What?!?! vi did not make the list?

Story: Article demystifies "top ten" Linux shell commandsTotal Replies: 15
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PaulFerris

Oct 20, 2005
4:53 AM EDT
I can't believe the inaccuracy here.

New Linux users should be forced at gunpoint to use vi. This, by the way, is likely the reason ESR is such a gun-toting nut. Likely he needs the added motivational value for new vi users brought on by a .38 caliber hand-gun.

PS: yes, it's supposed to be sarcasm -- only EMACs oriented flaming will be responded to.
tuxchick

Oct 20, 2005
10:27 AM EDT
EMACS is perfect for users who enjoy difficult four- and five-key keyboard command sequences, and who don't mind loading up a multi-megabyte bloat-o-monster to edit simple text files. Plus, it's a floor wax and a dessert topping.
PaulFerris

Oct 20, 2005
10:33 AM EDT
tuxchick: you forgot to mention that they recently ported the Linux kernel to emacs, so now you have your favorite OS features like Xwindows available as sub-tasks.

The hard part was the device-driver to lisp interpretor, from what I understand. --FeriCyde
TxtEdMacs

Oct 20, 2005
10:58 AM EDT
Quoting:PS: yes, it's supposed to be sarcasm -- only EMACs oriented flaming will be responded to.


With tuxchick response, would you clarify whether you meant flame from or against emacs partisans. Upon reading your post script I thought it meant the former, However, I thought I have little time for meaningless rants on a personal choice such as an editor - particularly when I have used vi key combinations to view my command history using the Korn shell on Unix and my editor of choice still is emacs for both Unix and Linux. Hence, I can see the value on both sides, but the excess passion for either eludes me.
PaulFerris

Oct 20, 2005
11:25 AM EDT
TxtEd: Listen, I have a hard time with expressing a non-biased attitude.

EMACs is in your frickin' nickname, for cryin' out loud!

I see which side of the fence you're on. Try and pretend you're unbiased! Ha!

--FeriCyde
tuxchick

Oct 20, 2005
11:32 AM EDT
Don't forget how much fun you can have integrating EMACs and Mutt. Then you can easily fill those idle, empty hours trying to tweak your Mutt filters to do things like filter on middle initials followed by a dot and two spaces every other Thursday, and crabbing at your senders about their wrong line breaks and unsupported MIME formats, and never being quite sure if it's EMACs or Mutt that is sabotaging you behind your back. And sometimes to your face.

and when that becomes dull, add Procmail to the brew. You'll never be bored again. Vexed, frustrated, and nearly homicidal, but never bored!
Tsela

Oct 20, 2005
1:01 PM EDT
What about those sane people like me who use *neither* VI nor Emacs? Can we get to flame both sides? Please? ;)
PaulFerris

Oct 20, 2005
1:08 PM EDT
Tsela: I take you to be one of those rare "edlin" DOS users. If so, that disqualifies you, unfortunately, as the files have DOS format problems...
Tsela

Oct 20, 2005
4:35 PM EDT
"edlin"? Never heard of it. "DOS"? Sorry, but I've never touched DOS (I'm writing this with the first PC I ever bought, and that was 4 years ago only).

No, I'm not monogamous when it comes to editors (mono-editorus? ;) ). I'll use one at one moment and another at another moment, depending on the environment I'm in and my whim (and what I want to do). So, may I flame both Emacs and vi users then? ;)
PaulFerris

Oct 20, 2005
5:16 PM EDT
Tsela: Alright, if you insist -- just take a good piece of advice from me here (follow my lead, in other words), and be as balanced in your flaming as possible.

You know how sensitive those stupid, insipid EMACs users can be.

--FeriCyde

richo123

Oct 20, 2005
5:59 PM EDT
I don't understand these stupid emacs versus vi contests.

I've used both and they are both good for shortish editing. Sounds like some people have some serious cultural issues on this topic. I know they can be endlessly configured by "mega-geeks" but so what?

I prefer something slicker for large source codes which I need to work on for hours. I've found kate very nice- it has good syntax highlighting, really nice fonts (remember those hours of eye strain) and what really pushes it over the line for me is the really easy remote editing using kde networking. I have codes on five different machines all over lans and the internet and can deal with all that with ease with kate. I tried setting that up with emacs and it is possible but it was very buggy and the documentation %$#@!. I haven't seen a way of getting vi to do remote editing except through the obvious method of opening a window remotely.
dinotrac

Oct 20, 2005
7:21 PM EDT
Shame on you all.

EMACS is a gift from RMS.

Should that not make it sacred?

Vi is merely very useful, though, in fairness, today's high bandwidth renders its biggest advantage (do 193 things with 1 keystroke!!!) unimportant.
tuxchick

Oct 20, 2005
7:53 PM EDT
dino, look out your window. The acolytes with flaming torches should be appearing about now. Don't worry, it's just a lil ole purification thang. You'll feel much better soon.
salparadise

Oct 21, 2005
12:11 AM EDT
We are the knights who say "vi"...

Sorry.

Couldn't resist.
PaulFerris

Oct 21, 2005
1:02 AM EDT
salparadise: That's more like it! An integrated Python reference to vi! I'm going to use that over and over at work :0)

Tuxchick: The mob won't appear outside my window -- it'll be outside my cubicle. I'm sure duct-tape will be one if their first changes to my countenance...
dinotrac

Oct 21, 2005
5:51 PM EDT
Tuxchick...

I'm not worried...

I've rigged my keyboard to emit an audible ZZ...

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