Path: csiph.com!1.us.feeder.erje.net!feeder.erje.net!usenet.blueworldhosting.com!diablo1.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Richard Smith Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Subject: Re: 10, 15 yrs ago this newsgroup was *much* larger. What happened? Date: Fri, 31 Mar 2023 19:36:51 +0100 Organization: BlueWorld Hosting Usenet (https://usenet.blueworldhosting.com) Message-ID: References: <87zg7up3r3.fsf@axel-reichert.de> MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Injection-Info: nnrp.usenet.blueworldhosting.com; logging-data="36415"; mail-complaints-to="usenet@blueworldhosting.com" User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.1 (darwin) Cancel-Lock: sha1:146R0vJZhz0npmeMKGihDfudw1g= sha1:vb9MzmQqk5Sxdl9GCvHzcqCvlL4= sha256:fGTNcivc3zE7m6+f6ETF89qUWoG/OLbGJM93FvK6duA= sha1:TscwYvidQjnAMT8UEGjn1WiLnec= sha256:3HK1UERaOeZA2YgkTflgmrq7/Pr7Or/ppqtszKaII5M= Xref: csiph.com gnu.emacs.help:60710 Axel Reichert writes: > dkcombs@panix.com (dkcombs) writes: > >> What other editor even competes with emacs? ex/vi/vim I suppose; >> anything else? > > When a couple of years ago a new employee was struggling with a task I > had assigned to him, to my surprise the editor was the culprit: It > slowed down so much that efficiently editing a 300 MB file was not > possible. I recommended the "youngster" to use Emacs instead of his > current editor (gedit?). After finishing the tutorial he was hooked and > speedily completed the task. However, I felt a little bad about > "forcing" such arcane tools on a fresh colleague, so I investigated a > little using > > https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comparison_of_text_editors > > as a reference. To my surprise, with only a couple of crucial features, > > - Open Source > - Available for Windows, macOS, and Linux > - Editing of large files (> 500 MB) > - Editing of rectangles/columns > - Allows for several instances of the editor running simultaneously > - Allows for opening the same file twice (viewing different parts) > - Allows for for multiple frames/windows in the same editor instance > > only the emacs and vi "editor families" remained in the game. Most of > the other contestants failed miserably with large files, and there was > not even need to assess the features for using regexes both for the > search and replace patterns (which rules out many other candidates as > well). > > So there I was, the "last men standing" both born in 1976 (depending on > what you count as the ancestor of the families), rendering my > recommendation to my "recruit" rather reasonable (I am fine with every > vi fan). I informed him about the "bad" news, "Sorry, no newer > alternatives", but he was happily editing away ever since. > > I started with emacs in 1995, and one of the good things of using a tool > for so long is that it really pays off to increase your knowledge, > especially about a tool that is so powerful, extensible, and well > documented. This way, power really grows on you. > > Best regards > > Axel emacs enabled me to write-up patents at a patent and trade-mark attorney's practice. They had a mark-up to cascade "claims" from the most general to the most specific, from a starting paragraph, and I could write them out in full. With a lot of copy-and-yank-then-edit. Most were driven mad before they got anywhere near it, using a "word-processor".