and supporter; then I gave Emacs a
fair chance, and used it exclusively for a week.  I was the only one in
the company who was interested in learning it, and no one around me knew
Emacs at the time.  Within one week, I was familiar enough with Emacs to be
able to do all the things I could do in vi, plus lots more.  Ever after,
vi has felt positively claustrophobic.


Happy Editing!
--woodstock
-- 
	   "How did you get your mind to tilt like your hat?"

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