3 ms·
I tried to switch to emacs around a year ago. I even posted a thread here labeled Ask YC: Why is emacs a great editor? (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=3130
by mixmax 17y ago
I tried to switch to emacs around a year ago. I even posted a thread here labeled Ask YC: Why is emacs a great editor? (http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=313025 http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=313025) Even though I got some great feedback and lots of tips and tricks I never got friendly with the editor. The learning curve was simply too steep, the way of doing things too arcane and the usability too bad.
I'm not denouncing emacs, a lot of people I hold in very high regard would commit suicide if they couldn't use it, I'm just saying that emacs is like Richard Stallman: An indisputable genius, but to work with him you have to do things his way, and share his beliefs about the world. Which I don't.
- mtoledo 17y agoVi's learning curve is very steep too. As an emacs user, I sometimes use vi when pairing with a vi colleague. I've tried to learn some more advanced vi functionalities, but I always think the learning curve is not worth leaving emacs behind. I'm thinking that the issue is rather that when you learn your first editor (emacs or vi), you don't have other good text editors as reference so you swallow the learning curve and keep pushing. When learning the second one, its harder to justify the learning effort.
- projecktzero 17y agoOver the years, I've tried emacs several times. Then I tried VIM, and it clicked with me. I think some people's brains click with VIM and others click with Emacs.