Path: utzoo!yunexus!ists!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!cs.utexas.edu!samsung!uakari.primate.wisc.edu!larry!cupcake!jwp
From: jwp@larry.sal.wisc.edu (Jeffrey W Percival)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: vi (vs VMS/EDT)
Keywords: DEC bashing
Message-ID: <114@cupcake.sal.wisc.edu>
Date: 15 Nov 89 21:53:26 GMT
Article-I.D.: cupcake.114
References: <1989Nov14.223604.17418@cs.eur.nl> <1989Nov15.202718.12762@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: jwp@cupcake.sal.wisc.edu.UUCP (Jeffrey W Percival)
Organization: Space Astronomy Laboratory, Madison, WI
Lines: 21

In article <1989Nov15.202718.12762@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Doug McDonald) writes:
>Consider this: start typing in something (after hitting "i" of course)
>then step out for a Coke.  Come back: your cursor is in the middle of
>the page. Are you in insert mode or not? Start typing - DAMMIT - oops,
>I forgot that I really DID hit escape before going for that Coke. Utter
>mess ensues.

I guess I don't get this.  First, perhaps stepping out of your office
when you are in insert mode is a habit you should consider changing.
Computers crash, you know.  Second, hitting the Esc key is OK if you're
not in insert mode.  I often poke the Escape just out of habit, to
"re-initialize" myself.  I can stand the beep, and it's no more trouble
than looking up the answer on some part of the screen.  In fact, I often
do this subliminally while I am looking at something more interesting
than my editor mode.

Use whatever editor you like, but to maintain maximum effectiveness
in the debate you should avoid arguments like "vi is bad because it
didn't work after I put jelly in my keyboard."
-- 
-Jeffrey W Percival (jwp@larry.sal.wisc.edu) (608)262-8686