[CLUE-Tech] my beloved pine and pico

[Jed S. Baer]

On Fri, 06 Feb 2004 23:21:26 -0500
Angelo Bertolli <angelo at freeshell.org> wrote:

> >Also, as much as people think emacs is the editor from hell, it can
> >actually be quite easy to use.  For one thing there is no distinction
> >between "command" mode and "edit" mode (ala, vi).  Plus, with the
> >menus and such, I think a newbie could do quite well.
> >
> No, of course it's much easier to use ctrl-c ctrl-m ctrl-x ctrl-f to 
> load a file!  Honestly I think vi is easier.  I only say that because I 
> could never get the hang of emacs, and I appreciate the efficiency of vi
> once you get used to it.  I wish I could start using emacs because it is
> more than just an editor, and can be configured to become an IDE or 
> other cool things.  (I bet emacs could even serve as a shell.)  But I 
> can't even figure out how to use it.  I was really naive to think I 
> could figure out the .emacs file which are probably 100x more confusing.
> 
> The the with the "I like vi" vs "I like emacs" debate is that both are 
> considerably powerful/nice to use, and as such both take a certain 
> amount of time to learn.  Therefore, once you learn one, the law of 
> diminishing returns just isn't on your side to learn the other one.

After attempting to use emacs for a couple of years, I finally gave up. I
know one genuine emacs bigot. I finally got a good one on him a while ago,
when he was raving about the power of "chording" to quickly execute
editing commands. I told him that if I wanted to chord, I'd learn to play
the piano.

Here are some apt observations on emacs: http://www.lickey.com/emacs/

Not that I care much for vi. I use it.

Now, EDT -- there's an editor!

jed
-- 
http://s88369986.onlinehome.us/freedomsight/

... it is poor civic hygiene to install technologies that could someday
facilitate a police state. -- Bruce Schneier