NetNews Usenet Archive 1992 #20/NN_1992_20.iso/spool/comp/sys/mac/misc/16508

Internet Message Format | 1992-09-14 | 3.0 KB

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From: [e-mail] (Dave Fisher)
Newsgroups: comp.sys.mac.misc,comp.sys.mac.wanted,comp.sys.mac.programmer,comp.editors
Subject: Re: good vi editor for the mac
Message-ID: <[e-mail]>
Date: 14 Sep 92 16:46:39 GMT
References: <lawton.715610572@armand> <[e-mail]> <1992Sep5.221526.10841@uc.m sc.edu> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]> <[e-mail]>
Sender: [e-mail]
Reply-To: [e-mail] (Dave Fisher)
Organization: Hughes Aircraft Co., El Segundo, CA
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In article <[e-mail]> [e-mail] (Tim W Smith) writes:
]> Keyboard macros
]> Toggle words
]> Execute other program
]> Towers of Hanoi (OK, OK)
]
]If you people could learn to write good code on the first try, you wouldn't
]need all those features.  A fancy editor is a sign of a weak programmer.

Oh, that's just silly.  There are plenty of good uses for a powerful editor
such as vi or emacs.  And not all of them even relate to programming.

Let me illustrate a couple of vi examples for the benefit of the non-Unix
literate:

1. I'm editing a file on machine X.  I need a line of text from another
   file on machine Y.   I type "rsh machine-y grep keyword filename", then
   hit the q key, which is mapped to a sequence (!!sh) which will then run this
   line of text as a command, then return the output INTO my file.  Presto,
   this other line of text is now in my file.  My fingers never leave the
   keyboard.

2. Someone gives me a file which contains a list of 1000 birdnames, as well
   as a bunch of text paragraphs.  I wish to replace each line which
   contains a birdname with a one line description of the bird, which I have
   in another file.  I use range-based substitution to change each line to:

   grep birdname birdfile

   Then I type "!}sh" at the top of this "paragraph".  Each line will now
   be replaced by the corresponding description.

3. I wish to sort from line 500 to line 1000, using the 3rd word in each
   line as the sorting key.  I type 500G!500+sort +3.  Done.

The point is, vi (or emacs) are very powerful to a large degree because
they can be *extended* with other programs (Emacs can be extended directly).
This is a bit like the "plug-in software module" concept which we will
hopefully be seeing more of on the Mac soon.

Vi is also quick to use, once learned well, because your hands don't have
to continually leave the keyboard to visit a mouse or keypad (EDT users
you know who you are).  But it is painful to learn.  I've found it to
be well worth the investment.

I will grant, BTW, that vi is much less powerful/useful in the absence of
Unix.  Speaking of which, here's my two cents on the original question:
if you want a really good implementation of vi for the Mac, the only way
I know of to get it is to get AUX.

Dave Fisher [e-mail]