
Fedora Devs Looking to Change Default Editor from Vi to Nano - equalunique
https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Fedora-Workstation-Vi-To-Nano
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folkhack
I think this is one of the best things you can do to make the Linux CLI more
accessible. I love vim for a lot of reasons but when I'm mentoring someone
who's just starting out I skip straight past it for nano because I don't want
the people I'm teaching to get bogged down in something that is super terse...
New vim users almost always have to use a cheatsheet and I'd rather not
inflict that on someone who's dipping their toes into Linux.

Once you get a bit further into the OS and what you can do I find vim to be an
important tool to learn.

Changing your editor or shell is super easy to do and anyone who has a strong
preference can update either within seconds.

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kjeetgill
I get what you're saying, but I think it's generally wrongheaded to tailor
Linux defaults to new users. We're all beginners for only a fraction of our
time on a platform after all.

I used nano until I got on my feet too and I'd love for it to be added to the
standards so it's always present. But the goal of good POSIXy defaults are for
transferable consistent experiences/skills. I think defaults should be things
you'd want for typical real world use, not to upgrade off of.

Edit: To clarify: I think accounting for beginners is important! But I don't
think using crippled defaults are the way to do that.

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folkhack
> "it's generally wrongheaded to tailor Linux defaults to new users"

> "I think accounting for beginners is important!"

I read this as two conflicting statements.

> But I don't think using crippled defaults are the way to do that.

I disagree that nano is a "crippled default" \- nano is a highly competent
text editor and I see plenty of industry professionals use it daily.

~~~
jraph
Yes, and probably more usable than vi (not talking about vim) and its features
are more than enough to edit configuration files.

It has copy paste of a line or an arbitrary chunk of text (I learned that last
week! But I often use the copy paste functionality of the terminal emulator
anyway), syntax highlighting, undo redo, line numbers, search and replace.
Access to these features is efficient.

It's also fast and lightweight. All the characteristics of a good default
terminal text editor. Free us from vi! :-)

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james_s_tayler
Do it!

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gridlockd
Undoubtedly, we can all agree that vi, like all other UNIX tools, is poorly
conceived and awful to use.

However, beginners need to learn these tools if they want to become even
somewhat proficient on UNIX systems. No pain, no gain.

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Seirdy
> Undoubtedly, we can all agree that vi, like all other UNIX tools, is poorly
> conceived and awful to use.

I disagree with everything in this sentence.

(neo)vim + Unix tools make the best IDE in existence. Nothing else to date can
hold a candle to that combination (except, perhaps, Plan 9 or Inferno OS).

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gridlockd
> (neo)vim + Unix tools make the best IDE in existence. Nothing else to date
> can hold a candle to that combination (except, perhaps, Plan 9 or Inferno
> OS).

Don't forget about the Dvorak keyboard. It doesn't work without Dvorak.

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Seirdy
I should really make a list of things I would change if we could adopt better
standards free of legacy. Dvorak would be included; the only reason I haven't
learned left-handed Programmer's Dvorak is because most devices don't make it
trivial to change the keyboard layout.

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kpU8efre7r
As a Vim user, this is a good idea.

~~~
equalunique
As a vim user, I too agree. Vim is my favorite editor, but the learning curve
being a barrier to adoption is an undeniable fact.

Just would hate to have vi dropped entirely, like it is in NixOS / GuixSD.

Also, I can't recommend vimtutor enough to anyone new to it who doesn't have
nano at their disposal.

Would prefer if something like nano but non-GPL was available for the BSDs.

