I actually tried using Ed and didn't like it very much. My main gripe with it is that you strictly have to operate on a line-by-line basis, there's no way to go

I actually tried using Ed and didn't like it very much. My main gripe with it is that you strictly have to operate on a line-by-line basis, there's no way to go word-by-word, do option+backspace to erase the word that you just went past and then replace it with something else. Sure, there's the s command, but then turning "Eric" into "Daniel" also turns "American" into "Amdanielan", and you have to be extra careful around that sort of thing.