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From: night@pawl.rpi.edu (Trip Martin)
Newsgroups: comp.misc,comp.editors
Subject: Re: UNIX needs a real text editor
Message-ID: <990@rpi.edu>
Date: 25 Mar 89 17:42:44 GMT
References: <222@imspw6.UUCP> <252@torch.UUCP> <2112@mister-curious.sw.mcc.com> <237@usl-pc.usl.edu>
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In article <237@usl-pc.usl.edu> jpdres10@usl-pc.UUCP (Green Eric Lee) writes:
>Mice will never replace the keyboard for operations such as, e.g.,
>cut-and-paste. But mice have their place. Anti-mice people might b*tch
>and groan, but -- pointing at a point, then clicking the mouse button,
>is a much faster way of getting to that point than repeatedly hitting
>the cursor keys (for one thing, I always overshoot).

I would say the opposite is true, at least for me.  Moving the cursor
using the keyboard doesn't have to be done one character at a time,
per keystroke.  Both emacs and vi, and any decent text editor for 
that matter allow you to the cursor around in any number of ways.

As for why the mouse is slower, I have to look at my hands when moving
to or from the mouse.  Moving my attention away from the screen like
that slows me down.  I also tend to overshoot with the mouse.  It does 
take a fair amount of dexterity to really become quick at using a mouse.
I suspect quite a few people have the same problems I do with mice.

>     And for someone who's not a regular user of a particular text
>editor, pull-down menus are a godsend. At least, if they're a
>supplement to keyboard commands, and not a replacement. Want to know
>what the command is for, say, "delete sentence"? Pull down the
>"Editing Operations" menu, select the "delete" item, select the
>"sentence" sub-item which has the "M-^D" keycode abbreviation to tell
>you how to do it without the menus next time... and it's all just one
>stroke of the mouse, without all the typing and searching needed for,
>say, the GNU Emacs help function.

True, menus of any kind are a help when using a new text editor.
However, if I were going to learn a new editor, I'd rather have
a reference card around so I can learn the keyboard commands, and
not the menus.

>     (slight note: I am an EXTREMELY fast typer... maybe some people
>may find themselves slowed by occasionally moving a mouse with their
>right hand, but I don't see how).
 
It seems to me that you probably have the dexterity to use a mouse 
to its fullest.  Other people like myself are not so lucky.  I'm a 
moderately fast typer, but my dexterity isn't all that great.

Trip Martin
night@pawl.rpi.edu
night@uruguay.acm.rpi.edu