4 ms·

BBEdit's multi-file search and replace (and it's compare) alone are worth it. I keep coming back to BBEdit for search and replace, even if I prefer other editor

BBEdit's multi-file search and replace (and it's compare) alone are worth it. I keep coming back to BBEdit for search and replace, even if I prefer other editors for other things. I use a lot of different editors too, rotating among favorites. The one thing I do not consistently use are modal keyboard-centric editors like vim and emacs. I get that some people like them, but they've never done much for me. (And yes, I do know how to use them. I'm old enough that I upgraded to vim early on.)

wingerlang 12y ago
What's different from Sublimes multi file search and replace?
JadeNB 12y ago
> The one thing I do not consistently use are modal keyboard-centric editors like vim and emacs. As a vim-er and not an Emacs-er, asking genuinely and not out of snark, surely Emacs is eminently non-modal (at least, not modal in the same way that vim is)?
- sjm 12y ago
  Well technically Emacs is just a Lisp interpreter with some text editing facilities by default. With evil-mode it is just as modal as vim throughout.
  - JadeNB 12y ago
    > Well technically Emacs is just a Lisp interpreter with some text editing facilities by default. With evil-mode it is just as modal as vim throughout. I don't mean to suggest that Emacs can't be made into a modal editor—saying "Emacs can't do that" is good only as a reverse-psychology tactic to convince someone to make Emacs do that—but rather that it is not "by its nature" such; that is, that someone is unlikely to choose Emacs, over vim say, because it can be made modal.
    - lispm 12y ago
      Well, the EVIL-mode is used by a lot of people who want the features of GNU Emacs and a modal interface. If you search around there are several people with detailed reports why and how they switched to a modal GNU Emacs.
    - tuhdo 12y ago
      Emacs can make Vim a subset of it. You should check spacemacs: https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs. It was made by Vimmers and is ambitious: it wants to replace not only the "editor" inside Emacs, but also rebind everything else to Vim's convention. Evil-mode can do everything in Practical Vim, I was told by a Vim user switched to Emacs.
- Tloewald 12y ago
  https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Major-Modes.html https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Ma... emacs has plenty of modes, although actually that's not really my big problem with emacs (or vim) when I think more about it. It's needing to remember stuff rather than recognize and select (which is the fundamental advantage of GUI, if you don't like remembering things). Most of the stuff I see vim/emacs-ers boast about are easily achievable by me with a mouse or so obscure that I'd never remember them when I needed them. But that's me. Some people are good at and/or like remembering shortcuts.
  - tuhdo 12y ago
    You never need to remember keyboard shortcuts for major modes. When you forget, you can always bring a "cheatsheet" using "C-h m" which lists all key bindings of current major modes and minor modes. Every time I'm new to a major mode, I always use this table. If you forget any key binding but remember prefix key, I press <prefix key> + C-h to bring all the key bindings that start with that <prefix key>. If you ever forget key binding but remember the command, use helm-M-x that list key bindings along side with the commands. DEMO: http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-m-x.gif http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-m-x.gif . In Emacs, I NEVER remember things consciously; I keep using something until it is recalled effortlessly. On the other hand, it's not like you don't have to remember things with those fancy GUIs. Take Eclipse as an example. You would have to steps through meaningless GUIs to configure something to work, and you have to remember those steps mechanically the next time you setup something. I would rather learn a consistent programming language with actual easy to remember rules to first configure simple things, and later extend my editor, rather than stepping through those meaningless GUIs. And what you said that most of the stuff that are easily achievable with a mouse, try to do equivalent things like this in SECONDS: http://emacsrocks.com/ http://emacsrocks.com/. Well, that's why my co-workers work so hard why I have time to enjoy other things during my daily work. What you said, like many other people who didn't learn Emacs properly or left it for so long that don't know what Emacs is currently capable of, is seriously outdated. You should have a look at my post in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8639804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8639804 to see what Emacs is capable of that I could never find in any other editors, and even IDEs.
  - 12y ago

wingerlang 12y ago

What's different from Sublimes multi file search and replace?

JadeNB 12y ago

> The one thing I do not consistently use are modal keyboard-centric editors like vim and emacs. As a vim-er and not an Emacs-er, asking genuinely and not out of snark, surely Emacs is eminently non-modal (at least, not modal in the same way that vim is)?

sjm 12y ago
Well technically Emacs is just a Lisp interpreter with some text editing facilities by default. With evil-mode it is just as modal as vim throughout.
- JadeNB 12y ago
  > Well technically Emacs is just a Lisp interpreter with some text editing facilities by default. With evil-mode it is just as modal as vim throughout. I don't mean to suggest that Emacs can't be made into a modal editor—saying "Emacs can't do that" is good only as a reverse-psychology tactic to convince someone to make Emacs do that—but rather that it is not "by its nature" such; that is, that someone is unlikely to choose Emacs, over vim say, because it can be made modal.
  - lispm 12y ago
    Well, the EVIL-mode is used by a lot of people who want the features of GNU Emacs and a modal interface. If you search around there are several people with detailed reports why and how they switched to a modal GNU Emacs.
  - tuhdo 12y ago
    Emacs can make Vim a subset of it. You should check spacemacs: https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs. It was made by Vimmers and is ambitious: it wants to replace not only the "editor" inside Emacs, but also rebind everything else to Vim's convention. Evil-mode can do everything in Practical Vim, I was told by a Vim user switched to Emacs.
Tloewald 12y ago
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Major-Modes.html https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Ma... emacs has plenty of modes, although actually that's not really my big problem with emacs (or vim) when I think more about it. It's needing to remember stuff rather than recognize and select (which is the fundamental advantage of GUI, if you don't like remembering things). Most of the stuff I see vim/emacs-ers boast about are easily achievable by me with a mouse or so obscure that I'd never remember them when I needed them. But that's me. Some people are good at and/or like remembering shortcuts.
- tuhdo 12y ago
  You never need to remember keyboard shortcuts for major modes. When you forget, you can always bring a "cheatsheet" using "C-h m" which lists all key bindings of current major modes and minor modes. Every time I'm new to a major mode, I always use this table. If you forget any key binding but remember prefix key, I press <prefix key> + C-h to bring all the key bindings that start with that <prefix key>. If you ever forget key binding but remember the command, use helm-M-x that list key bindings along side with the commands. DEMO: http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-m-x.gif http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-m-x.gif . In Emacs, I NEVER remember things consciously; I keep using something until it is recalled effortlessly. On the other hand, it's not like you don't have to remember things with those fancy GUIs. Take Eclipse as an example. You would have to steps through meaningless GUIs to configure something to work, and you have to remember those steps mechanically the next time you setup something. I would rather learn a consistent programming language with actual easy to remember rules to first configure simple things, and later extend my editor, rather than stepping through those meaningless GUIs. And what you said that most of the stuff that are easily achievable with a mouse, try to do equivalent things like this in SECONDS: http://emacsrocks.com/ http://emacsrocks.com/. Well, that's why my co-workers work so hard why I have time to enjoy other things during my daily work. What you said, like many other people who didn't learn Emacs properly or left it for so long that don't know what Emacs is currently capable of, is seriously outdated. You should have a look at my post in this thread: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8639804 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=8639804 to see what Emacs is capable of that I could never find in any other editors, and even IDEs.
- 12y ago