[geeks] vi vs. emacs - rational discussion

[R. Lonstein]

On Fri, Apr 02, 2004 at 11:33:14PM -0600, Bill Bradford wrote:
> I learned vi when I first touched a unix box.
> 
> I now use VIM, solely for color syntax highlighting.

Same story. First vi, then vim but see below.

> Why (if any reasons), should I consider learning Emacs?

For the past eighteen months I've been using XEmacs, though GNU Emacs
has mostly caught up. My original reasoning was that nearly all the
people I work with use XEmacs and they suggested that I try it. It
took a while but now I can pretty much work all day in emacs without
leaving or switching out except for web browsing- shell, directory
browser, editor with syntax highlighting and completion, debugger,
hooks to revision control and a mail reader (though I prefer mutt) are
all there. The multiple panes and ediff tool are very useful, too. I
find that if I need to do something in Emacs that it's either already
there (sumo package) or I can STFW and someone has already cobbled it
together. None of this requires a knowledge of Lisp but a little trial
and error cut-and-paste messing around gets (most) of what I want.

> (note: I have vi movement/editing commands hardwired into my 
>  brain by this point)

There is Viper, the Vi emulation for emacs. I hated it but
I know of people who used it.
 
> Discuss amongst yourselves.

Yeah, flame on! :)

- Ross