[Sussex] Vi?

Wed Jul 28 09:47:20 UTC 2004

Geoff

I was hoping to be convinced but the references you give leave my aged
brain reeling.

> Tony,
>
> What you are asking for is a very long list.
>

Could you give me just 5 things that I would get so excited about that I
might really want to spend what looks like not a trivial amount of time on
this?

> I will instead point you in the following directions..
>
> Firstly read the overview here:
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emacs
>

Quote from here:

As a result, it is very easy to add custom functionality to Emacs. Emacs
includes many standard extensions, such as Emacs/W3, a web browser; Gnus,
a tool for reading e-mail and Usenet discussions; an implementation of the
game Tetris; and Doctor, an implementation of ELIZA that performs basic
Rogerian psychotherapy.

> Then I suggest a browse around:
> http://www.emacswiki.org
>

Quote from here (um, newbies intro):

Emacs-Speak Example

If you can follow this example, you understand Emacs-speak. If you
understand all the actions described, you pretty-much understand how to
use Emacs. Good luck !

   1. I saved buffer foobar to its file using key sequence `C-x C-s',
which is bound to command `save-buffer'.
   2. Having forgotten the key binding and the complete name for command
`split-window-horizontally', I used key sequence `M-x' (by pressing the
Alt key while typing x), then typed s-p-l-i-t---w-i-n. My input
appeared in the minibuffer: split-win.
   3. I typed TAB, and the minibuffer input was expanded to split-window,
meaning that there is a command whose name begins with "split-window".
   4. I typed TAB again, and a minibuffer message next to my echoed input
said "[Complete, but not unique]", telling me that "split-window" is
the complete name of a command, but also that there are other commands
whose names begin with "split-window".
   5. I typed TAB again. This opened a new window in the same frame,
displaying the *Completions* buffer, which displayed several command
names beginning with "split-window". I clicked the command name
split-window-horizontally, using MB2.
   6. The *Completions* buffer (and its window) disappeared, and the frame
was divided into two windows, side by side – they each displayed buffer
foobar. This was the result of executing command
split-window-horizontally in the window of buffer foobar.
   7. Next, I split the left window, using command
`split-window-vertically' - or, rather, I used its key binding, key
sequence `C-x 2', which I happened to remember. At this point, the
frame had three windows, each containing buffer foobar: I could see the
name "foobar" in the mode-line of each window.
   8. I clicked MB1 in the top-left window, to put the cursor – and the
focus of attention – there. Then I visited file toto there, by using
key sequence `C-x C-f' (which is bound to command `find-file'). I could
tell by the name in the window's mode-line that its buffer was now
toto. I dragged the mode-line, using MB1, to resize buffer toto's
window in the frame.
   9. In buffer toto, I dragged MB1 over some text to create a region. I
used key sequence `C-w' to kill the region's text.
  10. I clicked MB1 in buffer foobar. This moved the cursor to where the
pointer was when I clicked. I then yanked the text I had killed from
buffer toto to the point in buffer foobar.

Exercise:
    Say the example backwards, in common (non-Emacs) terms, in Norwegian.

> ..or for less reading see here (BTW this site includes scientific proof
> that emacs is the ultimate text editor):
> http://www.dina.dk/~abraham/religion/
>

Quote from here:

Our Church of Emacs is very open minded, we discuss both how best to
worship our Saviour among the True Believers, and also welcome preachers
of false religions like The Church of Bill Gates, Discordia, and vi to our
church, where we can test their silly misconceptions against out pure and
strong faith . Most of the information in this page is from these
discussions. Please don't misuse our sacred place to discuss joke
religions like Scientology, Kibology, or BoB.

>
> --
> Geoff
>
> On Wed, 2004-07-28 at 07:54, Tony Austin wrote:
>> Geoff
>>
>> > Emacs is, as everyone has been saying a bigger investment in terms on
>> > memory, load time etc, however if you're doing any serious text
>> editing
>> > it is so much more powerful than vi that it is unbelievable.
>> >
>>
>> Apart from the things that you have said about Emacs, the only thing
>> that
>> I "know" about it is that it uses the same help system as info, which I
>> find impossible to use - I once tried to make the effort but by the time
>> I
>> needed it again I had forgotten everything.  Now, I found that very
>> tedious when man was so easy to use!  Fortunately I discovered pinfo for
>> the occasions when I have to read an info file.
>>
>> But I digress ...
>>
>> The real purpose of this message is to ask if you could give us a list
>> of
>> the "unbelievable" "powerful" features of Emacs that would tempt a
>> reluctant and reasonably satisfied vi user to consider making the
>> investment in learning something that he/she thinks they don't really
>> need.
>>
>> Regards.
>>
>> Tony Austin
>> Gigaday Computing Limited
>> http://www.gigaday.com
>> tony at gigaday.com
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Sussex mailing list
>> Sussex at mailman.lug.org.uk
>> http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/sussex
>>
>> _____________________________________________________________________
>> This e-mail has been scanned for viruses by MCI's Internet Managed
>> Scanning Services - powered by MessageLabs. For further information
>> visit http://www.mci.com
> --
> Geoff Teale
> Cmed Technology
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> Sussex mailing list
> Sussex at mailman.lug.org.uk
> http://mailman.lug.org.uk/mailman/listinfo/sussex
>

Regards.

Tony Austin
Gigaday Computing Limited
http://www.gigaday.com
tony at gigaday.com