Comments on: Why, oh WHY, do those nutheads use vi?

By: max

max — Tue, 09 Feb 2010 06:51:27 +0000

You’re still a bunch of propeller head geeks freaks. lol

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 15:24:22 +0000

Frank, code completion can be used by both those who don’t know what they are doing, and also by those who know what they are doing but don’t have 100% perfect memory. I wouldn’t be so quick to judge.

By: frank

frank — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:26:50 +0000

code completion… mmmm maybe instead of relying on code completion… better understand what you are doing… code with intent..

By: frank

frank — Tue, 17 Nov 2009 19:25:38 +0000

because we can

By: Dr. P. Brain

Dr. P. Brain — Fri, 06 Nov 2009 23:00:08 +0000

Why use vi(1)? Because if you use emacs(1), exec(2) will return 1 with errno set to EEDITORTOOBIG.

By: Jon

Jon — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:24:15 +0000

Saswat, thanks!

By: Saswat

Saswat — Wed, 09 Sep 2009 18:23:27 +0000

This is one of the best explanation of vim features I have seen.
thanks !

By: Jon

Jon — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 17:07:31 +0000

Modern_unixman, as I hope ViEmu shows, we vi(m)ers understand the value of code completion, synhl, debugging, etc… we only like to have vi/vim commands for the low-level editing, perfectly integrated with the rest. I often use code completion to type something, and then use vi’s ‘.’ dot command to repeat it. What could be sweeter?

admin@it-hacked: if not the best, vim is at least one of the very best!

By: admin

admin — Mon, 13 Jul 2009 02:59:16 +0000

Well, Well, everything is true, Vim is the best..

By: modern_unixman

modern_unixman — Sat, 11 Jul 2009 00:55:28 +0000

For those of you non-VI readers who read this and said “ok when is he going to get to the good stuff”, he’s not. Yes, you can do everything he mentions in any good text editor, often much more intuitively.

So if you find yourself saying, sarcastically, “oh wow, you can select from one bracket to the next with a few keystrokes. oh wow, you can do some keystrokes, then repeat them again with a keystroke. oh wow, you can indent multiple lines of code”, you are not crazy.

The main advantage of vi is that it is everywhere. When skynet takes over and you have to hack into the matrix to cause a snowcrash, you’ll be using vi on wintermute.

But if you’re using a modern editor with code completion, syntax highlighting, svn/git blame/annotate integration, side-margin error/warning icons with hover, control-click-on-symbol-to-navigate-to-its-definition functionality, integrated debugger with hover, etc., etc., and you like it, then stick with it, and when someone tells you that you don’t “get” VI, just tell them, “yes I do, and it is the only editor I ever use, and everything else is horrible”, smile, and keep walking.