cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) (11/17/89)
wyle@inf.ethz.ch (Mitchell Wyle) writes: >In article <1989Nov15.202718.12762@ux1.cso.uiuc.edu> >mcdonald@aries.scs.uiuc.edu (Doug McDonald) is really asking for a flame, >when he writes: >>>the basic principle of input/command/line mode, it's not so bad at >>>all. >>> >>in something (after hitting "i" of course) then step mout for a Coke. >>Come back: your cursor is in the middle of the page. Are you in >>insert mode or not? Start typing - DAMMIT - oops, I forgot that >>I really DID hit escape before going for that Coke. Utter mess >>ensues. >... During the second week (around hour 25) of using >vi, most users, when in question about which mode they are in, hit the ESC >key to get into command mode, even when they are already in it. This action >is almost subconscious. In command mode vi might beep (depending on >settings). From insert mode, you'll go back into command mode whence you >may, if so desired, go back into insert mode. Another approach, which is far too underused by most folk, is to make liberal use of "map!"s to rationalize the while-in-input-mode environment. What I've done is put all of my "normal editing" commands in reasonable places in input mode. So I can use the arrow keys to move around, ctrl-E to move to the end of the line, word forward and word backward, etc. Basically, the only time I really have to leave input mode is when I'm really DONE with some input... as I make a cognitive shift to being working on another thing [e.g., editing the NEXT compiler error or fixing the NEXT broken paragraph], going into command mode, getting myself set up in the right place, and then diving into input mode not to emerge until I'm locally-done is just not a big deal. In many ways, it beats out the EMACS model of the world hands down. If I happen to hit the key-sequence that says "run the compiler" or "run this paragraph through troff" while I'm trying to type in input, it is *probably* a mistake; I rather like having my world somewhat heuristically tuned so that thte things that make sense for what I'm doing are ready at hand, and i have to do something to "enable" a richer repertoire when I decide I need to. /Bernie\
abrodnik@watdragon.waterloo.edu (Andrej Brodnik (Andy)) (11/18/89)
Hi people! It is very interesting to read all of this staff about vi :: EDT. But let us do something reasonable. Let us try to enforce vi to behave as EDT on UNIX and EDT to be as vi on VMS. Can we? At the end we will really find out which is "better". At last, but not at least we will have a practical result which will be usable for all of us on UNIX and VMS for vi and EDT people. This is of cource only a preposition. Andrej PS: By the way let us assume to have some DEC compatible (if you would like ANSI) terminal with a keypad as VT1xx has it.
jka@hpfcso.HP.COM (Jay Adams) (11/21/89)
>The problem with using vi is not LEARNING it, it is using it. LEarning >is easy. Using is impossible: its command structure is broken, >hopeless beyond any hope of repair. Consider this: start typing >in something (after hitting "i" of course) then step mout for a Coke. >Come back: your cursor is in the middle of the page. Are you in >insert mode or not? Start typing - DAMMIT - oops, I forgot that >I really DID hit escape before going for that Coke. Utter mess >ensues. This man's problem isn't that he hasn't learned vi, its that he drinks COKE -- gross, give me a break. Pepsi is far superior to Coke. - Jay "Still workin' on a 'M-x get-me-a-pepsi' command for emacs."