5 ms·

I just tried it. :X asks you to enter an encryption key, then asks you to enter it again, and only continues if the keys match. And then you're still in vim and

by talex5 4y ago

I just tried it. :X asks you to enter an encryption key, then asks you to enter it again, and only continues if the keys match. And then you're still in vim and need to save your file to overwrite anything. Seems hard to do by mistake. (though I prefer ZZ)

mattkrause 4y ago
If only! I was a TA for an introductory CS class that taught C++ and, in passing, vi. A hour before one assignment was due, a student showed up in a panic. “I just had it working but then the computer corrupted my file. Look! Can I have an extension?” The other TA and I smirked: What a lame excuse! We offered some generic advice about starting earlier and visiting office hours. He left in a huff. A few minutes later, a second student appeared with the same story, and then a third and fourth. We eventually tracked the problem down to some handwritten notes, where someone had written a largish :x for “save and quit.” The students were doing things like spamming :X (since it didn’t seem to respond the first time—-and it was over a sluggish ssh connection) or a reflexive quit-and-compile cycle. I think we eventually recovered one or two assignments by guessing what they might have done. We obviously apologized profusely and the next class started with a discussion of :x versus :X—-and emacs!
- BossingAround 4y ago
  [flagged]
  - nequo 4y ago
    Probably apologized for dismissing the first student who went to them rather than taking him seriously.
  - mattkrause 4y ago
    He was legitimately confused and panicked and we could have been more understanding (especially since this turned out not to be a one-off thing). It’s good to be kind. The editor thing wasn’t a big deal: a few minutes of “Beware :X! If you no longer trust vi, feel free to use emacs or nano, which are also installed on our system. They work a bit differently [details, resources]. You can write your code locally too, but if so, make sure it runs on our system with the autograder. Here are a few options for that too.”
  - canadaduane 4y ago
    It sounds like the "sluggish ssh connection" may have played a role here--imagine pressing ":X" like you think you should, but nothing happens, so you press enter a few times to see if the console is responsive.
indigodaddy 4y ago
Yep with shift-zz you don’t have to worry about this (I don’t think, even if you do shift-xx by mistake I don’t think that does anything— although haven’t tried)
evilbob93 4y ago
I think i was 40 years into my usage of vi when i learned that ZQ was a thing. I bet someone else learns it right here.
- brimwats 4y ago
  it's me, just learned it

by talex5 4y ago

mattkrause 4y ago

If only! I was a TA for an introductory CS class that taught C++ and, in passing, vi. A hour before one assignment was due, a student showed up in a panic. “I just had it working but then the computer corrupted my file. Look! Can I have an extension?” The other TA and I smirked: What a lame excuse! We offered some generic advice about starting earlier and visiting office hours. He left in a huff. A few minutes later, a second student appeared with the same story, and then a third and fourth. We eventually tracked the problem down to some handwritten notes, where someone had written a largish :x for “save and quit.” The students were doing things like spamming :X (since it didn’t seem to respond the first time—-and it was over a sluggish ssh connection) or a reflexive quit-and-compile cycle. I think we eventually recovered one or two assignments by guessing what they might have done. We obviously apologized profusely and the next class started with a discussion of :x versus :X—-and emacs!

BossingAround 4y ago
[flagged]
- nequo 4y ago
  Probably apologized for dismissing the first student who went to them rather than taking him seriously.
- mattkrause 4y ago
  He was legitimately confused and panicked and we could have been more understanding (especially since this turned out not to be a one-off thing). It’s good to be kind. The editor thing wasn’t a big deal: a few minutes of “Beware :X! If you no longer trust vi, feel free to use emacs or nano, which are also installed on our system. They work a bit differently [details, resources]. You can write your code locally too, but if so, make sure it runs on our system with the autograder. Here are a few options for that too.”
- canadaduane 4y ago
  It sounds like the "sluggish ssh connection" may have played a role here--imagine pressing ":X" like you think you should, but nothing happens, so you press enter a few times to see if the console is responsive.

indigodaddy 4y ago

Yep with shift-zz you don’t have to worry about this (I don’t think, even if you do shift-xx by mistake I don’t think that does anything— although haven’t tried)

evilbob93 4y ago

I think i was 40 years into my usage of vi when i learned that ZQ was a thing. I bet someone else learns it right here.

brimwats 4y ago
it's me, just learned it