Vim or Emacs

crankyadmin · 2010-01-07 10:26:14

Ok I'm a huge Vim fan... But I'm curious to know what other Arch linux users prefer and there reasoning for doing so. I prefer vim I think because I started life in it rather than Emacs, I have tried to like Emacs and just can't!

Sorry if this causes a flame war!

-KL- · 2010-01-07 10:49:32

Vim! But I never realy tried emacs

chpln · 2010-01-07 11:19:18

I remember playing around with GNU Emacs 20 and hunting around the (badly organised) menus for half hour or so before concluding it needed a design rethink.

Later I started with vim and used it happily for a couple of years. I only ever used it lightly (editing configs, small scripts) and never became too familiar with it (although I did intend to).

Then something made me give Emacs one last try, and years later I'm still using (and loving) it. Having a single consistent and extensible environment for just about anything I want to do (inc. e-mail, news, IRC, IM, file manager, music, day planner, terminal, web browsing...) gives it the edge for me. It is true: Emacs is a great OS, and no, it doesn't lack a decent text editor.

crankyadmin · 2010-01-07 11:27:16

chpln wrote:

(inc. e-mail, news, IRC, IM, file manager, music, day planner, terminal, web browsing...)

These where some of the reasons I always wanted to like Emacs...

dr_te_z · 2010-01-07 11:38:24

I'm too old to learn new tricks, but someone gave a demo of emacs once and I was very impressed. But everytime I try it I end up "smashing" the Esc key and that should be avoided when using emacs
So I'll stick to vi at work (aix) and vim at home (arch, what else).

bernarcher · 2010-01-07 11:39:49

I use both of them. Well, Vim in the first place for almost everything. But when it comes to Lisp programming, Emacs is (as yet) unbeatable.

And, by the way, using several concepts keeps the mind flexible.

the_isz · 2010-01-07 11:42:27

You might be interested in reading the thread I started: Emacs vs. Vi: The challenge (no flamewar!)

I questioned the other way around, but maybe the contents are still valid for you

mikesd · 2010-01-07 11:54:23

I have used vim for many years. I can't recall why I chose it over Emacs. I think I liked the Vim website.

Emacs does look good though. Slime is nice for working in Lisp and I like the fact it uses a lisp dialect for configuration.

tlvb · 2010-01-07 12:37:43

Of all the editors I've tried I dislike vim the least. Emacs makes me shy away because of the mc-x-mc-c-dosomething key combos, but maybe it's because I haven't challenged my views more than anything else.

Trent · 2010-01-07 14:32:58

I use both, somewhat randomly. I always use Vim for editing config files, though, and Emacs for writing (English, that is). I'm not really comfortable with the two-pronged approach yet, as you can tell by watching me -- I try to type C-x C-c in Vim, and C-[ in Emacs, all the time. But I reckon that'll come with practice.

crankyadmin · 2010-01-07 15:07:28

How do people switch between the two, beggers belief...

/me I got so use to VIM I have had to alias :q in my terminal...

tomd123 · 2010-01-07 15:09:40

I've have used both, and prefer vim.

Minishark · 2010-01-07 15:33:59

I like how I barely have to move my fingers around the keyboard to get things done in Vim (it's this way by design).
Emacs, on the other hands, hurts my pinky.

crankyadmin · 2010-01-07 15:35:33

Minishark wrote:

Emacs, on the other hands, hurts my pinky.

Keyboard clobbering!

Cyrusm · 2010-01-07 16:12:31

crankyadmin wrote:

Minishark wrote:
Emacs, on the other hands, hurts my pinky.
Keyboard clobbering!

This is the main reason I don't use emacs. emacs does have a lot of awesome features, and imo is easier to get the hang of initially than vim.
but I've been using vim for quite a while now. and vimperator, and -o vi for command line editing. It's easier for me to remember all of the features when they are just one key as opposed to the two to three keys required for most basic emacs commands. and hjkl cursor movement is really really nice.

one annoying thing about vim is that sometimes I accidentally leave the caps locked when I enter command mode (try it and watch the chaos ensue!). there's a hack to prevent this, but I've been too lazy to implement it.

Last edited by Cyrusm (2010-01-07 16:16:07)

bernarcher · 2010-01-07 20:44:45

Cyrusm wrote:

one annoying thing about vim is that sometimes I accidentally leave the caps locked when I enter command mode (try it and watch the chaos ensue!). there's a hack to prevent this, but I've been too lazy to implement it.

There is a cure: Switch the Esc and CapsLock keys. Makes vim live a lot easier as well.

jwcxz · 2010-01-07 20:52:11

Arch Philosophy: KISS
Vim Philosophy: KISS
My Philosophy: KISS

Match found.

