Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!lll-winken!lll-tis!ames!amdcad!cae780!leadsv!laic!nova!darin From: darin@nova.laic.uucp (Darin Johnson) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: Re: vi vs emacs in a student environment Message-ID: <287@laic.UUCP> Date: 8 Jul 88 02:03:05 GMT References: <399@cantuar.UUCP> <11418@steinmetz.ge.com> <6056@megaron.arizona.edu> <11641@ism780c.isc.com> Sender: news@laic.UUCP Lines: 52 > In article <1633@hoqax.UUCP> bicker@hoqax.UUCP (The Resource, Poet of Quality) writes: >>I learned vi first (well actually, I learned TECO first, but that's >>another story) and then learned emacs. Actually, I learned neither first (UCSD-Pascal editor and EDT were the major ones). Although I became ingrained thoroughly with vi (never actually tried emacs for more than a few minutes), as soon as I ended up in the real world, I was stuck with EDT (for VMS). Of course, it would be nice if everyone ran UNIX (or even if almost everyone ran UNIX). Most editors are very disimilar to vi, and I never did learn EDT very well. Eventually TPU (extensible editor for VMS) came out and I fell in love with it. Later I started managing some UNIX systems part-time. Even though I finally got Gnu Emacs on VMS and UNIX, I still end up using TPU on VMS, and vi on UNIX. I use Emacs exclusively on my Amiga, so I am not unfamiliar with it. Even so, using three editors all the time, I don't seem to get too confused. UNIX: vi is partially ingrained, and emacs takes too long to pop up (I never got the hang of leaving it lying around, etc.) Also my terminal (the infamous vt220) doesn't have an excape or meta key handy. I do use Emacs when the occasion warrants. VMS: Emacs just takes too darn long to pull up. TPU gives me about the same power, considering that Emacs on VMS doesn't let me do all that it does on UNIX. I hop directories so much, that even if I leave Emacs running, I have to change directory whenever I reattach to Emacs. Symbolics: Emacs is all there is, 'nuff said. Amiga: Anyone who uses ed or edit instead of microEmacs, has probably never used microEmacs (or microGnuEmacs). I can even get used to meta-control-mouse-in-text-window type commands. If I were to explicitly force a STUDENT to use vi or emacs, I would probably have him use vi, just because it has a shorter ramp up time. The teaching assistants, terminal room attendants, and the person sitting next to them probably know vi also and can help the student. For a user with some experience, I would suggest emacs (which is what I suggest new UNIX users use on my system). Something between the two is what I would suggest if there were such a thing. When the students get to the real (possibly non-unix) world, this fictitious editor would be more similar to what they will encounter (such as always being in insert-mode). If Emacs is available, it will be easy to ramp up to. If vi is all that's around, it isn't that hard for a college graduate to learn. A final alternative is to start the students off on vi, but let them know that Emacs is available and encourage them to learn it later on when they can afford the time, and have the basic's of editing learned. Of course, knowing students, this is impracticle. Darin Johnson (...pyramid.arpa!leadsv!laic!darin) (...ucbvax!sun!sunncal!leadsv!laic!darin) "All aboard the DOOMED express!"