During this morning's lecture I mentioned options for editing on Linux. There are two basic paths that you can go, a GUI editor or a text-based editor. If you go the GUI route then there are many options for notepad type functionality such gEdit on Gnome or kEdit on KDE. However, to really take advantage of Linux you need to learn a proper editor by which I mean a command line editor such as
VI (pronounced Vee-Eye),
VIM (VI-Improved), or
Emacs. Unfortunately the learning curve is very steep on these editors so I can do nothing more than suggest that you try them out and see. Alternatives to the big command-line editors are the lightweight editors like pico or nano that at least give you some on screen help to save you from immediately getting completely lost as is usually the case with
VI and
Emacs the first time you try it.
For interest you should be aware that the
VI versus Emacs debate has been going on for many years and is akin to a holy war. Ultimately, our choice of editor is merely a personal decision based upon the needed features and perseverance. That said we can learn a lot from other people's reasons for choosing one editor over another, for example, over at
Charlie Stross' blog there was a post a couple of days back about his
choice of writing tools (he is one of the best sci-fi writers around at the moment and is part of a very strong Scottish Science Fiction landscape). Charlie is a
VI user because
Emacs gives him repetitive stress, and given enough time, as one of the
commenters pointed out:
Your choice of a text editor is kind of like a tattoo, isn't it? After a while you have to look back on that decision you made when you were fifteen and realize, "yup, that's just never going to go away."
So I am interested to hear your views, especially if you have tried out the editors available in the Ubuntu VM and have settled on one that you will use during the remainder of the module.
