On Fri, Apr 09, 1999 at 12:39:49AM -0500, Michael A. Stone wrote:
> (vi, by contrast, is the full-screen version of the line editor which ruled
> in the days of teletypes).
Ummm, yes, and no. Vi's "ex" mode borrows heavily from its Unix v6/v7
predecessor "ed", in terms of its command structure (the 1,$s business)
but vi/ex was a complete rewrite from scratch and doesn't use any of
the code from ed (or its variants, e.g. xed). One thing that they all
ahve in common is their use of regular expressions -- something they
share with the shell, Perl, and many other Unix components.
Ed, BTW, still exists on many Unix boxes, and is the ultimate fallback
editor when everyone else is broken. It's small, self-contained, and
its only diagnostic message is "?". (Ability to use ed is still one of
the litmus tests for true guruhood.) (Well, that and the ability to
input working code *without* an editor.)
Vi/ex has also been rewritten: the GNU project has a variant called
"nvi" which is somewhat friendlier and has a number of bugs/drawbacks
fixed; if memory serves, it also handles split-screen mode and other
happy things.
Your comments about vi's structure are well-put: it does have a bit
of a learning curve, but once you get it, it's really easy to remember.
I find construct like 12x and 1,$g/foo/s/blotto/bar/ are now second nature.
And now...a replay from February 1992. It's the
Top Ten Reasons to Use Gnu Emacs
10) Tower-of-Hanoi routines provide entertainment while editing.
9) Widespread installation assists CSRG crew, whose pension fund has
been heavily invested in Maxtor since 4.2 BSD.
8) 50-50 chance of discovering new feature each time it's executed.
7) Thick manual even better than Interlisp book for inducing satori
via impact in undergrad hackers.
6) Subliminal messages flashed on screen during global search/replace
urge "Stallman for President".
5) Uses all the keys on your keyboard, plus some 3-key combinations
that alleviate carpal tunnel syndrome.
4) Helps support "When you don't pay for software, don't pay for
*American* software" campaign.
3) Continued use allows embedded self-organizing neural network code
to take first steps up evolutionary ladder.
2) Emulates ex/vi, ep, xed, E, ned, and several other as-yet-undiscovered
editors at only a fraction of their speed.
1) It's useful for Korn Shell Command Line Editing.
---Rsk
Rich Kulawiec
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
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