Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!midway!ncar!elroy.jpl.nasa.gov!usc!cs.utexas.edu!mayoff
From: mayoff@cs.utexas.edu (Robert Mayoff)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Some questions about vi and emacs
Keywords: vi, vip, Freemacs, mint
Message-ID: <986@latexo.cs.utexas.edu>
Date: 14 Nov 90 01:56:13 GMT
References: <1990Nov13.191004.11654@midway.uchicago.edu>
Organization: Dept of Computer Sciences, UTexas, Austin
Lines: 36

In article <1990Nov13.191004.11654@midway.uchicago.edu> kapil@zarquon.uchicago.edu (Kapil Paranjape) writes:
>For a long term user of vi the real advantage that is offered by emacs
>is the possibility of moving around in insert and replace mode. Of
>course this can also be done in vi with map! but it is nice to have
>this feature in-built (and hence faster?).
                                  ^
Let me comment on this statement. |

To get it out of the way, the arrow keys are by no means faster than
either the normal emacs movement keys nor the vi movement keys for two
reasons: they transmit multiple characters (on most terminals) all of
which must be parsed, and you must take your hand away from the home
keys to use them (a serious slowdown for my 70 WPM speed).  So, let's
ignore them.

Now, let's examine the situation.  In emacs, ^N ^P ^F ^B move in the
cardinal directions.  This means that to move in that fashion, you must
hold down control.  Further, none of these keys is normal under any of
your fingers (if you're a ten-finger touch typist, which I am).
Holding down control is uncomfortable, and then you must reach around
for the movement keys (admittedly not a long reach since keyboards
aren't that huge).

With vi, h j k l move in the cardinal directions, but only in command
mode.  However, to get to command mode from insert/replace mode, I
simply press and release ESC, or ^[ (which I use some terminals).
Then, I get to use keys which are right under my fingers to move.  I
don't have to reach, and I don't have to hold down control.

I'd say it's faster to use the vi keys, and no disadvantage at all.
Yes, you could remap emacs keys to emulate this, but like you said,
it's nice to have this feature "in-built."
-- 
/_  rob		<mayoff@cs.utexas.edu>
 /_ Fun things to do with UNIX (#12 in a series):
  / cd /dev; cat mouse			# Try this on a Sun.  Really!