On 8/17/23 6:28 AM, David Crayford wrote:
This joke never fails to amuse me:
https://jokejet.com/lady-gaga-tries-to-exit-vim/.
I'm as tired of exit vi jokes as I am people acting as if the mainframe
doesn't include contemporary technology.
Is there anyone left who still uses vi?
I use a mixture of vim, vi, and ed. Probably each to a lesser order of
magnitude to the previous.
I have a system that I periodically edit config files on that has --
what I consider to be -- a bad vim profile wherein frequently, but not
always, it will replace the first character on the line with a lower
case g. So I use vi rather than spending time trying to figure out why
this is. The powers that be keep saying that this system is going away
any day now.
Vim has practically become the standard on most systems, and NeoVim
is following suit with Vim. When I hear someone griping about Vim's
lack of intuitiveness or labeling it the "editor from hell," I quickly
realize that they probably haven't put in the effort to truly learn how
to harness Vim's capabilities.
I agree.
But I'll counter with, why should people need to learn -- what I'll
politely call -- a non-intuitive editor to do occasional simple edits of
text files?
This is a case of where discoverability comes into play. Can a user put
in front of it discover on their own how to do what they want to do? Or
do they need to be taught how to do it?
The ed, ex, vi, vim, etc. all fail at discoverability. But that's okay.
Discoverability is not their domain of expertise. Their domain of
expertise is doing things with text that a less complex editor couldn't
fathom doing.
I think the same ding also applies to emacs. Though emacs at least puts
a little bit more direction on screen as hints of what to do.
It's likely that they gave it a shot, grappled with its unique modes,
may have even struggled to exit the application, and as a result,
developed a negative impression that has persisted since that
initial unpleasing encounter.
I think the same thing could be said about MS-DOS's edlin.
Vim's learning curve is steep, but the benefits are significant for
those in search of a lightweight editor that's arguably more powerful
than even the most intricate GUI applications. Moreover, it performs
efficiently even on resource-constrained setups.
I agree.
Occasionally, I still turn to ISPF for editing JCL or REXX programs that
reside in PDS datasets. In a recent WebEx session with my millennial
teammates, I was demonstrating some new JCL. While performing a
multi-line edit involving COPY/OVERLAY after column adjustments, they
playfully laughed and teased me. Phrases like "Is ISPF your IDE?", "Does
ISPF support multiple cursors?" and "Why not use Vim?" were thrown my
way. I clarified that Vim can't manage MVS datasets, although the DSFS
might eventually address that limitation. I then proceeded to showcase
the usage of SRCHFOR from a member list. However, their response wasn't
as impressed as it was with vimgrep, NerdTree, Telescope and the
numerous plugins that operate seamlessly on z/OS ports of Vim.
I'm not a fan of multiple cursors / editors in the same file.
It's worth mentioning that young developers are actively embracing Vim,
not just the seasoned Unix programmers. It has emerged as one of the
preferred editors for full stack web development. Take a look at the
videos and commit history for NeoVim, and you'll be amazed by the
dominance of a TUI (Text User Interface) editor in a rapidly evolving
tech landscape.
I've been seeing that trend for many years. Though most of what I see
is that most of the time these users have many plugins that
significantly alter the behavior of the system.
Take those plugins away and these same users will scoff at the base
unextended editor.
Now, let's delve into Git integration. We're all on the Git bandwagon,
right? There are plugins available that empower me to delve into the Git
history of files, providing inline annotations to pinpoint which
developer modified a specific line of code in which commit and when!
Yep.
Now do those same things without the integration into $EDITOR.
Of course, it's all a matter of perspective, and to a young individual
entering the realm of z/OS, ISPF might very well seem like the "editor
from hell."
Perspective, discoverability, task at hand, terminal capability all help
influence what editor is used at a given time.
--
Grant. . . .
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