Re: Hard to switch from vi

[floyd@apaflo.com (Floyd L. Davidson)]

Mathias Dahl <brakjoller@gmail.com> wrote:
>floyd@apaflo.com (Floyd L. Davidson) writes:
>
>> That is exactly the case.  I too think the primary difference is
>> that for me a modeless editor is easy to use, and a modeful editor
>> drives me up a tree.  For others it is exactly the opposite.
>> (Granted that one method used by people like me to deal with Vi is
>> to append, automatically, key strokes to the end of every command to
>> bring it back to one particular mode.)
>
>To be fair, Emacs is full of modes, all the time you are working in
>different ones. Most are very similar when it comes to basic text
>editing, but think about Dired or the M-x prompt, or isearch or...

To be specific, the type of interface used by emacs is known
as modeless.  It has many modes, but it *automatically* defaults
back to insert mode when any of the other modes is completed.

>Sometimes I get stuck in the M-x or Find File prompt without noticing
>(because I types those keys by mistake) and I guess that is similar to
>the problems people get in vi. Personally, when I open vi, I get
>scared, but some day I will try to tame the beast just so that I do
>not need to be scared anymore...

-- 
Floyd L. Davidson            <http://www.apaflo.com/floyd_davidson>
Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska)                         floyd@apaflo.com