>
> I like "vi".
>
> 'vi'  doesn't that stand for "Very Inadequate" ?

No. While if can understand that vi can leave you with some mixed
fealings about it is actually a very reliable and powerfull editor.

As far as i recall the history was along these lines:

First there was ed (which it still is around, most likely used
in scripts these days).

The people at Berkeley wrote a new editor which included the
functionaly of the original ed which they called ex, for extended
editor. Not sure if this was a rewrite or if some code was taken
from ed.

Vi was also developed as Berkeley and was intended a visual user
interface for the ex editor. In fact they are the same. Whenever
you enter a command starting with a colong (eg. :q) in vi you are
actually providing a ex command. When in ex the :vi command gets
you in visual mode.

One of the the real strength of ex/vi (besides its powerful editing
features) is that it is available on any UNIX/POSIX system and
behaves exactly the same (or at least very close). It can operate
efficiently in a wide range of environments, from a slow modem
connection to a MPE box :-) So if you have some basic vi knowledge
you get around easily on all kind of systems.


Michael

--
Michael Marxmeier           Marxmeier Software AG
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Phone : +49 202 2431440     42285 Wuppertal, Germany
Fax   : +49 202 2431420     http://www.msede.com/

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