21–30 of 38 posts
I'm a big fan of textmate, probably my favorite utility on the mac. While things like this and e editor(windows) help, there is still a ton of nice apps only on the mac. As for the Vi and Emacs people, I rather not spend weeks customizing my text editor, I just want something that can color code out of the box and I can get work done.
I've written my own editor too. Would you like to see my .emacs file? All kiding aside, the most important thing about an editor is an ability to customize it, whether it be via Emacs Lisp, Vim Script, or some other means. No software developer or plugin writer is going to be able to anticipate your needs, instead give yourself the ability to fulfil them. For example, just recently I wrote up a quick Emacs Lisp funct…
Sure, it's an easy way to get started with whatever: MFC apps, Rails apps, or text editing. But when you outgrow hello world application, you'd want much more power.
I used Emacs on and off for maybe four years but never customized it. I finally gathered up some attention month or so ago, got through tutorials and now I'm editing everything in Emacs (and this comment too). There is just a lot of accidental complexity in my brain, which can and is successfully automated by Emacs.
If you are a programmer, you should be pissed off and outraged by anything that doesn't allow you to automate itself. After all, automation is what we all do -- to get away from all the boring stuff and concentrate on things that are really fun. Like sex. Or running.
That's why I don't like GUI: remembering key chords is a way of automating tasks through memorization, and clicking on buttons requires much more cognition and interaction with the screen.
And that my friends, is what really grinds my gears.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't get why people are building these fancy new editors - You can get both Emacs and Vim to behave Textmate like in many ways. They are both usable everywhere, including in a terminal. No matter which editor you want to use, you have to learn it and it takes time. A few years back I decided between Emacs and Textmate and learned Emacs - the main reason was because I can still use it when I am forced into a termin…
But vi (and likely emacs as well) has terrible discoverability. I can modify my gedit or eTextEditor syntax highlighting easily. You could spend an hour learning how to do the same in vi. Hell, to even find 'colorscheme' you'd have to wonder round vimtutor for ages.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't get why people are building these fancy new editors - You can get both Emacs and Vim to behave Textmate like in many ways. They are both usable everywhere, including in a terminal. No matter which editor you want to use, you have to learn it and it takes time. A few years back I decided between Emacs and Textmate and learned Emacs - the main reason was because I can still use it when I am forced into a termin…
because marketing (more than technology) matters
Earlier quoted context omitted.
The fact that you listed two be-all end-all text editors suggests that neither of them is the perfect solution for everyone...
OK, good point. But isn't writing a text editor one of those garden path problems - a near never ending amount of work to get to just what exists already? I guess I also wonder what inspires developers to start new text editor projects too! Perhaps its just dis-satisfaction with what is there already.
Any debate about them being better really misses the point, it's the dvorak querty argument all over. Better doesn't matter as much as familiar to new users. Textmate is immediately useful to a new user and feels like a modern editor. Emacs and vi look and feel archaic and require too much effort to feel productive in.
That's my two cents anyway after many attempts to use both. Can't stand vi, can get by with emacs just don't really dig it. For quick editing in a shell I just use nano because it's usually just editing of config files.
I've written my own editor too. Would you like to see my .emacs file? All kiding aside, the most important thing about an editor is an ability to customize it, whether it be via Emacs Lisp, Vim Script, or some other means. No software developer or plugin writer is going to be able to anticipate your needs, instead give yourself the ability to fulfil them. For example, just recently I wrote up a quick Emacs Lisp funct…
I think one can compare customization against wizards in Studio or scaffolding in Rails. Sure, it's an easy way to get started with whatever: MFC apps, Rails apps, or text editing. But when you outgrow hello world application, you'd want much more power. I used Emacs on and off for maybe four years but never customized it. I finally gathered up some attention month or so ago, got through tutorials and now I'm editing…
Ooh, burn burn, rage rage, agreement!
Earlier quoted context omitted.
OK, good point. But isn't writing a text editor one of those garden path problems - a near never ending amount of work to get to just what exists already? I guess I also wonder what inspires developers to start new text editor projects too! Perhaps its just dis-satisfaction with what is there already.
There's a reason you have to be convinced to learn emacs or vi, the user experience is horrible until after you've finished climbing a learning cliff. They work differently than just about every other text editor in the world because they're so old that they don't by default use modern hotkeys people are accustomed to. Any debate about them being better really misses the point, it's the dvorak querty argument all ove…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
I don't get why people are building these fancy new editors - You can get both Emacs and Vim to behave Textmate like in many ways. They are both usable everywhere, including in a terminal. No matter which editor you want to use, you have to learn it and it takes time. A few years back I decided between Emacs and Textmate and learned Emacs - the main reason was because I can still use it when I am forced into a termin…
But vi (and likely emacs as well) has terrible discoverability. I can modify my gedit or eTextEditor syntax highlighting easily. You could spend an hour learning how to do the same in vi. Hell, to even find 'colorscheme' you'd have to wonder round vimtutor for ages.