Vi Rules!

By Rich Manalang • September 30th, 2008 • 16 Comments

… and you know it.  I’m sure we have enough geeky readers here that know what I’m talking about.  For those that don’t (you suck) — Vi, simply put, is the best damn text editor ever created.

A couple of weeks ago a poll was started on OraTweet regarding Vi vs. Emacs:

How could there even be a comparison?  After all…

And for those who think TextMate is the best thing that they’ve ever installed on their macs, I say, “Vi still rules and Textmate is still €39 ≈ $57 — more than free.”

This post is nothing but a good ole fashion flamebait.  As I type this, I realize that the only reason I’m posting this is because I got a little too excited when MacVim (a very cool Vim app on OS X) added support for a mvim:// URL handler — now you know what excites me.  Anyway, since we’re at it… Gnome vs. KDE, Bash vs. Tcsh (or your pick)… fight back in the comments.


Possibly Related Posts

  • http://dbasrus.blogspot.com Noons

    C vs C++ anyone?
    ;)

  • Jessy

    I'll have to go with KDE, Bash, and well pico/nano (yup I said it!)

  • jpiwowar

    Woohoo, flamebait for a Wednesday morning! ;-)

    Nothing beats vi for quick editing (except maybe a perl one-liner in some cases). I haven't used emacs regularly in over 10 years, but when i've been forced to use it, I've found that I can still be in and out of a couple of files with vi in the time it takes emacs to *start*.

    I'll admit to being a happy Textmate user, though. I like interface for grouping files into projects, and the robust collection of built-in shortcuts/hotkeys, particularly if I have to resort to hand-coded HTML. Sure, it's “not-free”-ware, but it's a quality app, and I'm not against paying for quality. :-)

  • http://theappslab.com manalang

    Pico/nano… you're kidding me. You might as well be a Notepad user.

  • http://theappslab.com manalang

    I actually like Textmate but hate that it's only on a Mac. I switch between linux and mac a lot and would prefer to have the same editor on both. Otherwise, I'd be a happy Textmate user myself.

  • http://theappslab.com manalang

    C baby

  • http://theappslab.com manalang

    Oh… and for the record… gnome and bash for me.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    How about Coke vs. Pepsi?

    Not that I use either very much anymore, but when I did, I always liked vi more b/c I felt like a keyboard rockstar using it, like using SQL*Plus over TOAD. Emacs and pico were too user-friendly.

    Interesting thread though. I think the real reason tools like vi and CLI in general are preferred by most geeks is that they're inaccessible to n00bs. There's a flamebait post there.

  • http://blog.dragonsharp.com Lori M Olson

    My husband is a sysadmin, and I am a developer. We re-enact the Vi vs Emacs war every time we get a new server.

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Who wins?

  • http://friendfeed.com/ontarioemperor ontarioemperor

    I used ed back in the day, so I guess that puts me in the vi camp. :)

  • http://blog.dragonsharp.com Lori M Olson

    We both do, I guess. Vi comes pre-installed, but every time I log in to a new machine, and try to do something simple like edit my .profile, I yell loudly if emacs isn't there… so he has to install it for me ;-)

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    Everybody wins if you have choices.

  • megbear

    :1, $ s/emacs/vi

    at least I *think* I remember a useful skill or two.

    You can find out all about how I learned vi here (http://talentedapps.wordpress.com/2008/06/19/fi…)

    ;-)

  • http://davidhaimes.wordpres.com David Haimes

    I will still occasionally jump into a linux SQL*Plus session and rant about I can get the job done before TOAD/SQL Navigator has even loaded (the reality is, since my hard drive was replaced a few months ago, I never installed them).

  • http://theappslab.com Jake

    There's a lot to be said for lightweight tools that are fast and just work. Vi can be a chore though, but one worth doing/learning