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From: mikep@ism780c.isc.com (Michael A. Petonic)
Newsgroups: comp.editors,alt.flame
Subject: Re: vi vs. emacs
Message-ID: <14700@ism780c.isc.com>
Date: 27 Aug 88 00:38:07 GMT
References: <16697@brl-adm.ARPA> <517@uva.UUCP> <661@buengc.BU.EDU> <2679@mipos3.intel.com> <700@buengc.BU.EDU> <2716@mipos3.intel.com> <926@buengc.BU.EDU>
Reply-To: mikep@ism780c.UUCP (Michael A. Petonic)
Followup-To: alt.flame
Organization: Interactive Systems Corp., Santa Monica CA
Lines: 62

In article <926@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
 >In article <2716@mipos3.intel.com> nate@mipos3.intel.com (Nate Hess) writes:
 >>In article <700@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
 >>>In article <2679@mipos3.intel.com> I write:
 >>>>In article <661@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
 >>>>>I once went into the info mode of Emacs, saw the menu of commands [...]
 >>>
 >>>				--Blair
 >>>				  "No help is better than Emacs 'help.'"
 >>
 >>There is an entire, indexed, cross-referenced Emacs manual available
 >>on-line if you type 'i' at this point.  This goes into Info mode, which
 >>allows you to browse documentation quickly and easily.  There is a
 >>"primer for first timers" available once you get into Info mode.  Give
 >>it a try.
 >
 >As you see above, it was the impossible-to-bother-with, entirely new
 >and different (read: superfluous) set of commands for the dinging
 >"info mode" that made me decide that emacs is someone's idea of
 >full employment for inefficient software engineers.  

Blair, get a brain.  I was trying to hold back from flaming you,
but your ignorance and your beligerant attitude make flaming
you a too pleasurable task.

I've seen some engineers out of Boston U., and I daresay they are
a lot sharper than you are.  What happened to you, get in on
a mental hardship scholarship?

If you can't learn a simple damn editor like emacs, how can a
manager expect you to perform well on a job.  All you've been
doing in comp.emacs is telling us about your failings and your
lack of adequate numbers of brain cells.

Look, a lot of people use emacs.  Why?  Because they find it powerful
and flexible.  It tops VI in those two catagories, hands down.
And I've never seen anyone who wasn't a fool try to refute this.
However, it's a little bit more complex than VI and that's the
price you pay.

I learned Emacs in a lull between projects.  Since I had somehow
managed to escape the attention of any managers who had
grunge work to do, I set out upon the task of learning emacs.
It took a week to get used to it, and get my lisp back to
par so that I could write some pretty simple functions.  Yeah,
it took a week out of my time, but that's only 2% of a
year's productivity, and it probably has increased my productivity
by at LEAST 15%.

So -- quit your bitching.  If you don't want to learn Emacs, that's
fine.  But don't bother us about what a mental wimp you are, ok?
We learned it.  I hear Boston has some pretty good "Special Education"
programs that you might want to enroll in.

Oh, one more thing....  You philistine.  Geez, I've always
wanted to use that in a flame.

-MikeP
-- 
Michael A. Petonic				mikep@ism780c.isc.com

       ``Living in the pools, they soon forget about the sea.''