Path: utzoo!utgpu!water!watmath!clyde!att!rutgers!mit-eddie!ll-xn!vlsi!malpass
From: malpass@vlsi.ll.mit.edu (Don Malpass)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: Emacs and VI Editors Wanted for MS-DOS
Summary: Custom Software Systems PC/VI
Keywords: vi, pc/vi, CSS
Message-ID: <156@vlsi.ll.mit.edu>
Date: 6 Sep 88 17:30:17 GMT
References: <13360@mimsy.UUCP>
Reply-To: malpass@ll-vlsi.arpa.UUCP (Don Malpass)
Distribution: na
Organization: MIT Lincoln Laboratory, Lexington MA
Lines: 35

For the September 1986 issue of "IEEE Software", (p.55) I wrote a very
enthusiastic review of "PC/VI" from Custom Software Systems in Natick,
Mass.  I've not tried hard, but have lost touch with CSS, the folks who
wrote/distributed it ($150 for a FULL implementation of vi).  If
there's any interest out there, I'll try to chase them down and post
the current status of the product, which was the answer to my prayers.
Obviously, if anybody out there knows the status, you can save me the
trouble.
     In the review, I point out:
  1.  "...editor preference is something of a religious issue...."
We should stop trying to persuade each other that one is THE BEST.
  2.  "Although vi is frequently accused of being hard to learn, much
of the blame for this lies with the really lousy documentation
available to most Unix users.  CSS's manual goes a long way to making
vi easily self-taught."  When people at work want to know more about
generic vi, I lend them my PC/VI manual.
  3.  "Like most of today's good editors, vi has a rich command
repertoire.  But unlike many editors, it allows basic everyday
editing to be done with a very small subset - and most of those
commands have reasonable mnemonic significance.  Furthermore, the
formidable command list contains many synonyms, so your personal subset
need not contain everything."
     The reason the review, something of a quick vi tutorial, is three
full pages in length is that I tried hard to show WHY vi is not as
complicated as it initially looks if one understands the very basic
rules or philosophy.  If you feel in your bones that vi is for you but
you've been having a hard time, I strongly suggest you get a copy of
the review and see if the simplicity rubs off on you.  If you can't get
a copy, I'll ask IEEE Software whether I am allowed to E-mail you a
copy of the file as it was submitted to them.

-- 
Don Malpass   [malpass@LL-vlsi.arpa],  [malpass@spenser.ll.mit.edu] 
  My opinions are seldom shared by MIT Lincoln Lab, my actual
    employer RCA (known recently as GE), or my wife.