This is a difficult one; really only people
with a lot of experience with both editors
can comment much, and indeed I suspect that Patrick
is already very well informed about both. Also,
the almost inevitable temptation just to recommend
the editor one uses and likes is not necessarily
pertinent to Patrick's specific needs.
I can only usefully comment on one question --
as a Vim enthusiast but not an expert --
that on syntax highlighting. I use a single
file for Vim compiled by Jeff Pitblado; it
helps enormously and I have never felt tempted
to tinker with it. But no doubt it would be
an invaluable start for anyone who wanted to tweak
it.
Nick
[email protected]
[email protected]
> I am appealing to Vim and Emacs/Xemacs users here... Please,
> if you a have
> a minute to spare, I am agonizing (literally!) over this
> decision and need
> your help in deciding between one of these 2 fine editors. I
> have tried
> several ones over the last few weeks and have narrowed down
> my choice to
> either of those but I am still uncertain which is a better
> fit for my needs.
>
> (BTW, I have read the wonderful FAQ on Text Editors and
> Stata. I have also
> consulted many comp.editors newsgroups where I as able to find *some*
> valuable pointers).
>
> I am moving away from TextPad mainly because I recently
> installed Linux on
> my new laptop (I otherwise use Windows 2000 and XP at the
> office) and need a
> multiplatform editor. My requirements have also changed
> since I now prefer
> to scroll using shortcuts like ^N, ^P, ^V, alt-V rather than
> arrow-keys and
> PageUP, PageDown as the keyboard configurations of my laptops
> (I have 2) and
> office workstation vary greatly.
>
> I am drawn to Emacs/Xemacs and Vim, since both
> (1) are multi-platform (Linux, Windows, others)
> (2) are nicely integrated with Unix and Windows shells
> (3) use keyboard shortcuts to move the pointer/cursor
> (4) are open source projects and likely to be around for
> years to come.
>
> I gave JEdit some serious though -- and am truly impressed by
> the interface
> and may use it from time to time -- but it loses points over
> criteria #2 and
> #3.
>
> What I now need to know is how do Emacs and Vim compare with
> respect to
> features such as (in order of priority):
>
> (1) Ability to Save 'Workspaces'/'Sessions'
> -------------------------------------------
> One of the most important feature I am looking for in an editor is the
> ability, as in TextPad and JEdit, to restore a collection of files by
> opening a single Workspace or Session file (NB: not the just
> the set of
> recently opened files.) For instance, I like to have several
> Workspaces at
> my fingertips such that when I am programming in Stata, I have a
> _statadev.tws_ (TextPad Workspace) file which fetches roughly
> 6-10 files at
> once from various directories, e.g.
>
> mymodule.ado
> mymodule.hlp
> template.ado
> template.hlp
> test_mymodule.do
> test_mymodule.log
> todo.txt
> tips.txt
> traps.txt
> etc...
>
> And similarly when I am programming in Perl, I have a
> _perldev.tws_ file
> which invokes Regular Expression reference charts, syntax diagrams,
> debugging control charts, etc. A quick Google search tells
> me that Emacs
> can be extended with the 'session.el' package. Is
> 'session.el' truly what I
> am looking for? Can Vim save workspace/session files?
>
> (2) Speed/Size
> --------------
>
> Emacs seems big and slow. It takes approx 5-6 seconds to
> start-up on my
> system. I am just editing text I want it to be fast. This
> could be due to
> the size of Emacs. Enthusiasts like to boast that Emacs is
> much more that a
> text editor, it contains a browser/mailer/newsreader/etc,
>
> (3) Integration with Compilers/Debuggers/Shells
> ------------------------------------------------
> Emacs appears to be seamlessly integrated with all of the above to
> constitute and IDE all by itself. What about Vim? I assume
> both can run
> Stata .do files but can you run Perl scripts under the Perl
> debugger from
> either editor? Can either trap compilation errors such that
> you can easily
> jump (by double-clicking or otherwise) to the offending line
> in a script?
>
> (4) Ease of Writing/Hacking New Syntax Highlighting Definition files
> --------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> In TextPad and JEdit, it is fairly easy to write new custom
> syntax colouring
> schemes. You can define from scratch or simply hack an
> existing file to
> create your own. In Emacs, however, it seems much more of an
> adventure and
> it appears you need to know a lot of Lisp programming. (If it is any
> indication, I downloaded Bill Rising's mode for Stata and it
> is composed of
> over a dozen files.) Is it any easier in Vim?
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