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From: jfr@locus.com (Jon Rosen)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Yet another screen editor
Keywords: new editor
Message-ID: <21335@oolong.la.locus.com>
Date: 18 Jan 91 16:39:45 GMT
References: <3042@unccvax.uncc.edu> <1991Jan16.230527.3200@cs.uiuc.edu> <3879@pta.oz.au>
Organization: Locus Computing Corp, Los Angeles
Lines: 52

In article <3879@pta.oz.au> bgg@pta.oz.au (Ben Golding) writes:
>In article <1991Jan16.230527.3200@cs.uiuc.edu> joshi@cs.uiuc.edu (Anil Joshi) writes:
>>2. Try not to force the user to give counts for everything. This is a
>>real problem wih vi (like I wanna delete next some words, so I have to
>>count the number of words or think up a complicated Reg.Expr. Deletion
>>of lines poses the same problem).
>
>I disagree entirely.  Vi has exactly this capability by using the
>various positioning commands, for example:
>
> 	d) 	delete to end of sentence
>	d}	delete to end of paragraph
>	d$	delete to end of line
>	d%	delete to matching parenthesis
>	dfx	delete up to and including first character x
>	dtx	delete up to first character x
>

As a novice vi user (and a very experienced Xedit/Kedit/Ispf user on
both mainframes and PCs), this is an example of what I consider vi's
biggest defects: the lack of intuitive command names...  
To indulge in a bit of "If I were the king of the forest", I would
probably have chosen the following initials:

> 	ds 	delete to end of sentence
>	dp	delete to end of paragraph
>	de	delete to end of line
>	d)	delete to matching parenthesis
>	dix	delete up to and including first character x
>	dfx	delete up to first character x
   
In general, this is the most annoying aspect of vi (and of Unix as well
IMHO)... The editor itself is not bad although I object to the modal
operation (the constant switching between command mode and text entry
mode)... This is handled in most PC editors much better... Of course,
it does preclude the use of letters as commands, requiring instead that
you start all commands with some kind of function/ctl/command/alt key
or special character (like a :)... vi does some of that as well so it
is not that big a deal...  More importantly it allows you to just type
stuff into your document or program without worrying whether you are
in the "right mode"... 
 
Anyway, enough said... I started out hating vi, now I tolerate it and
I am finding out about its interesting quirks... It is certainly very
powerful... As always in computing (whether it is editors, operating
systems or languages), what you know tends to be what you like...
Changing is a painful process (sometimes) but once you get used to the
change, it is not as bad as you thought it would be....
 
Jon Rosen