Emacs vs. Eclipse vs. Vim

[Richard Riley]

Roy Smith <roy at panix.com> writes:

> In article <gh079v$kl5$1 at news.motzarella.org>,
>  Richard Riley <rileyrgdev at gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Roy Smith <roy at panix.com> writes:
>> 
>> > Clay Hobbs <clay at lakeserv.net> wrote:
>> >> The first real text editor I used was Vim, which I actually started
>> >> using about a year ago.  I've looked at Emacs and it just looks
>> >> confusing.
>> >
>> > I've been using emacs for so many years (um let's see, it's got to be close 
>> > to 25 years now; first saw it on Columbia's TOPS-20 systems in the early 
>> > 80's) that my fingers know what they're doing without my even thinking 
>> > about it.  In fact, I used to work with another emacs nut.  Every so often, 
>> > one of use would watch the other do something and ask, "What was that?".  
>> > Inevitably, neither of us could evoke the keystrokes we had just typed.  We 
>> > would just re-do it, and watch our fingers to see what we typed.  It didn't 
>> > even have to be on a keyboard; we could air-type it, and that was good 
>> > enough.
>> >
>> > In any case, the basic logic behind emacs is pretty simple.  C-F is forward 
>> > one character.  C-B is back one character.  C-N is Next line.  C-P is 
>> > Previous line.
>> 
>> It's worth pointing out to people making "loony" signs here that the
>> arrow keys work too ....
>
> Yeah, I guess.  I use the arrows keys to mindlessly scroll around in a 
> file, especially when I just want to show some code to somebody.  It serves 
> two purposes.  First, I can lean way back from the keyboard and reach out 
> with one hand (giving the other person better visibility).  Second, it 
> makes it easier for a non-emacs person to jump in and drive for a while 
> (they saw me use the arrow keys and do the same, no explanations needed).
>
> For any serious editing, however, it's strictly the keys on the main part 
> of the keyboard.  It's just so much faster when your hands never have to 
> leave their home position.  To use the arrow keys, I need to pick my hand 
> up and move it over to the arrow key cluster.  Slow, slow, slow.

Have to disagree. I could never use C-f etc. If I want to navigate the
cursor its generally to browse and the 10th of a second it takes to rest
hand on the cursor pad is immaterial in the time compared to sit  back
and read the code.

I find the reference to using control keys to naviaget code character
and line at time leads to more people abandoning emacs than you would
believe. All it needs is a "cursor keys or, for hardcore types, the
following key sequences".

Still. all to their own.


-- 
 important and urgent problems of the technology of today are no longer the satisfactions of the primary needs or of archetypal wishes, but the reparation of the evils and damages by the technology of yesterday.  ~Dennis Gabor, Innovations:  Scientific, Technological and Social, 1970