Fw: Announcement : http://vim.begin-site.org/ - The Vim Beginners' Site

[Nadav Har'El]

On Thu, Dec 27, 2012, Shlomi Fish wrote about "Fw: Announcement : http://vim.begin-site.org/ - The Vim Beginners' Site":
> I would like to announce that today I started working on
> http://vim.begin-site.org/ - the Vim Beginners??? Site, which is a static site

I love vi - I've been using it for more than a quarter of a century,
and can probably edit with it in my sleep ;-) But I have to ask a
sacrilegious question: Is it a good idea to teach vi to beginners?

Specifically, when I want to teach my 6 year old daughter an editor
(not a word processor - she already plays with OpenOffice on her Linux
computer), will it make any sense to for me to teach her vi?

When I learned "vi", its modal interface (separate insert and command
modes) and curses-based display were so much better than its predecessor
"ed", that I couldn't not love it. But today, beginners would find it
more intuitive to use editors which emphasise mouse gestures and menus,
and in rare occasion, control sequences.

Don't get me wrong - vi (and specifically, vim) is still my favorite
editor. I just wonder how I can justify passing on my love for vim to
the next generation of beginners.

-- 
Nadav Har'El                        |     Thursday, Dec 27 2012, 14 Tevet 5773
nyh at math.technion.ac.il             |-----------------------------------------
Phone +972-523-790466, ICQ 13349191 |If the universe is expanding, why can't I
http://nadav.harel.org.il           |find a parking space?