18 Jul
2025
18 Jul
'25
8:58 p.m.
On Jul 18, 2025, at 3:09 AM, Larry McVoy <lm(a)mcvoy.com> wrote:
In vim, you just have a split view of the same file.
Changes in
either window will show up in the other window. For example
vim foo.c # foo.c exists and has a 100 lines
:sp
In nvi
:E
now you have both windows looking at the same file
Ditto
start changing something and it is done in both
windows.
In nvi changes don't show up right away in the other window
but show up once you switch to it. So not as good as vim but
in practice it doesn't matter much since usually you show
*different* parts in two windows pointing at the same file.
Screen is nowhere near that and using it to claim that
nvi is fine
is missing the point by a country mile.
And I don't understand the dislike of vim.
It is more that some of us *prefer* nvi to vim. [I might've used
vim when it was first posted on Usenet but Braam refused to make
at least provide an option to make multiple undo/redo behavior
compatible to nvi. So it goes!]
I don't care what tools my team members use as long as they are
pulling their weight. Usually the best programmers already have
a set of tools they are comfortable with. I wouldn't want to mess
with that. [I have worked in teams where people were using nvi,
vim, acme, sam, emacs, ee, IDEs etc.]