> James B. Byrne writes:
> > 1.      The vi editor as shipped does not support cursor control.  Now I
> > might considered a little odd for thinking this, but why would anyone
> > ship a visual orientated, page mode editor and NOT have any built in
> > cursor control?
I understand your point, but...

> Look upon this as an opportunity to learn the vi cursor movement keystrokes.
> That way, you'll be functional in vi whether it's on MPE, Solaris, HPUX,
> FreeBSD, etc.  ;-)
>
> This annoyed me at first until I learned the keystrokes.  But it's really a
> much simpler way of dealing with multiple vi platforms.

In addition to the platform independence point, which I agree with...

I would be willing to bet that after you learn the four vi cursor
mode commands that correspond to the movements that you would get
from the four arrow keys on the keyboard (if they worked), you will
find them much easier to use. Why? Because you don't even have to
move your hand. This is a big advantage if you are not a "hunt and
peck" type (who is therefore always moving his hand and looking at
the keyboard anyway). Nevermind how much easier cursor movement is
once your learn the more powerful vi cursor movement commands. Not
only that but the same cursor movement commands tend to work in other
interfaces as well...so it is not a waste of time.