Re: Hard to switch from vi

[Floyd L. Davidson]

don provan <dprovan@comcast.net> wrote:
>Lennart Borgman <lennart.borgman.073@student.lu.se> writes:
>
>> Well, I have to push two keys to type control-f. Don't you?
>
>Emacs users don't notice this any more than we notice using shift to
>get capital letters: modifiers are an advantage, not an overhead. But
>obviously if you see that as two keystrokes, you're likely to get very
>near double the number of keystrokes for Emacs over vi.
>
>> Beginning to use vi keys are rather tough. But once you are used to
>> them they can be very good. I know since they are good for me ;-)

The actual key bindings have relatively little to do with it.
While one set may be easier to learn initially (and the *same*
set will be harder for someone else), the learning curve is
relatively short compared to using those key bindings for the
rest of your life.

It becomes absolutely automatic.

I've been using one form or another of emacs for well over 20
years now.  I do *not* think about key bindings, at all.  And I
haven't for two decades.  The realization that I want a
particular action happens in my head, but the reflex to get that
command enacted is totally in my fingers.

What you want to be concerned with is how well *that* level of
familiarity works for you.  People are different, and one
interface may well be perfect for me while useless for you.

>Yes, I'm obviously not that familiar with the keys, but the point I
>was making was about the fact that the vi approach requires my mind to
>be in sync with the editor's mode, and whenever the two are out of
>sync, there's going to be trouble. I consider this *the* principle
>difference between the two editors, and why I would never for a moment
>consider switching to vi. I hate CAPSLOCK and the PC Insert key for
>the same reason.

That is exactly the case.  I too think the primary difference is
that for me a modeless editor is easy to use, and a modeful
editor drives me up a tree.  For others it is exactly the
opposite.  (Granted that one method used by people like me to
deal with Vi is to append, automatically, key strokes to the end
of every command to bring it back to one particular mode.)

If Vi fits *you*, go with it.  If emacs does, go with that.  But
don't dwell on the parts that make no difference, such as whether
it uses ESC or CNTL as a key modifier.

-- 
Floyd L. Davidson            <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)                         floyd@apaflo.com