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The key thing being Vim's "modes". Vim users spend most of their time in normal mode navigating and doing some editing. Insert mode is for actually typing cha
by graywh 18y ago
The key thing being Vim's "modes". Vim users spend most of their time in normal mode navigating and doing some editing. Insert mode is for actually typing characters into the document.
- silentbicycle 18y agoRight. Emacs modes are more context-oriented ("I'm editing XML, so give me navigation commands that natively understand that syntax") while vi modes are operation-oriented (either inserting/appending or navigating/editing). In the vi sense, Emacs is always in both modes, so you need to press modifier keys to categorize actions (and if you're unlucky, you may find yourself gradually growing crab claws for pinkies). There's an editor synthesis waiting to happen, but decades of old elisp means there's a lot of inertia for new editors to overcome.
- graywh 18y agoThe difference I was trying to point out is that Emacs is always in "insert mode" in the vi sense. In vi normal mode, many commands don't require modifier keys. Vim has syntax-aware navigation, too. And what Emacs calls "modes", Vim calls syntax/filetype plugins.