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Re: [LUG] VI alternative

 

Alex Charrett wrote:

> On the other hand there's bound to be ocassions where vi is all you've got 
> to try and rescue a system with.  I oringially learnt vi because I had to 
> use Solaris at work, and now that's all I use.  Going back to something 
> else just feels clunky!  Mmm, regex.

In the dim and distant past when I was a student, I used microemacs out
of preference.  Then I got a job in the real world working for a company
that was supplied hundreds of different UNIX(-like) machines by OEMs all
over the world.  The only full-screen editor you could guarantee you'd
find on any machine you logged into was vi, so I quickly learned to use
it.  Almost twenty years later, vi is now so deeply ingrained in my
subconcious that I don't think twice about how to do things and I still
use it because it's pretty much the only editor you can be sure will be
installed on any given system.  I'd love to have vi-style modal editing
for thunderbird.  As you say, anything else just feels clunky,
especially if it requires that I take my hands off the keyboard (or even
away from the "home" keys, really) to perform some operations.

James

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