4 ms·

Any reason why vim instead of emacs? I use textmate and might give vim/emacs a try again. Quite similar to your old experience.

nimms 16y ago
as a textmate to vim to emacs user, I'd say that vim is to textmate as emacs is to vim. Vim is awesome, but it's still just an editor. Emacs is an operating system that's built around editing text. You start with a powerful editing paradigm and then apply it to pretty much anything you need to do as a programmer...it's about the best editing experience I've ever had. My shell, source control, organiser, messaging, documentation, directory browsing, irc, document viewing etc is all done from within my text editor with all the awesome editing capability that 23 versions brings with it...also you can run vim from within emacs...
- eru 16y ago
  Vim uses a similar paradigm of leveraging an operating system for editing. But it leverages Unix instead of coming up with its own half-baked OS. (Disclaimer: I do use Emacs, mostly.)
  - ralph 16y ago
    Exactly. Emacs didn't start on Unix IIRC and seems to prefer to have everything built in. vi was created by Bill Joy on Unix and wanted to work with the rich language of shell commands from the start, as ed(1) did, so it concentrated on editing text well and integrating with Unix well. To see some Emacs users you wonder why they're even bothering to run on Unix. ;-)
- yters 16y ago
  Emacs has VIPER mode, which uses the Vim keybindings in Emacs. Haven't tried learning the keybindings yet myself, and I've heard VIPER isn't the complete Vim.
  - nocman 16y ago
    If you want something closer to Vim keybindings in Emacs, try vimpulse: http://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/vimpulse http://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/vimpulse
- technomancy 16y ago
  > Emacs is an operating system that's built around editing text. It amuses me that people actually think that's just a joke.
  - protez 16y ago
    it's a joke because it's almost true.
Symmetry 16y ago
Emacs is a better IDE than vim, but vim is a better editor than emacs. Emacs is far easier to script and plays nicer with other programs so there are more, more useful extensions for working in various languages. On the other hand, I find vim's modal interface faster and easier on my hands than emac's chording interface. viper-mode in emacs might be ideal.
neutronicus 16y ago
Avid emacs user here. Ergonomics. There's an emacs key chord for everything, but many of them involve two or three modifier keys. i.e. search and replace is Alt+Shift+5, indent block is Ctrl+Alt+\ These require some finger contortions. I haven't used vim, but the impression I get is that similar commands in vim are all closer to home row so you don't have to contort your hands as much.
- psadauskas 16y ago
  Yup. I'm an avid vim user, but I tried emacs for a few weeks, and my hands were always sore. search & replace is % indent is > (auto-indent is =) Emacs seems really neat, and I'd like to try out some other editors, but none of them compare to the ease of vim's modal style.
- narrator 16y ago
  I use emacs for most of my text editing. I hate using vim because I find all the mode switching to be really annoying. I like how keys always mean one thing in emacs, even if it results in the occasional bit of emacs pinky.
  - deleted 16y ago
    [deleted]
- johngunderman 16y ago
  You can always re-map. I use Tab for indent-region, instead of bothering with indent-block.

nimms 16y ago

as a textmate to vim to emacs user, I'd say that vim is to textmate as emacs is to vim. Vim is awesome, but it's still just an editor. Emacs is an operating system that's built around editing text. You start with a powerful editing paradigm and then apply it to pretty much anything you need to do as a programmer...it's about the best editing experience I've ever had. My shell, source control, organiser, messaging, documentation, directory browsing, irc, document viewing etc is all done from within my text editor with all the awesome editing capability that 23 versions brings with it...also you can run vim from within emacs...

eru 16y ago
Vim uses a similar paradigm of leveraging an operating system for editing. But it leverages Unix instead of coming up with its own half-baked OS. (Disclaimer: I do use Emacs, mostly.)
- ralph 16y ago
  Exactly. Emacs didn't start on Unix IIRC and seems to prefer to have everything built in. vi was created by Bill Joy on Unix and wanted to work with the rich language of shell commands from the start, as ed(1) did, so it concentrated on editing text well and integrating with Unix well. To see some Emacs users you wonder why they're even bothering to run on Unix. ;-)
yters 16y ago
Emacs has VIPER mode, which uses the Vim keybindings in Emacs. Haven't tried learning the keybindings yet myself, and I've heard VIPER isn't the complete Vim.
- nocman 16y ago
  If you want something closer to Vim keybindings in Emacs, try vimpulse: http://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/vimpulse http://www.assembla.com/wiki/show/vimpulse
technomancy 16y ago
> Emacs is an operating system that's built around editing text. It amuses me that people actually think that's just a joke.
- protez 16y ago
  it's a joke because it's almost true.

Symmetry 16y ago

Emacs is a better IDE than vim, but vim is a better editor than emacs. Emacs is far easier to script and plays nicer with other programs so there are more, more useful extensions for working in various languages. On the other hand, I find vim's modal interface faster and easier on my hands than emac's chording interface. viper-mode in emacs might be ideal.

neutronicus 16y ago

Avid emacs user here. Ergonomics. There's an emacs key chord for everything, but many of them involve two or three modifier keys. i.e. search and replace is Alt+Shift+5, indent block is Ctrl+Alt+\ These require some finger contortions. I haven't used vim, but the impression I get is that similar commands in vim are all closer to home row so you don't have to contort your hands as much.

psadauskas 16y ago
Yup. I'm an avid vim user, but I tried emacs for a few weeks, and my hands were always sore. search & replace is % indent is > (auto-indent is =) Emacs seems really neat, and I'd like to try out some other editors, but none of them compare to the ease of vim's modal style.
narrator 16y ago
I use emacs for most of my text editing. I hate using vim because I find all the mode switching to be really annoying. I like how keys always mean one thing in emacs, even if it results in the occasional bit of emacs pinky.
- deleted 16y ago
  [deleted]
johngunderman 16y ago
You can always re-map. I use Tab for indent-region, instead of bothering with indent-block.