Portability and the Ivory Tower (was Re: Book on Microsoft C)

[Michael Stanley]

In article <948 at atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu>, hascall at atanasoff.cs.iastate.edu (John Hascall) writes:
> In article <42674c5e.b11a at falcon.engin.umich.edu> ejd at caen.engin.umich.edu (Edward J Driscoll) writes:
> 
> >You're right, 'vi' is an excellent example.  I tried to teach a
> >Mac programmer (with an MS from MIT) how to use it, and he
> >thought it laughably brutal compared to even the most simple
> >Mac editor.  Do you really prefer h,j,k, and l to using a mouse?
> 
>     Yes.  I'm certainly not the worlds largest fan of vi, but using a mouse
>     to do simple cursor positioning is ludicrous.  Why take your hands off
>     the keyboard just to move over a couple of spaces?


     I have no doubt that if our future includes a world with a computer
in every house, we aren't going to get there without providing an
interface for the 'ordinary' user that is simple to use.  The Mac is
certainly a 'successful' step in that direction (of course the Mac
borrowed many of its ideas from previous and, at least to me, less well
known systems).

     HOWEVER, for those of us who are used to a system designed towards
the needs of hackers (UNIX for example), the user interface is, after
learning how to use it, quite acceptable.  I'm firmly convinced that
I can use vi MUCH faster than I could and comperable editor on the Mac.

     Sorry for posting this letter to comp.lang.c (it doesn't quite fit),
but, I'm just responding to a note I saw.


	Michael Stanley		(...!uunet!harris.cis.ksu.edu!jms at hcx)