[ltp] linux web publishing tool ??

[Mick McQuaid]

... regarding a message from Tod Harter on Jul 05:
> On Friday 04 July 2003 10:07 am, Kim Hardy wrote:
> > > (I know I am a heathen because I refuse to be
> > >
> > >brainwashed into believing VI/VIM is anything but a flaming piece of
> >
> > kaka,

Yes, you are a heathen.  I can't argue with you
there.  By the way, the designer of the navigation
system for a popular Boeing airliner told me that
the only tools he trusted to build it were vi and
a particular c compiler.  In general, I think it
is more interesting to hear about what tools
people like and use for critical jobs than what
they think is "flaming kaka."

> >
> > >and just to offend the rest of that crowd EMACS is a bloated pig ;o)).
> >

Yes, it is, but again, I'm more interested in
hearing about what is good.  I may be as clueless
about the value of Emacs as you are.  (But Emacs
users can be easy and fun to torture.)

> > Autsch! Vi/VIM is ok but when you're working on a shell it can get a bit
> > sluggish.

Seems fast enough on local boxen and absolutely
indispensable for slow remote connections.  There
are also new machines coming out, like the Sharp
SL-C760, that benefit greatly from a limited
keystroke model as much as the ancient machines
for which it was originally devised.

> > I prefer nano these days. I don't use KDE as its inherently bloatware!
> > Fluxbox or OpenBox do the job nicely and xediting is always done in a
> > transparent aterm layed over a nice tasteful background picture in nano.
> 
> Well, I use nano when I am working in text mode too. Its the best thing going 
> as far as pure text mode editors.

This sounds really interesting.

> 
> Honestly, I just cannot tolerate VI, its interface is appalingly crude. You 
> have no idea what the next keystroke is going to do, maybe your in insert 
> mode, maybe your not... It just violates every decent convention for human 
> factors in software engineering. The design made sense when you were editing 
> on TTYs and very slow half-duplex serial consoles, but its just plain buggery 
> today, and building on top of it hasn't really made it better, just more 
> complicated IMHO.

VIM just works (tm) on every platform and every slow
connection I have to deal with.  Maybe it's too
big in the sense that I use a smaller and smaller
subset of features as it gradually grows, but
it also adds one or two features I want for every
dozen other features I don't and that keeps enough
people interested to solve the problems I do care
about.

-- 
Mick McQuaid, mcquaid@u.arizona.edu
              520-621-4074 office / voice mail