Path: utzoo!attcan!utgpu!jarvis.csri.toronto.edu!rutgers!apple!ames!xanth!nic.MR.NET!umn-cs!clark
From: clark@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU (Robert P. Clark)
Newsgroups: comp.binaries.ibm.pc.d
Subject: RE: vi editor
Keywords: vi
Message-ID: <13125@umn-cs.CS.UMN.EDU>
Date: 25 May 89 18:49:50 GMT
Organization: University of Minnesota, Minneapolis
Lines: 38



In <554@megatek.UUCP>, hollen@eta.megatek.uucp (Dion Hollenbeck) writes:

>From article <24788@beta.lanl.gov>, by pt@beta.lanl.gov (Paul A. Thiessen):
>> I know it has been mentioned before, but can someone please tell me where to
>> get a good VI editor for the PC?
>        ^^^^
>
>Good editor and VI in the same breath are oxymoronic.  Why not take the
>time to learn a REAL editor on which is made for the PC?  They are so
>much better than VI, that you will be surprised how you lived with
>VI for so long.  VI was hot shit when yoiu could only guarantee a
>serial terminal with alphabet and control keys, but in these days of
>extended keyboards and direct video access on the PC, using VI is a
>bit wierd.



     Its really disappointing to see vi put down by the uneducated.
I think that the confusion stems from the fact that people fail to realize
that vi is an editor, not a word processor.  Vi is designed to provide 
very powerful editing capabilities with a minimum of keystrokes (i.e.
you can delete from the cursor to the next period by just typing  dt.).
Vi supports regular expressions.  If you've passed your automata theory
class, you would know the incredible power that this presents to the user.
You basically have an entire user-definable language at your disposal with
which to do your editing.

                     Bob Clark        clark@umn-cs.cs.umn.edu

    ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    ~                                                       ~
    ~          Never underestimate the bandwidth of         ~
    ~          a station wagon  - Andrew Tannenbaum         ~
    ~                                                       ~
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Yes, I know the whole quote, but it sounds better this way.