Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!cs.utexas.edu!ut-emx!ccwf.cc.utexas.edu
From: chudnall@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Christopher Hudnall)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: 8-bit comments : was Re: You could have anything in vi; now...
Keywords: vi
Message-ID: <46120@ut-emx.uucp>
Date: 25 Mar 91 03:58:10 GMT
References: <#QL#6B@cs.widener.edu>
Sender: news@ut-emx.uucp
Reply-To: chudnall@ccwf.cc.utexas.edu (Christopher Hudnall)
Organization: University of Texas at Austin Computation Center
Lines: 15

On 8-bit compatibility and vi:

	Vi's single greatest weakness is the inability to properly
handle non-text data.  In particular, this line-length problem has
to go.  To test whether this has been done, the easiest approach
is to see if the prospective vi can edit a program binary correctly.
This requires being able to handle lines of any length, or simply
not using the idea of a ``line'' as an important internal structure.
The also requires being able to see and manipulate octal data. 

	This problem has literally made vi *unusable* for certain tasks,
whereas the lack of full programmability has only made some tasks less
convenient than they might be---hence my emphasis on this issue.

Good Luck