4 ms·

By that logic we should just make "ed" the default editor. It's more like every other line oriented CLI interface element in the system than Nano is.

• p-e-w 4y ago
  Ed is indeed a good choice for a line editor. We're not talking about line editors, though, but about text editors. Ed is not useful for writing, because it does not have the immediate visual feedback when entering text that even mechanical typewriters have. For that, you need a text editor, and between Vim and Nano, only one behaves like most Unix software developed in the past three decades.
  • chongli 4y ago
    Ed is not useful for writing, because it does not have the immediate visual feedback when entering text that even mechanical typewriters have. What do you mean? $ ed i Ed is indeed a good choice for a line editor. We're not talking about line editors, though, but about text editors. Ed is not useful for writing, because it does not have the immediate visual feedback when entering text that even mechanical typewriters have. For that, you need a text editor, and between Vim and Nano, only one behaves like most Unix software developed in the past three decades. . .s/not useful/useful/g p Ed is indeed a good choice for a line editor. We're not talking about line editors, though, but about text editors. Ed is useful for writing, because it does not have the immediate visual feedback when entering text that even mechanical typewriters have. For that, you need a text editor, and between Vim and Nano, only one behaves like most Unix software developed in the past three decades. .s/does not have/does have/g p Ed is indeed a good choice for a line editor. We're not talking about line editors, though, but about text editors. Ed is useful for writing, because it does have the immediate visual feedback when entering text that even mechanical typewriters have. For that, you need a text editor, and between Vim and Nano, only one behaves like most Unix software developed in the past three decades. w ed_is_useful.txt 389 q $ cat ed_is_useful.txt Ed is indeed a good choice for a line editor. We're not talking about line editors, though, but about text editors. Ed is useful for writing, because it does have the immediate visual feedback when entering text that even mechanical typewriters have. For that, you need a text editor, and between Vim and Nano, only one behaves like most Unix software developed in the past three decades. $
    • chrisoverzero 4y ago
      Here’s the claim: > [ed] does not have the immediate visual feedback when entering text that even mechanical typewriters have. …and here’s the counterclaim: .s/does not have/does have/g p See how you had to type another command to see the results of this substitution? I don’t think this demonstrates what you want it to.
      • chongli 4y ago
        Typewriters don't have substitution. The immediate visual feedback when entering text in ed is that the keystrokes are echoed to the screen. This occurs regardless of whether you're writing commands or you're in insert mode, such as in this case: i Ed is indeed a good choice for a line editor. We're not talking about line editors, though, but about text editors. Ed is not useful for writing, because it does not have the immediate visual feedback when entering text that even mechanical typewriters have. For that, you need a text editor, and between Vim and Nano, only one behaves like most Unix software developed in the past three decades.
• thanatropism 4y ago
  ed is worth learning. I think the very first thing I learned about computers as a child, at a weird person's behest, was EDLIN.EXE
• danhau 4y ago
  Line / prompt input is not the same as text editing. View it from a average user / UX perspective. Having Ed as the default editor is just as surprising as Vim. Power users and Linux geeks might prefer Vim, rightfully, but neither Vim nor Ed are good defaults. Both mandate having them used before as a prerequesite. You want something that as many people as possible can use out of the box as the default.
• ogogmad 4y ago
  Ed is the right editor for a Unix simulation running inside a ChatGPT session.