The measure of a tool should be: how much of an improvement is it over not using it. It's not about how fast a bike can go, it's how much faster it is than walk

The measure of a tool should be: how much of an improvement is it over not using it. It's not about how fast a bike can go, it's how much faster it is than walking. vi can be a huge speedup doing text manipulation. Programming is not just manipulating test, but manipulating code. An IDE helps me with syntax, completion, extracting/inlining, modifying signatures, refactoring, etc. A corollary is: if you're making a tool, make sure it's leaps better than the simplest alternative. I have a friend who gauges lasagna at a restaurant against Stouffer's frozen lasagna. Because Stouffer's is delicious and if I'm going to a restaurant and paying a lot, it has to at least be better than something I can easily heat up at home!