4 ms·

Switching editors is just as hard as switching languages

16 points by iamelgringo 19y ago

cstejerean 19y ago
Reminds me of the experience I had trying to learn Emacs. I was never a vi power user though but I still hated how hard things were in Emacs compared to something like TextMate. I really liked the idea of being able to start using something right away and mouse around looking for menus at first and become a power user later. First time I started emacs I couldn't even figure out how to exit it.
pius 19y ago
I'd qualify that. Switching editors should be as hard as switching languages. If not, your editor eith isn't powerful enough or you aren't using it right.
- BrandonM 19y ago
  That's a good insight, especially when you consider that it was the concluding paragraph of the article: Before I wrap up, I’d like to point out that if the title of this post sounds suspect to you, consider it a huge red flag. If the thought of switching editors doesn’t fill you with quite a bit of dread, what you’re using now is almost certainly underpowered, and you definitely haven’t customized it enough. If this is you, take a look at one of the editors I’ve been discussing here, and take the time to learn it–I promise it’s worth the trouble. Just, uh…choose carefully.
  - pius 19y ago
    Love the snark!
    - BrandonM 19y ago
      I'm sorry, my reply was really uncalled for. It's just that I always find it funny when someone echoes an idea almost exactly that they seemingly missed in the article. I think it's part of my assumption that the people on Hacker News actually read through an article before voting or commenting on it, but that could be changing (or I could just be wrong).
iowahansen 19y ago
My advice: be an atheist when it comes to your tool selection. Use the tools that get a specific job done the fastest. Anecdotal evidence: back in 1998 I insisted of doing websites in Vi and Photoshop. Refreshing a graphic layout would take me an hour, slicing pictures, measuring pixels and editing the corresponding HTML. Along came a demonstration of Macromedia's Fireworks and Dreamweaver where the guy on stage did the same thing in under 5 minutes. While the generated HTML wasn't as "pure" as my hand edited code it was close enough to realize that I was wasting major time with my existing method. Never looked back being an tool atheist...

16 points by iamelgringo 19y ago

Reminds me of the experience I had trying to learn Emacs. I was never a vi power user though but I still hated how hard things were in Emacs compared to something like TextMate. I really liked the idea of being able to start using something right away and mouse around looking for menus at first and become a power user later. First time I started emacs I couldn't even figure out how to exit it.

pius 19y ago

I'd qualify that. Switching editors should be as hard as switching languages. If not, your editor eith isn't powerful enough or you aren't using it right.

BrandonM 19y ago
That's a good insight, especially when you consider that it was the concluding paragraph of the article: Before I wrap up, I’d like to point out that if the title of this post sounds suspect to you, consider it a huge red flag. If the thought of switching editors doesn’t fill you with quite a bit of dread, what you’re using now is almost certainly underpowered, and you definitely haven’t customized it enough. If this is you, take a look at one of the editors I’ve been discussing here, and take the time to learn it–I promise it’s worth the trouble. Just, uh…choose carefully.
- pius 19y ago
  Love the snark!
  - BrandonM 19y ago
    I'm sorry, my reply was really uncalled for. It's just that I always find it funny when someone echoes an idea almost exactly that they seemingly missed in the article. I think it's part of my assumption that the people on Hacker News actually read through an article before voting or commenting on it, but that could be changing (or I could just be wrong).

iowahansen 19y ago

My advice: be an atheist when it comes to your tool selection. Use the tools that get a specific job done the fastest. Anecdotal evidence: back in 1998 I insisted of doing websites in Vi and Photoshop. Refreshing a graphic layout would take me an hour, slicing pictures, measuring pixels and editing the corresponding HTML. Along came a demonstration of Macromedia's Fireworks and Dreamweaver where the guy on stage did the same thing in under 5 minutes. While the generated HTML wasn't as "pure" as my hand edited code it was close enough to realize that I was wasting major time with my existing method. Never looked back being an tool atheist...