-----
I did a summer internship working on FPGAs and all my coworkers swore by Emacs, so I ended up learning a few tricks from them. But more importantly, when they saw some of the things I could do in vim without pressing Ctrl or Meta, they became very, very interested in learning more.

linkmaster03 · 2010-01-07 21:45:38

bernarcher wrote:

Cyrusm wrote:
one annoying thing about vim is that sometimes I accidentally leave the caps locked when I enter command mode (try it and watch the chaos ensue!). there's a hack to prevent this, but I've been too lazy to implement it.
There is a cure: Switch the Esc and CapsLock keys. Makes vim live a lot easier as well.

The real cure is actually to remap Caps Lock to Backspace.

hatten · 2010-01-07 21:52:34

linkmaster03 wrote:

bernarcher wrote:
Cyrusm wrote:
one annoying thing about vim is that sometimes I accidentally leave the caps locked when I enter command mode (try it and watch the chaos ensue!). there's a hack to prevent this, but I've been too lazy to implement it.
There is a cure: Switch the Esc and CapsLock keys. Makes vim live a lot easier as well.
The real cure is actually to remap Caps Lock to Backspace.

Backspace? I've never really learnt what to use that key for, i never use it.

Nah but seriously, vim with esc-caps switched is great, and it's damn easy to do it in X. Gaming is also way better with caps-esc when you have to close a menu fast because you're under attack, or when you have to pause the game quickly to calm down.

mikesd · 2010-01-07 22:30:02

bernarcher wrote:

There is a cure: Switch the Esc and CapsLock keys. Makes vim live a lot easier as well.

That is a neat trick. Esc does get a lot more use than Capslock. Will enable that tonight and see if I like it.

D

Cyrusm · 2010-01-07 22:36:11

bernarcher wrote:

Cyrusm wrote:
one annoying thing about vim is that sometimes I accidentally leave the caps locked when I enter command mode (try it and watch the chaos ensue!). there's a hack to prevent this, but I've been too lazy to implement it.
There is a cure: Switch the Esc and CapsLock keys. Makes vim live a lot easier as well.

already done it (even on my windows computer at work. gotta love registry hacking)

the problem is that I always forget to un-capslock when exiting insert mode.
but you can hack vim such that caps-lock only works as caps-lock in insert mode.

see this link: http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Insert-mode_only_Caps_Lock

Trent · 2010-01-07 22:54:47

Not many people seem to know this, but Ctrl-C does almost the same thing as Esc, and Ctrl-[ is identical. I haven't hit Esc in months.

Ghost1227 · 2010-01-07 23:15:32

This has been discussed before... Repeatedly.

Next time why not try using the convenient SEARCH option built into the forums?

sand_man · 2010-01-07 23:28:27

I use notepad in wine.

Allan · 2010-01-07 23:36:59

sand_man wrote:

I use notepad in wine.

So does Dusty: http://archlinux.me/dusty/2009/12/14/a-quick-laugh/

Arch Linux

#1 2010-01-07 10:26:14

Vim or Emacs

#2 2010-01-07 10:49:32

Re: Vim or Emacs

#3 2010-01-07 11:19:18

Re: Vim or Emacs

#4 2010-01-07 11:27:16

Re: Vim or Emacs

#5 2010-01-07 11:38:24

Re: Vim or Emacs

#6 2010-01-07 11:39:49

Re: Vim or Emacs

#7 2010-01-07 11:42:27

Re: Vim or Emacs

#8 2010-01-07 11:54:23

Re: Vim or Emacs

#9 2010-01-07 12:37:43

Re: Vim or Emacs

#10 2010-01-07 14:32:58

Re: Vim or Emacs

#11 2010-01-07 15:07:28

Re: Vim or Emacs

#12 2010-01-07 15:09:40

Re: Vim or Emacs

#13 2010-01-07 15:33:59

Re: Vim or Emacs

#14 2010-01-07 15:35:33

Re: Vim or Emacs

#15 2010-01-07 16:12:31

Re: Vim or Emacs

#16 2010-01-07 20:44:45

Re: Vim or Emacs

#17 2010-01-07 20:52:11

Re: Vim or Emacs

#18 2010-01-07 21:45:38

Re: Vim or Emacs

#19 2010-01-07 21:52:34

Re: Vim or Emacs

#20 2010-01-07 22:30:02

Re: Vim or Emacs

#21 2010-01-07 22:36:11

Re: Vim or Emacs

#22 2010-01-07 22:54:47

Re: Vim or Emacs

#23 2010-01-07 23:15:32

Re: Vim or Emacs

#24 2010-01-07 23:28:27

Re: Vim or Emacs

#25 2010-01-07 23:36:59

Re: Vim or Emacs

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