Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!husc6!bbn!rochester!ur-tut!joss
From: joss@ur-tut (Josh Sirota)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Inputting characters to an editor (was Re: EMACS better than Vi?)
Message-ID: <2021@ur-tut.UUCP>
Date: 10 May 88 17:11:35 GMT
References: <449@novavax.UUCP> <10000003@snail> <52207@sun.uucp> <1197@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU> <1181@maccs.UUCP>
Reply-To: joss@tut.cc.rochester.edu (Josh Sirota)
Organization: Univ. of Rochester, Computing Center
Lines: 37

In article <1181@maccs.UUCP> gordan@maccs.UUCP () writes:
>In article <1197@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU> fowser@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Scott Fowser) writes:
>-One feature about vi that I like is the ability to keep you fingers in
>-one place during the whole editing session, whether inserting or
>-editing.  Having to press escape to leave insert mode is inconvenient, but
>-I define "K" to mean escape from insert mode with
>
>You're right, the most annoying part about using Emacs (for me, anyway)
>is hitting Control keys and Escape sequences.  But once you get used to
>the extra power Emacs provides, it will be a case of "how did I ever
>live without all these capabilities?"

You don't even really need the special meta-keys that some keyboards provide.
The ESCAPE key is just as natural for me to hit as any other key on the
keyboard without moving my hands (just like delete) and control is even more
natural.  Quick (and seasoned) EMACS users have no need to have their hands
ever leave the main part of the keyboard.  My left pinky just seems to
naturally alternate between all of those keys on the left side, like control
and escape.

I personally now have major problems with the keyboards that move control
down to the lower left and escape to the upper right ...  Big problems.
Fortunately, in a powerful editor like EMACS (actually, I use Jove ALL the
time, for everything, on PC's and UNIX machines (and a VMS version is in the
works too)) you can bind the backquote key to the same function that escape
is usually bound to and I don't notice the movement of the escape key at
all.  To use backquote I merely quote it, as though I was inserting some
other control character.

So your complaints about EMACS may make sense when you're trying to learn
it, but once you're used to it then it's silly.

Josh
-- 
Josh Sirota
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