From:	CRDGW2::CRDGW2::MRGATE::"SMTP::PREP.AI.MIT.EDU::OWNER-INFO-GNU-EMACS" 22-AUG-1990 23:04:51.76
To:	MRGATE::"ARISIA::EVERHART"
CC:	
Subj:	vi versus EMACS

Received:  by crdgw1.ge.com (5.57/GE 1.70)
	 id AA27669; Wed, 22 Aug 90 22:56:07 EDT
Received: by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) id AA23520; Wed, 22 Aug 90 13:53:43 EDT
Return-Path: <wlim@gdstech.grumman.com>
Received: from gdstech.grumman.com by life.ai.mit.edu (4.1/AI-4.10) id AA23441; Wed, 22 Aug 90 13:46:54 EDT
Date: Wed, 22 Aug 90 13:46:35 -0400
From: wlim@gdstech.grumman.com (Willie Lim)
Received: by gdstech.grumman.com (5.61/2.1-Grumman Data Systems-Woodbury)
	id AA21448; Wed, 22 Aug 90 13:46:35 -0400
Message-Id: <9008221746.AA21448@gdstech.grumman.com>
To: info-gnu-emacs@prep.ai.mit.edu
Cc: wjs@gdstech.grumman.com
Subject: vi versus EMACS

Date: Wed, 22 Aug 90 13:06:09 EDT
>From: wjs (Bill Sakoda)
To: emacs-users, unix-hackers, wlim
Subject: Re:  [wlim: [jato!csi!mwette@elroy.jpl.nasa.gov: Re: Comparison of emacs to vi]]

"This book is the only reason I can think of for using vi over emacs"
      Quote from an ad for an OReilly book on vi

I have been using ed/vi for about 15 years;  I was a student at
Berkeley when Bill Joy was writing vi.  Before I learned emacs
I thought it was an excellent editor.

About 8 months ago, thanks to free GNU distribution and lots of
work by wlim in installing and disseminating documentation, I started
learning GNU emacs.  For about 3 months "real" work slowed down a good
deal as I learned enough to recover the facility I had in vi.
This startup done, life on a terminal will never be the same.

++EMACS:
** Has shell mode;  you run shell commands in a buffer;
can call up previous commands for edited redo;  review results
using the full spectrum of emacs commands (much better than more).

** Has multiple horizontal and vertical windows.  On a large
non-windowed screen, you can get much of the functionality
of something like a Sun workstation as far as text goes.  Even
on a 24-line vt100 you get real multiple window capability.

** Has interactive search  (you type part of the keyword, and
emacs shows the nearest match;  then you can add more of the
keyword).

** GNU xemacs can run either as an X client or conventionally
on a terminal.

** Excellent free manual.

** You get the inspiration from what can happen when someone
like Stallman dedicates his life to a software product.

** Has keystroke macros.

** Has a remarkable feel, obviously carefully evolved over many iterations.
^L recenters a window around the current cursor line.  (I find
myself typing ^L in vi to get the same result,but vi just redraws
the screen).  The c program
indentation is much better than vi (where the nearest I know
is running :1,$!cb  .

** Is more of a state-of-the-art standard;  for example the
Athena widget text facilities have built-in emacs commands
for editing.   emacs has a vi mode, but not vice versa.

** Default mode in emacs is insert:  you type a character and
it appears where the cursor is.  In vi you must give a 1-character
command (eg "i" for insert).  Most first users, or users of
other editors, find the emacs convention more natural.

++VI:
**** vi COMES STANDARD ON EVERY UNIX SYSTEM I HAVE SEEN.
If a new somewhat exotic workstation comes in the door,
you can start work immediately in vi.

**** At single-user level, you may have to use
vi, or even ed.  If you hack workstations at systems level long enough,
eventually the system will be limping badly enough
that only ed (a line editor) will work.  vi is a superset of ed and gives
you a jump on using it.

**Bill Joys original tutorial is nice.

**vi is a perfectly nice editor (but emacs reaches for no
holds barred excellence).

- Bill Sakoda