Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!ncar!oddjob!uwvax!rutgers!topaz.rutgers.edu!ron From: ron@topaz.rutgers.edu (Ron Natalie) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: vi vs emacs in a student environment Message-ID:Date: 8 Jul 88 21:00:33 GMT References: <399@cantuar.UUCP> <11418@steinmetz.ge.com> <6056@megaron.arizona.edu> <747@vsi.UUCP> Organization: Rutgers Univ., New Brunswick, N.J. Lines: 28 Hey, I've been a UNIX systems programmer for nearly ten years now. I've worked on UNIX from Version 6 to System V to nearly every possible flavor of BSD. I've worked on IBM-PC's and braindamaged Intel not-quite- finished-yet development systems. I've made quite a nice living on both my regular job and consulting. I never use vi. The only editor that I can count on working, without having to worry if terminfo/termcap is installed properly, has my terminal type in it, etc... is "ed." Some of these systems don't even have "vi." The only thing I know how to do in vi is type ":q." (actually, this is not true anymore, I spend a month last year debugging a UniPress EMACS vi emulator, so I had to learn a few vi commands in order to test it). Teach students "ed," that way they learn what regular expressions are. My wife and quite a few people around here who were taught "vi" and EMACS as their first editor have the slightest idea how to construct regular expressions...of course, nobody around here knows what the file system looks like now that they have FSCK. You know what else I don't like? Those overhead bins on airplanes. It used to be that you had to fit your carry on stuff under the seat and all you could put above your head is your jacket. Now as soon as a plane pulls up to the gate, half the plane jumps up and starts unloading their life's possessions from these stupid bins, dropping them on people and blocking the aisles. It used to be possible to get off a plane in a reasonable amount of time, but not anymore... -Ron