[SOLVED] Which editor is better, vim or emacs

dspjm · 09-08-2011, 09:42 AM

I am a newbie in linux, while, I can use vim well now, but sometimes I found emacs very popular too. But it seems a little complicated to me. I just don't want to memorize so many shortcuts again...
What's your favorite editor?

druuna · 09-08-2011, 09:47 AM

Hi,

This is an ongoing discussion ever since vi and emacs came into life and has sparked many flame wars

Both are very powerful editors. It all comes down to personal preference (or which you "grew up with").

I'm a vi(m) person myself and never had the need to use emacs (and others will tell you the opposite).

Hope this helps.

0men · 09-08-2011, 09:57 AM

I've always been vi myself. But it's personal prefernce I guess.

netnix99 · 09-08-2011, 10:06 AM

druuna said it all....

dspjm · 09-08-2011, 10:22 AM

When I am viewing source code, is there a way to go to the header files directly? I found the "gD" command does work at all...

druuna · 09-08-2011, 10:41 AM

Hi,

Are you trying to open a file that's under the cursor?

If so: gf

Have a look here Open file under cursor for other ways and some tips/tricks.

Hope this helps.

dspjm · 09-08-2011, 11:10 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by druuna

Hi,

Are you trying to open a file that's under the cursor?

If so: gf

Have a look here Open file under cursor for other ways and some tips/tricks.

Hope this helps.

Thank you. Is there a way to open all buffers in tabs. I think splitting into windows makes the readable region too small for me on the laptop.

druuna · 09-08-2011, 11:19 AM

Hi,

vi(m) doesn't use tabs. gvim might be able to do this (not sure, never really used gvim). Either way I can't tell you how to do this.

I rather have multiple open vi(m) sessions then 1 that holds all the session (again, personal preference).

Hope this helps.

paulsm4 · 09-08-2011, 03:02 PM

You're not going to be able to browse source code without some kind of index.

"ctags" is a common choice; it works with both vi and emacs (and, of course, with other tools, and from the command line):

* http://www.thegeekstuff.com/2009/04/...-code-browser/

PS:
You might also be interested in CScope:

* http://cscope.sourceforge.net/

PPS:
My longtime favorite is "gid":

* http://www.gnu.org/s/idutils/manual/idutils.html

id-utils is particularly well suited for browsing through kernel code

dugan · 09-08-2011, 03:10 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by druuna

vi(m) doesn't use tabs.

Sure it does.

http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim_e...#Multiple_Tabs

druuna · 09-08-2011, 03:12 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dugan

Sure it does.

http://www.swaroopch.com/notes/Vim_e...#Multiple_Tabs

Learned something today!

grail · 09-08-2011, 07:33 PM

+1 to vim and +1 to learning about tabs ... cheers dugan

dspjm · 09-08-2011, 10:46 PM

I found that you can split the window vertically, is there an option of :set which can make the default split action vertical?

SigTerm · 09-08-2011, 11:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by dspjm

Which editor is better, vim or emacs

The question is pretty much pointless (unless you want a flamewar). Use whatever works best for you. Regardless of your preference, it makes sense to learn vim - it is present on nearly every linux machine, and unlike emacs, usually it is not customized to the teeth.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dspjm

What's your favorite editor?

Microsoft Visual Studio. Closest linux alternative is Kate. If it isn't present, then I"ll use whatever is available - jedit, kwrite, vim, mcedit.

archieval · 09-09-2011, 01:58 AM

gvim is my default windows application for all kind of text files.