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It depends on your limitations. If you get trouble using a mouse, Emacs/Vi are better than IDEs. If you have general troubles with keyboards, IDEs are better.

It depends on your limitations. If you get trouble using a mouse, Emacs/Vi are better than IDEs. If you have general troubles with keyboards, IDEs are better. Emacs has imho superior functionality. But if your neck gives you problem with the "chording" you use in Emacs (lots of cases with multiple keys pressed down at once), then Vi's modes would be helpful. [Edit: goldfeld's comments re keyboards are spot on. I have some early neck troubles, I might have to go that way too. The doctors tell me it is common in our profession, we sit still too many hours.] Anyway, Emacs is really optimized for editing, not for learning to edit. I still recommend the trip. An anecdote about the last paragraph: I read online that Org Mode was the best thing since sliced bread. So I sat down and spent lots of hours to learn it. Afterwards, I thought -- "wtf did I just do?! I could get > 50% of that functionality from a web/iPad app I would learn in ten minutes?! Was that really worth the time?" Then I realised that I can write/edit Org modes lists almost as good as todo lists on paper; it was so far down in the brain stem it took no attention from what I was writing.

hollerith 12y ago
>if your neck gives you problem with the "chording" you use in Emacs (lots of cases with multiple keys pressed down at once), then Vi's modes would be helpful. If the goal is to eliminate the need to hold down a key while pressing another key, turning on "sticky keys" would a lot easier than adapting to a different text editor. "Sticky keys" is available as an option (usually accessed via Settings > Accessibility) in OS X, Gnome 2, the Linux console, Windows and probably other environments (though ISTR some bugginess in how it worked in Windows the one time I test-drove it in Windows). Source: I have been using sticky keys with Emacs (on OS X, Gnome 2 and the Linux console) for the last 15 years or so.
- BugBrother 12y ago
  I am happy to hear that works well. So maybe I shouldn't be scared of losing all life quality every time I use a knife in the kitchen. :-)
- hatmatrix 12y ago
  isn't that what emacs god-mode is for? http://chrisdone.com/posts/god-mode http://chrisdone.com/posts/god-mode and http://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/21c49e/combining_evilmode_and_godmode_for_an_automatic/ http://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/21c49e/combining_evil...

hollerith 12y ago

>if your neck gives you problem with the "chording" you use in Emacs (lots of cases with multiple keys pressed down at once), then Vi's modes would be helpful. If the goal is to eliminate the need to hold down a key while pressing another key, turning on "sticky keys" would a lot easier than adapting to a different text editor. "Sticky keys" is available as an option (usually accessed via Settings > Accessibility) in OS X, Gnome 2, the Linux console, Windows and probably other environments (though ISTR some bugginess in how it worked in Windows the one time I test-drove it in Windows). Source: I have been using sticky keys with Emacs (on OS X, Gnome 2 and the Linux console) for the last 15 years or so.

BugBrother 12y ago
I am happy to hear that works well. So maybe I shouldn't be scared of losing all life quality every time I use a knife in the kitchen. :-)
hatmatrix 12y ago
isn't that what emacs god-mode is for? http://chrisdone.com/posts/god-mode http://chrisdone.com/posts/god-mode and http://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/21c49e/combining_evilmode_and_godmode_for_an_automatic/ http://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/comments/21c49e/combining_evil...