Burningbird: The Geeks have it

August 21, 2002

The Geeks have it

Jonathon has become the latest recruit to the Geek Force. I'll have to send him an autographed copy of Unix Power Tools 3rd edition as soon as it's published. Just think, Jonathon-- 1200 pages full of tips!

(Makes a good doorstop, too.)

And now Jonathon can join us in the most important debate of geekdom:

Which is better? vi/vim? Or emacs?

Blood has been spilled over this issue, so use caution when responding Jonathon. In fact, there are many items that generate an almost religious ferver within the Unix world as you'll find out...soon.

Posted by Bb at August 21, 2002 11:10 PM

Comments

It's gotta be emacs, Birdlady. Sweet, sweet emacs...

Posted by: Bill Humphries on August 22, 2002 12:06 AM

Bb, can I get back to you on this? I'll need to spend a few months testing vim and emacs. (I've already written off vi).

Posted by: Jonathon Delacour on August 22, 2002 05:20 AM

I thought the argument was between vi and emacs. That's easy for me - emacs :) Hell - I use Emacs on Windows too. It's my primary text editor in any environment.

I havn't tried vim yet - but I've heard it's great.

Posted by: Karl on August 22, 2002 06:13 AM

Hate 'em both.

*ducks*

Fortunately, I make only minimal claims to geek cred.

Posted by: Dorothea Salo on August 22, 2002 08:29 AM

Well, I suppose I should fess up that I'm a vi/vim person. I've used it for so many years, that its use is almost second nature for me. However, I do plan on working with the new Macized emacs on my Powerbook.

Posted by: Shelley aka Bb on August 22, 2002 08:53 AM

I can see already what a pickle I've landed myself in. Is there anything like TextPad available for Unix? (Or am I just making things worse?)

Posted by: Jonathon Delacour on August 22, 2002 09:11 AM

Okay, seriously, my alternative to Emacs on OS X is BBEdit.

Jonathon, you might want to also check out pico as an alternative curses-style editor on UN*X.

But I still miss eve on VMS... eve and I spent many long days and nights together in grad school.

Posted by: Bill Humphries on August 22, 2002 11:27 AM

Bill, I should check out BBEdit myself on OS X (have I said recently how much I love my Mac OS X? Well, I do.)

But...but...but...pico?

Posted by: Shelley aka Bb on August 22, 2002 11:30 AM

And Jonathon, there is no safe harbor in the Unix world. You've joined the ranks of the Empowered, you now have choices. Many, many choices. And many, many, may people helping you make those choices. Gladly, and with zeal.

Posted by: Shelley aka Bb on August 22, 2002 11:33 AM

Shelley, if you mean the version of emacs that ships with OS X, it only runs in a Terminal. What I'd really recommend would be to install XDarwin via fink and then install XEmacs. Emacs with much more attention to UI than regular emacs.
BBedit is great, I use it too, but sometimes it's just not enough. It's really not comparable to (X)Emacs.

Posted by: jbm on August 23, 2002 09:21 AM