>Michael A. Stone writes:
> I also recommend learning the vi basics, since vi is the editor
>you can count on being on pretty much every Unix system. The biggest
>stumbling block is the "modal " nature of the vi interface. You're
>either in insert mode or you're in edit mode, and there's no visible
>indicator of which, and you switch *out* of insert mode by pressing the
>escape key, but you switch *in* by pressing "i" or "a" (insert or
>append). Get a vi cheat-sheet and work with it for an hour or two,
>then keep the cheatsheet around for when you need it.
Unless you're in a jam because you're on a system without emacs, I think
emacs is more intuitive to learn than vi. You can struggle along in emacs
while maybe only knowing the command to quit and save your file. It won't
work that well for you, but it will work. Whereas in vi, you need to know
probably at least 5 commands to be able to do anything in it and the way it
works is very unintuitive.
I also wouldn't bother with pico....makes for bad habits. Plus, I have yet
to work in an environment that already had it installed. Whereas I've yet
to see a system without vi and have rarely seen one without emacs.
I'd write about 7-10 emacs commands on a piece of paper (sticky note maybe)
and put it on my monitor. Get by with those commands until I really learned
them. Then add maybe 10 more until I get those down.
Emacs is incredibly powerful and though it's difficult to master, the
learning curve for starting to use it isn't too terrible.
>compensated for by the positively maladjusted oddballs :-), most
>people in the Unix culture will be quite helpful - as long as they
>know you're making an honest effort to figure it out yourself!
I agree though would add that they will probably be disdainful if they
don't think you're making an honest effort to figure it out yourself --
RTFM and all that.
I'd also add that "Unix for the Impatient" (recommended by several on this
list) is a terrific book -- both for long-standing unix geeks and unix
newbies. "Unix PowerTools" is also really helpful.
Kayla (still learning about 5 new emacs commands/month after several years)
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