On Mon, 18 Mar 2002, Tim Holmes wrote:

[...]
> Why people get into "heated" debates about what editor to use, I don't
> know!  I used to have a line saying "Real Admins use ViM" in my signature.
> I was almost kicked off a mailing list because of the ensuing riot that
> seemed to form once somebody commented on it! lol
> tdh

This is exactly how I felt when I came across the first vi/emacs
debates. I thought that the participants were only jokingly advocating
their choice of editor and suggesting that everyone else switch over.
Then I realized that people were actually passionate about their choice,
to the point that personal attacks and multi-page rebuttals ensued. As
best as I can tell, these are some of the points:

VI pros
Small, fast, available on all platforms. Standard editing mode is
universal and works with all terminals. Efficient once the commands are
learned.

VI cons
Cryptic commands are a holdover from the paleolithic era of unix.

Emacs pros
Very customizable/programmable. Able to conform exactly to each user's
working habits. Efficient once the commands are learned.

Emacs cons
Huge. Bigger than some OSes. Dodgy on some terminal combinations.

Of course, these are open to debate too. :D


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