vi or emacs for editing Python on Linux?

[Fernando Pérez]

maxm wrote:

> One of my biggest problems in switching is my editor. On windows I use
> Ultraedit as a general editor, and i type really fast in it. Knowing the
> shortcuts and all. Every time I boot up one of my Linux machines I have a
> hard time editing files under the arcane unix editors. I have tried both
> emacs and vim and I disklike both!

I'm more of an Xemacs person than vi, but I'm not going to bash either here. 
What I'm going to say is: when I started using linux, I already had some 
fairly ingrained keyboard habits from windows, which I didn't want to lose. 
So I spent some time customizing the keybindings for Xemacs (gvim didn't 
exist at the time) to mimic a lot of what I knew from windows. The only 
problem I now have is that even though I fly in Xemacs, I can't do anything 
in a 'raw' emacs, I need *my* customizations :)

So my point is: both are excellent tools, but go with a graphical one (either 
Xemacs or gvim). And before you go too far, spend some time fixing the 
keyboard shortcuts to everything you already know, it will save you *a lot* 
of grief. If shift-arrow selection is second nature to you, look at the 
latest Xemacs version which finally implements it.

If you decide to go the xemacs way, I can mail you my customization file and 
you can start from there. I know exactly 0 lisp, but by copying other 
people's files and fixing them I have a very nicely setup Xemacs for my work.

> 
> My understanding is that for emacs I have to use a lisp dialect to
> automate/extend it, and in vim I can use Python as an extension language of
> sort. Do I understand that correctly?

As others have said, now you can do the same thing in emacs using pymacs.

> I would especially like to use my next editor on my notebook with as little
> use of the mouse as possible.

don't worry. Just about every good unix tool views the mouse as a secondary 
option. You'll never find a decent unix editor *forcing* you to use the 
mouse, as is all too common in the windows world.

good luck,

f.