Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP
Path: utzoo!mnetor!seismo!rutgers!sri-spam!sri-unix!hplabs!ucbvax!YALE.ARPA!tomabechi
From: tomabechi@YALE.ARPA (Hideto Tomabechi)
Newsgroups: net.emacs
Subject: Re-to Re: Why emacs?
Message-ID: <8610091947.AA02102@Yale-Bulldog.YALE.ARPA>
Date: Thu, 9-Oct-86 15:47:06 EDT
Article-I.D.: Yale-Bul.8610091947.AA02102
Posted: Thu Oct  9 15:47:06 1986
Date-Received: Fri, 10-Oct-86 05:51:13 EDT
Sender: daemon@ucbvax.BERKELEY.EDU
Organization: The ARPA Internet
Lines: 56

<<
    In article <21600007@uiucuxc> dorner@uiucuxc.CSO.UIUC.EDU writes:
    >
    >I've used lots of editors, even wrote one once.  I've been using vi for
    >some time now, and like it.  But I hear such fanatical comments from
    >emacs users that my curiosity has been piqued.  I tried it once, but when
    >I found out that I had to use control characters to get around, I backed 
    >out in a hurry.
    >
    >So, emacs evangelists, convert me.  Tell me why emacs is so nifty.
    
    	Others will probably go into all of emacs features, but I would
    like to stress what I found important.  I will start with some personal
    history.  I used a modified ed for close to two years and managed to get
    quite a bit done.  I probably could have used vi, but on a PDP 11/23 it
    would have been pretty bad.
    
    	Then I started to program on VAXes and of course I wanted to use
    a full screen editor.  I started using vi and continued for a couple of
    months.  Before mastering vi, a friend introduced me to emacs.  (I still
    haven't mastered vi.)
    
    	The feature that really attracted me was the multiple windows.
    I have a tendency to want to look at related code at the same time and I
    hate to fight with printouts.  The 'compile' commands which would catch
    the error messages from the compiler and parse them was also a nice
    feature.  The automatic C indentation mode is very nice.  This, however,
    can be very obnoxious if it doesn't match your coding style.
    
    	I have backed off from emacs a bit now and I currently use the
    jove editor.  It has most of the standard emacs commands, but it doesn't
    have a built-in programming language for writting functions.  On systems
    where I have compared it, it takes up no more space then vi and gives
    you all of the features mentioned above.  It is also useable on systems
    without job control unlike full blown versions of emacs.
    
    	I should probably note that I do still go back to ed on
    occassion when I am doing some really heavy text massaging.  Usually,
    this is something which should be better left to sed.  I avoid using vi
    whenever possible.
    
    				Bill Bogstad
    				bogstad@hopkins-eecs-bravo.arpa
    
>>

I have an exactly opposite experience.  I used emacs for few years on a Unix
machine; however, I no longer use it. It is because my o/s now supports
multi-window and also that it is easier to manuever text by mouse then by
Ctls' and Metas'.

 -- hideto tomabechi
    tomabechi@yale.arpa


-------