7 ms·

"Vim’s Normal mode lets me fly around a document" Isn't this just because he is more experienced in Vim? I'm not an expert in any case, but is it really true t

"Vim’s Normal mode lets me fly around a document" Isn't this just because he is more experienced in Vim? I'm not an expert in any case, but is it really true that Vim is that much faster (editing-wise) than Emacs? I'm guessing that everyone's editor of choice would be the one they're most comfortable in. In other words, the one in which they've invested the most time into learning.

keeptrying 16y ago
I use emacs for everything except to quickly jump around a file and edit it. Vim is super fast for this. Emacs will also help you when your in weird situation because it is so powerful. One very simple example: we had some new machines installed recently but they didn't have our home directories nfs-ed onto them because the San was in a different network. With e-shell In emacs I could copy over my files without even opening a window to my home directories because emacs's tramp mode is built into the shell. It meant that I had autocomplete in my shell while working on a remote machine. Guys were ftping files clumsily over while I just had to use "cp" and the tab key.
- gnosis 16y ago
  Two other alternatives to emacs in this situation are sshfs, and mc's (midnight commander's) fish protocol.
  - keeptrying 16y ago
    true, but thats the whole point. You rarely need something other than emacs ;)
    - gnosis 16y ago
      Assuming you use emacs in the first place. And not everyone does, or cares to. Especially when there are alternatives with a much easier learning curve.
      - keeptrying 16y ago
        That's like not keeping a multitool at home. I can go on and on about weird problems emacs's has saved me from. But sure, google a solution, download and compile it, then learn it and fix your problem... I'll just emacs's ;)
dilap 16y ago
I dunno, I'm a longtime emacs user/addict, and I get the feeling that its actual editing commands just aren't that well thought out -- because of this, I've flirted with trying to use vim and vimpulse (an emacs vim emulator), but it's super-hard to get away from emacs once you're used to it... I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has moved from emacs to vim. (Or thoughts of people who've gone the other way.)
- copper 16y ago
  I dunno, I tend to prefer the emacs movement keys over vim. I-search to move around in emacs, in combination with C+A+f/b is (usually) fairly fast - though a fairly good reason for that might be because I know the structure of what I edit. As for someone who moved from emacs to vim, I cannot resist posting this particular link :) http://notinventedhe.re/on/2010-12-22 http://notinventedhe.re/on/2010-12-22
  - dilap 16y ago
    Well, I could be wrong, but it's just a sneaking feeling that vim might be faster. But I've never been able to stick w/ it long enough to know for sure.... But e.g., stuff like "." the e/E and b/B distinction, [d]f (like zap-to-char but waaay more useful) don't really have emacs equivalents. And come on, C-f, C-b, C-n, C-p to move around -- not smart! I assume it's for "forward, backward, next, previous", but you shouldn't choose your most basic motion keys to have memorable names, you should choose them to be efficient!
    - copper 16y ago
      Vim is definitely faster at starting up ;) For "." you could say that C+k,C+_/C+y does most of what I want done -- and arguably, the more complex cases might be amenable to using regexp-replace. Regretfully, the only time I ever use hjkl is to play crawl :) The emacs keys are perhaps more geared towards using modifiers, with M-f/M-b + C-f/C-b serving as the closest replacements for movement, and M-z for zap-to-char.
      - 16y ago

keeptrying 16y ago

I use emacs for everything except to quickly jump around a file and edit it. Vim is super fast for this. Emacs will also help you when your in weird situation because it is so powerful. One very simple example: we had some new machines installed recently but they didn't have our home directories nfs-ed onto them because the San was in a different network. With e-shell In emacs I could copy over my files without even opening a window to my home directories because emacs's tramp mode is built into the shell. It meant that I had autocomplete in my shell while working on a remote machine. Guys were ftping files clumsily over while I just had to use "cp" and the tab key.

gnosis 16y ago
Two other alternatives to emacs in this situation are sshfs, and mc's (midnight commander's) fish protocol.
- keeptrying 16y ago
  true, but thats the whole point. You rarely need something other than emacs ;)
  - gnosis 16y ago
    Assuming you use emacs in the first place. And not everyone does, or cares to. Especially when there are alternatives with a much easier learning curve.
    - keeptrying 16y ago
      That's like not keeping a multitool at home. I can go on and on about weird problems emacs's has saved me from. But sure, google a solution, download and compile it, then learn it and fix your problem... I'll just emacs's ;)

dilap 16y ago

I dunno, I'm a longtime emacs user/addict, and I get the feeling that its actual editing commands just aren't that well thought out -- because of this, I've flirted with trying to use vim and vimpulse (an emacs vim emulator), but it's super-hard to get away from emacs once you're used to it... I'd be interested to hear if anyone else has moved from emacs to vim. (Or thoughts of people who've gone the other way.)

copper 16y ago
I dunno, I tend to prefer the emacs movement keys over vim. I-search to move around in emacs, in combination with C+A+f/b is (usually) fairly fast - though a fairly good reason for that might be because I know the structure of what I edit. As for someone who moved from emacs to vim, I cannot resist posting this particular link :) http://notinventedhe.re/on/2010-12-22 http://notinventedhe.re/on/2010-12-22
- dilap 16y ago
  Well, I could be wrong, but it's just a sneaking feeling that vim might be faster. But I've never been able to stick w/ it long enough to know for sure.... But e.g., stuff like "." the e/E and b/B distinction, [d]f (like zap-to-char but waaay more useful) don't really have emacs equivalents. And come on, C-f, C-b, C-n, C-p to move around -- not smart! I assume it's for "forward, backward, next, previous", but you shouldn't choose your most basic motion keys to have memorable names, you should choose them to be efficient!
  - copper 16y ago
    Vim is definitely faster at starting up ;) For "." you could say that C+k,C+_/C+y does most of what I want done -- and arguably, the more complex cases might be amenable to using regexp-replace. Regretfully, the only time I ever use hjkl is to play crawl :) The emacs keys are perhaps more geared towards using modifiers, with M-f/M-b + C-f/C-b serving as the closest replacements for movement, and M-z for zap-to-char.
    - 16y ago