[mythtv-users] Scary times ahead

[Lane Schwartz]

On 5/11/05, Greg <greg.d at cwgsy.net> wrote:
> 
> >
> > On Wed 11 May 2005 20:33, Ross Campbell wrote:
> > > My advice:
> > >
> > > - Learn how to use vi
> >
> > Not wishing to start a vi related discussion however I think
> > Vi to the Linux newbie is like a brick to a drowning man. Far
> > better for a newbie to learn something like Emacs or even a
> > GUI editor such as Kate before they look at vi.
> 
> The gui editors I can understand.....but Emacs over Vi for ease of use???

At the risk of continuing an OT thread.... :)

Before I start, let me go on record as recommending Kate (or other
similar app) as the best Linux text editor for a Linux beginner to
use.

Emacs and vi are both *very hard* for a beginner to use. That said,
yes, for a complete beginner, emacs is somewhat easier than vi.  Two
main reasons for this:

1) Emacs runs by default with a GUI. This means that if you don't know
the key combo to, for example, save a file, you can click on the Save
button in the toolbar, or you can go to the File menu and select Save.
Compare to vi, where, if you don't know a key command, you must, at a
minimum, know how to look up that key command.

2) Key commands in emacs are at least somewhat similar to standard key
commands in standard GUI apps. No, they're not the same. But if you
know Ctl-S, it's not a huge stretch to use Ctl-X Ctl-S. And more
importantly, the paradigm is the same: modifier key + letter key. Yes,
you have to learn new key combos, but that's less of a jump than
having to know to press colon and then a letter. Also, the key
commands are listed in the GUI menu. So the first time you go to the
Edit menu and choose Cut, you can see that the key combo is Ctl-w.
Knowing this, you might try using the key combo the next time.


Less important, but still a factor is...

3) Emacs is a text editor. It has many eccentricities when compared to
standard graphical text editors, but it's still a text editor. Vi is
half text viewer, half text editor. Before you can use it, you have to
know how to change into edit mode.


Lane

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