22 Feb
2018
22 Feb
'18
6:35 a.m.
On 21 February 2018 at 23:50, Noel Chiappa via cctalk
<cctalk at classiccmp.org> wrote:
After going through I've-forgotten-how-many editors (starting with TECO, then
'ed'), text formatting systems, operating systems, email readers, etc, etc I
have a _very_ simple rule about switching software: is the old stuff I'm using
utterly, irretrievably unusable? If not, ignore the new stuff. Eventually
it'll be obsolete too. And in the meantime, I'll have saved countless cycles
by not going through the hassle of switching to it. Life's too short.
Interesting.
I have had a comparable journey, starting in the early 1980s on home
micros. I have learned so many different editors, with all their
strengths and weaknesses, I can't remember how many to the nearest
dozen.
But at the end of the 1980s/start of the 1990s, something changed.
CUA came along. IBM's answer to Apple's MacOS HIG.
A set of rules for how apps should look.
Quickly, lots complied. DR-DOS 5 came with a slightly clunky but CUA
full-screen text-editor.
MS-DOS 5 followed. From the horrors of edlin, we got the DOS 5 editor,
basically QBASIC in a special mode. But QBASIC was the QuickBASIC 4
IDE with an interpreter bolted in place of the compiler, and it was a
decent IDE and a decent editor.
DR-DOS 6 upped its game a bit.
Windows Notepad is basically the same and compatible. So were the
later classic MacOS editors. So are the editors in KDE, GNOME 2, Mat?,
LXDE, Xfce, whatever. So are all the Mac OS X ones.
There's one look and feel for a text editor now. Menu bar at the top,
starting File, Edit, blah. Save is Ctrl+S. Open is Ctrl-O.
Cut/copy/paste -- well there the CUA ones gave in to Mac ones: Ctrl-X,
C, V.
I won't use any editor or editing app that doesn't follow that
pattern. I've happily, joyfully, with a song in my heart, forgotten
all the others.
I don't care _how_ powerful anyone's editor is. Scripting, macros,
add-ons, modules, whatever. Not interested. Strictly CUA or GTFO.
It has made life much simpler.
And in the great Vi-versus-Emacs war, it leaves both sides staring
blankly at me with nothing to offer.
Both weakly point out that their X version does most of that, but
neither does it on the console, so I'm not interested.
It rules out most of the console/shell level Unix/Linux/*nix world and
that's fine with me. Saves me a ton of decision-making.
Your app. Don't care what it does. Is it CUA compliant? No? OK, thank
you for your time, goodbye. *Ting* Next please.
--
Liam Proven ? Profile: https://about.me/liamproven
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