Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!mailrus!uunet!microsoft!t-rayc
From: t-rayc@microsoft.UUCP (Raymond CHEN)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.ibm.pc
Subject: Re: vi-like editor for PC
Message-ID: <55644@microsoft.UUCP>
Date: 4 Jul 90 20:31:38 GMT
References: <4226@peora.ccur.com> <46500136@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu>
Reply-To: t-rayc@microsoft.UUCP (Raymond CHEN)
Organization: Microsoft Corp., Redmond WA
Lines: 23

In article <46500136@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu> ctt31684@uxa.cso.uiuc.edu writes:
>I just had to reply... 

So did I.

>To me Xedit is the closest thing I know to vi.

To everybody else out there who hasn't used Xedit, let me warn you
that Xedit is nothing like vi.  Xedit breaks the screen into different
sections; for example, typing the letter "d" and hitting "Enter" has
the following effects, depending on where you typed the "d":

	In the text region:  Inserts the letter d into your document.
	In the prefix region:  Deletes the line from the document.
	In the command region:  Move the "current line" down one line.

Xedit was designed for the IBM 3270 terminal family, which means that
nothing actually happens until you hit "Enter".  (Modulo function
keys with the "IMMEDIATE" attribute.)

Summary:  Although more flexible, Xedit is clumsier to use.  Xedit's
column operations are useful when editing fixed-field data files.
(Very handy when editing punch cards.  I'm not joking.)