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From: bjorn@alberta.UUCP (Bjorn R. Bjornsson)
Newsgroups: comp.text
Subject: Re: edt or vi?
Message-ID: <172@pembina.alberta.UUCP>
Date: Tue, 6-Jan-87 05:58:28 EST
Article-I.D.: pembina.172
Posted: Tue Jan  6 05:58:28 1987
Date-Received: Tue, 6-Jan-87 22:45:43 EST
References: <241@tellab5.UUCP> <397@jimi.cs.unlv.edu>
Organization: U. of Alberta, Edmonton, AB
Lines: 44
Summary: EDT sucks vi through a straw!!

In article <397@jimi.cs.unlv.edu>, robert@jimi.cs.unlv.edu (Robert Cray) writes:
> In article <241@tellab5.UUCP> etan@tellab3.UUCP (Nate Stelton) writes:
> >I am a UNIX/vi user who was recently told about EDT (under VMS), and I would
> >like to solicit some comments.  What I'm wondering is:
> >
> >1.  Is EDT a superior text editor to vi?

Yes, for 95% of editing tasks.  Use vi/ex, sed, awk or Gnumacs
for heavy duty manipulations.

> 	No.  VI has many things EDT does not, regular expressions,
> 	the g & v commands, conditional replacement, the undo command,
> 	and lots more.  EDT does not really do anything.

True vi has many things that edt does not.  Regular expressions are
sorely missed, etc..

Much as I hate to paraphrase John Kenneth Galbraith, I still think
he has the definitive comment on the matter (no the original was
not about text editors):

	Where text editors are concerned there are few standards.
	No one can say what is good and what is bad, although you
	can be sure that everyone will.

I know you won't believe me but I know a person who first learned
vi and was subsequently more or less forced to use edt (for lack
of vi on VMS).  You had better believe that to begin with there
was no love lost on edt.  But now many years after VMS and several
Unix systems later he still prefers edt.  Me, I saw edt before I
saw vi and you know by now which one I prefer.  It's fairly easy
to modify just about any of the microEmacs editors that have been
posted to the net to emulate edt keypad mode + use regular expressions.
It helps to have a reasonably sized keyboard or an Atari ST.

Oh and by the way, on of the premier features in edt is reverse video
on "select ranges" (regions to you Emacs hackers).  This has not
been duplicated (for obvious reasons) in any Emacs package written
to emulate edt.

		Don't let YOU keep ME awake,

			Bjorn R. Bjornsson
			alberta!bjorn