In message <200001080016.JAA07242@azarin.localnet>, SUNAGAWA Keiki writes:
>E.g., `i (something could be lots of content...) ESC' is
>just one command to insert texts to cursor position.  The
>basic triplet rule of `command object ESC' is applicable
>here.  Note that you can even do `4 i foobar ESC' as well.

Doesn't matter; the state of "entering content for the i command" behaves
like a mode, in that keys change bindings, and you use the same set of rules
for those keys for a number of different commands.

I believe Keith Bostic says it's a modal editor.  It certainly behaves
like one.

-s