4 ms·
He basically said he uses a text editor for X subset of text editor features and can't see why Y set (where Y > X) would be of any more use to any one. That's c
by mindstab 14y ago
He basically said he uses a text editor for X subset of text editor features and can't see why Y set (where Y > X) would be of any more use to any one. That's classic Blub. Until you learn them and use them you can't really "envision" why they are any more useful than your current workflow.
- marssaxman 14y agoI can envision all kinds of useful tools an editor might offer; I've implemented a few of them. What I can't imagine is how any number of fancy editor features would ever add up to significantly higher productivity, given that every programmer I have ever met spends an order of magnitude more time reading, thinking, and discussing than actually editing code.
- tome 14y agoIt's not about saving time per se, it's about saving context switches and wasted brain cycles.
- w0utert 14y agoI don't disagree with that last sentence, but even acknowledging that, getting a whole lot more editing done in a whole lot less time, using significantly less keystrokes, makes for a much more enjoyable (and almost by extension: more productive) working experience. Not many things in programming are as soul-sucking as repeatedly having to bash the same keys or mousing and clicking around to translate your thoughts into working code. I think you are really underestimating the usefulness of some of the things you can only do with command-mode editors such as vim, if you think their only merit is saving a few seconds of typing.