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GNU Nano 4.0

nano-editor.org

21–30 of 154 posts

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#21
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This has been a configurable option since forever.

Sane defaults still have value.

The old behaviour is the sane default, at least for editing text files. POSIX defines a text file as a file consisting of a number of lines, each terminated by an LF character.

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I would recommend micro. It's simple like nano, but has full mouse support. The only real downside is that it's not installes by default.

So one day someone will write the improvement and call it milli, but then what? Is there a prefix for 10^0? Do these people not plan ahead?

Well you can use some of the convenience steps around 1, e.g. centi and deci and then skip the 1.0 and go straight to deca and hecto.

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#24
post #3

"nano" is an interesting creature - it was originally developed as a replacement for the "pico" command that shipped with "pine" (an amazing curses-based email client) because the license on pico was just not really clear. I still use nano 50% of the time because it's so easy to jump into a file, make some quick changes, and jump out. Plus the mark/cut/paste keystrokes are seared into my memory after years of use.

I would recommend micro. It's simple like nano, but has full mouse support. The only real downside is that it's not installes by default.

[deleted]

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#25

It's amazing how, no matter how old or small a piece of software is, as long as it keeps being used, itremains a living thing and keeps on changing and evolving.

For a stable piece of software the build script(s) somehow turn into a change hotspot. You might have not touched the core of the software in five years, but guess what, every couple months some change to the build script is necessary.

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#26
post #19
post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sane defaults still have value.

Many would say the old behaviour was the sane choice - apart from anything else it's consistent with vi(m) and git.

I suppose. Though you might expect a GNU editor to follow Emacs for this behavior.

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#27

>An overlong line is no longer automatically hard-wrapped. Finally. It was one of the most insane defaults in the history of text editors. Things like this are the reason why it's so hard to recommend nano to beginners.

[deleted]

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#28
post #14
post #3

"nano" is an interesting creature - it was originally developed as a replacement for the "pico" command that shipped with "pine" (an amazing curses-based email client) because the license on pico was just not really clear. I still use nano 50% of the time because it's so easy to jump into a file, make some quick changes, and jump out. Plus the mark/cut/paste keystrokes are seared into my memory after years of use.

I also used nano quite a bit for quick editing tasks, but that changed after I learned Vim.

Yup same here. It's not any slower IMO.

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#29
I'm sure nano/pico and the like are nice but to me there's two things a terminal editor can try to solve for: being nice, or bring ubiquitous. The nicest ones (say emacs) are way nicer than nano in terms of features, extensibility, etc. Now for being ubiquitous, nothing beats vi to date. I can't tell what nano is aiming for?

EDIT

I guess I had assumed that vi/vim was significantly more widespread than nano. Maybe that's an outdated assumption? I feel like I've come across a few instances where vi has been the only choice...

Re: GNU Nano 4.0

#30
post #12
post #3

"nano" is an interesting creature - it was originally developed as a replacement for the "pico" command that shipped with "pine" (an amazing curses-based email client) because the license on pico was just not really clear. I still use nano 50% of the time because it's so easy to jump into a file, make some quick changes, and jump out. Plus the mark/cut/paste keystrokes are seared into my memory after years of use.

Being an Emacs user I use Zile for that since it's effectively a trimmed-down version of Emacs. Of course unlike nano it's not usually installed by default on most distros, so I still have to use nano or vi from time to time, but I can't say I enjoy it very much.

I often reach for

  emacs -nw -Q
It boots up quickly and the basic editing defaults are all there. Has the advantage of being everywhere Emacs already is as well
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