At Tue, 10 Feb 2009 21:57:09 +0000 (GMT), David Brownlee wrote:
Subject: Re: Adding a simple editor to the base system
>
> On Tue, 10 Feb 2009, Adam Hoka wrote:
>
> > Antti Kantee wrote:
> > >
> > > I'd also suggest making it the default EDITOR/VISUAL. If you're an
> > > experienced user, you know how to make vi your default again.
> > >
> > > Thanks for your effort.
> >
> > Please stop thinking that inexperienced users are total idiots. :-)
>
> I don't, but do you think an inexperienced user should be
> stuck leaning how to use vi, or move onto how to configure
> rc.conf and setup a wireless network?
I think the real important point not to miss is that if you're too
inexperienced to use the default simple editors included in the base
distribution then you're better off not touching anything else that you
will also obviously not understand.
Personally I still firmly believe that if a user wanting to gain
experience about unix and unix-like systems does not learn at least
enough of the basics to use ed(1) then will be totally missing out on so
much that is "unix" that they'll also have a far steeper learning curve
than necessary all the way until they do finally learn at least the
basics of how to use ed(1).
Meanwhile if you've got to edit a text file in order to do even the
simplest configuration of a system, then that system is _not_ suitable
for inexperienced users. Period.
Once everyone gets over that hump then maybe they'll stop asking for
stupid lame changes that really won't help inexperienced users.
Inexperienced folks should probably start by either buying a Mac and
getting on with the more interesting things; or else preparing
themselves and making lots of time to learn everything from the ground
up, including ed and vi.
--
Greg A. Woods
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