Jim Henderson wrote:
> On Wed, 22 Apr 2009 02:19:27 -0300, nemesis wrote:
>> And today's
>> Linux noobs just prefer to be underpowered with notepad-on-crack gedit
>> than to be superman with vim or emacs.
> 
> I don't really think it's fair to say that only noobs use gedit or kate 
> (or whatever the standard KDE editor is, GNOME user that I am) and 
> superhuman beings use vim or emacs.
> 
> People use the tools they're most comfortable with, and sometimes more 
> than one.

Sure, feeling comfortable with a beautiful, more familiar face is a nice 
thing to get.  Even if underpowered, like by choosing gedit vs vim/emacs. :)

Not all editing tasks would benefit from vim/emacs -- like short, plain 
typing with little editing other than backspace -- but those that do get 
a serious boost from a proper tool.

> Hell, at times, I use awk for editing.  If I knew sed better, I'd 
> probably use that, too.

Like Perl, they're excellent batch text editing tools.

> People doing change-on-the-fly editing using 
> pipes might say that it's noobs who use crutches like vim or emacs.

Batch editing with pipes and sed has no place in today's fast-paced 
interactive programming.  I don't think Bill Joy or Richard Stallman 
would go back to ed or teco after building their tools on them. :)

> Remember that we all had to start somewhere, and those of us who've been 
> in the biz for 15 years or more (which I think is you and me both) tend 
> to forget that the landscape has changed in that time.

I think I've been keeping up with new technological advances just fine. 
  And yet I don't see any text editing tool marvels as those 2, even in 
high end modernese IDEs.

> Our way may be 
> better for us, but that doesn't necessarily make it better for everyone.

I don't think so.  The day I can select and copy one long SQL select 
query with a mouse just as easily as y} or go back after a search to the 
exact point I was 700 lines above with Ctrl+o is the day I'll eat my 
underwear. :)

> I also suspect that you - like me - type at a phenomenal rate.

Not at all.  Thank God for superior editing tools. :)

> can't move a mouse that fast, so I tend to not even use menus in GNOME (I 
> tend to use ALT+F2 and type the program name in because it's faster for 
> me).

I control my Linux box from the always open gnome-terminal.  My regular 
programs are always in bash_history, so it's just a matter of Ctrl-R'ing 
for them. :)

>  That doesn't mean that for my stepson - who also types rather 
> quickly at 21 - is a lesser computer user because he uses the mouse more 
> than I do.  He's just got a different workflow for the things he does.

I think he's losing a lot. ;)

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