On 06.09.17 05:31, Nick Boyce wrote: > I don't like to confess to my august and more sophisticated colleagues > here how much code I've written using joe - albeit in the simpler > languages (a variety of Bash scripts, Perl, C, HTML and similar). > There is some syntax highlighting, but no code-completion or compiler > integration or the other trinkets that come with proper IDEs. It is > however, small, fast and reliable - it hasn't had a new feature in > *years* because for it's intended use-cases it's *feature-complete* ! > > It's one of the first things I install on any Linux or *BSD system.
In my decades of leading software teams, one thing I did not do is ask "What editor do you use?", even in employment interviews. In my experience, a programmer is most productive using the editor with which he's most proficient. End of story. > ... and vi's power makes light work of many tasks but it's > as user-friendly as a cornered rat ... novices usually remember their > first time trying to find out how to exit with a genuine shudder. On the three occasions I've had to extract a marsupial possum from our chimney (they're like a cat on steroids), I've armed myself with thick leather gloves and grim determination. For vim, a cheat-sheet suffices, and :help xxxx" or google do explain. > A frequent vi moment for those familiar with modeless editors is to > enter 'insert mode' (when you figure out how), type some text, and > then try to use the arrow keys to move to a different line without > remembering to first exit insert mode - depending on vi version, > terminal emulation, Un*x flavour, phase of the Moon etc., the effect > of this is that a whole bunch of weird character sequences get entered > instead of cursor control, which you then spend the next 10 minutes > removing again. Ugh. That's an xterm error, as the arrows simply produce motion even in Insert-mode, if that's properly set up. But Vim's Insert-mode/Normal-mode modality still requires user awareness, either through memory or looking at the status line, with a "set showmode" in ~/.vimrc - unless you also add something like: " These days I expect to be out of insert mode, after a vertical move: inoremap <Up> ^[<Up> inoremap <Down> ^[<Down> (The ^[ is <Escape>, entered as <Control-V><Escape> in insert mode.) Now the Insert-mode exit is automated, so long as you use the arrow keys for moves. (If you use hjkl for speed, then you're not a novice, by definition.) I've left <Left> and <Right>, so I stay in Insert-mode while on the line. It works for me, but you could remap them too. To avoid the need to glance to the bottom of the window to check mode, I also add: " Cursor Appearance and behaviour: " (Insert_Mode == Green, Normal_Mode == Red) if &term =~ "xterm" let &t_SI = "\<Esc>]12;yellow\x7" let &t_EI = "\<Esc>]12;green\x7" endif So the cursor itself is a reminder. (I haven't yet found a way to have it make coffee though, so that I always have my eyes open.) (Colours chosen for yellow text on darkslategrey background, set in the xterm. YTMV) > (Yes, I do use more sophisticated GUI IDEs for anything serious, but > that's not what OP asked for. Also, I do realise vim is much better > than vi.) Even without integration in an editor, in *nix you can Control-Z out to the command line, run make, and fg back in. I too would use whatever editor my fingers remember. Erik
