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Why is vi so popular?

ralph_shade

This is a minor point, but my curiosity has been sparked by a number of suggestions to use vi to edit a file.  I remember vi being the hot thing 30 years ago - yes, I've been around that long image. - actually got a TRS 80 mod 1 about thirty four years ago.  Writing programs on that machine along with my experience using the line editor on BIX has given me a long standing aversion to using line editors.  The people who are recommending it's use are people who I respect for their technical knowledge.  I must assume that vi still has some capabilities that make it a recommended choice over a good screen editor.  If someone has the time and the inclination to help educate a SOF (seriously old fart) I'd appreciate it!

 

Thanks,

Ralph

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  • I agree with Bruce above. I've yet to see a *nix installation that didn't have vi. When your system fails to boot up and dumps you to a prompt in single user mode, you better have the tools available and the minimum skills to repair your system and get it back up without having X. After a while you just get used to using it. It's fast, pops right open, and can take you where you need to go. The funny thing is once alot of people start to get comfortable on a gui based editor they want to learn the keyboard shortcuts so you lose some of the advantage of the drop down menus etc...

     

    I still find I use it quite a bit when I ssh into a remote system and I'm glad I learned how back a million years ago although the original reasons for learning it are far behind me.

     

    It was a good question though, and made me smile thinking of my answer.

     

    Mike

  • in reply to mconners

    You know one other reason is when you are communicating with other *nix people you can often tell them "Just vi the file and do this, this, and this ..." and they know what you are talking about and often know how to do it. And when they don't they can find a reference, start using it, and next thing you know, they are part of the fold. And the cycle continues.

     

     

    Mike

  • in reply to mconners

    Another tip:  you can tell an experienced *nix hand because they say "vee-eye" ..

  • in reply to bprewit

    LOL, that's how I learned to say it.

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