Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!husc6!cmcl2!brl-adm!adm!rbj@nav.icst.nbs.gov From: rbj@nav.icst.nbs.gov (Root Boy Jim) Newsgroups: comp.unix.questions Subject: emacs vs vi Message-ID: <16544@brl-adm.ARPA> Date: 19 Jul 88 01:56:23 GMT Sender: news@brl-adm.ARPA Lines: 32 ? I believe it is possible to create a <500 word summary which will allow a ? complete novice to use vi at a rudimentary level sufficient to create or ? arbitrarily modify any text file (append, insert, delete, save, etc.) I have ? not heard of any such claim made for emacs. If such a summary does exist, ? I would be very glad to hear about it. Please post to me and I will summarize ? to the net. ? John Roberts ? roberts@cmr.icst.nbs.gov Emacs has an online tutorial invoked by ^h t. Try it. Emacs also has online documentation of all variables and funtions, as well as info-mode, which is invoked by ^h i. The editor is self documenting. With vi you need the docs handy or you must have already memorized the command set. I have no problems with vi, other than the fact that I keep typing emacs commands to it :-). Vi is good enough to avoid learning emacs, and I resisted it for years. However, when you *do* invest the time and effort to learn emacs, it pays off royally. The ability to edit multiple files in multople windows and the unlimited undo feature I consider to be the main reasons for switching. You also get dired mode (the ability to edit/delete/rename/copy files in somewhat of a menu mode), integrated make, grep, and shell mode, as well as a nifty mail mode that undigests those long messages for you. I could expound further, but will leave the rest for the novice to discover. (Root Boy) Jim Cottrell National Bureau of Standards Flamer's Hotline: (301) 975-5688 The opinions expressed are solely my own and do not reflect NBS policy or agreement Careful with that VAX Eugene!