pymacs! :-)

[Andrei Kulakov]

On Thu, 6 Sep 2001 13:46:49 +0200, Alex Martelli <aleax at aleax.it> wrote:
> "Carel Fellinger" <cfelling at iae.nl> wrote in message
> news:9n5pch$806$1 at animus.fel.iae.nl...
>> François Pinard <pinard at iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:
>> ...
>> > My real end goal is using Python instead of LISP for an extension
> language
>> > for Emacs, as needed.  I'm jealous of "vim" users! :-)
>>
>> Me too, I even tried to wrap my mind to dig the modes of vim, but in vain.
> 
> I think that's because the mind is not the part that learns the modes: it's
> rather the fingers.  If I stop to think out "what mode am I in" when
> editing,
> my performance drops to even lower than it is with non-vi-based editors --
> if
> I just let my fingers fly and keep my mind on more strategically oriented
> issues, such as "what am I supposed to be writing about", then the speed
> is excellent and my hands don't get tired as they do with other editors...
> 
> It's like walking -- if you think about exactly where and how you should
> be moving and placing each foot, you'll walk slowly and haltingly; your
> _feet_ are the parts of you that really knows about walking's low-level
> issues, so, use your mind for strategic overview instead, don't let it
> micro-manage the feet, and stroll happily along:-).
> 
> 
> Alex

I agree wholeheartedly, and the only thing I can add is that there is a
certain change of editing strategy that comes after you used a modal
editor like vim for a while: instead of writing and editing at the same
time you learn to split the process in two batches: first you type in a
large body of text, perhaps a paragraph or a page, then you jump into
command mode and see what you need to change and move around, if anything.

It's similar to writing perl in python or vice versa - if you use a modal
editor in a non-modal way you only get a small fraction of benefits, at
best.

- Andrei 

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