i need an editor...

[jimi_hendrix]

i know this is flame war territory but i dont want one...yes i know the holy war is in the sticky

im still looking for an editor for linux...and ive heard alot about vim and emacs

this is what i want to know:

what are the main differences...ive looked at both websites and cant really tell the difference...both are supped up editors that you all seem to love one or the other...

i would love if i could get straight unbiased facts about each like which one is harder to learn which one supports more languages...i also couldnt find a list of vim supported languages...any answers here would be great

also if these were answered in the holy war post thats in the sticky im sorry because i didnt read the whole thing

[cprofitt]

I actually use SciTE; which supports many languages and is cross platform.

[jimi_hendrix]

thats another one im looking at but id like to here an unbiased comparison of vim and emacs

[lukjad]

I always wanted to know the difference also but was too afraid to ask.

Out of curiosity, is gedit anything like Vim or emacs?

[jimi_hendrix]

from what ive seen on the websites they are suped up gedits...i havent been able to see much more (other then the syntax highlighting and that you can play tetris on emacs)

[brunovecchi]

It is difficult to find a complete, educated and unbiased opinion because few people are proficient in both vim and emacs.
There are many differences between them, but I suggest that you install both, do the tutorials that come with them, and see which of them fits better in your head. I did that and stuck with vim.
The main difference that comes to mind is the way they handle keyboard bindings: emacs accomplishes this with sequential key combinations (ie, crtl key1 key2), and vim does so by having two editing modes (insert and edit), which allows to have really short (one key) keybindings.
None of them have a low learning curve, but It's worth the time.
If you are going to install vim, note that there is a vim-gnome package that comes with a nice native-looking gui.

[jimi_hendrix]

are they in respetories?

[lukjad]

Yes! If Ubuntu didn't have them... geeks would kill them.

sudo apt-get install vim
sudo apt-get install emacs

[jimi_hendrix]

If you are going to install vim, note that there is a vim-gnome package that comes with a nice native-looking gui.

were can i get this...the vim i installed runs in terminal

[nvteighen]

from what ive seen on the websites they are suped up gedits...i havent been able to see much more (other then the syntax highlighting and that you can play tetris on emacs)

With such a post (vi and emacs = suped up Gedits) you'll be able to make peace between vi-ers an emacs-ers just to fight against you...

OK, being serious. My experience is with Gedit and Emacs.

1) Don't underestimate Gedit. It's a very nice text editor. Learn how to use it and you'll get some nice features: look at the plugins. It does have syntax highlighting (it's activated automatically when you save the file with the proper extension or manually through the View menu), smart tabs, parenthesis match, integrated shell...

2) Emacs is great... much more than a "suped up Gedit". It's strength relies on being absolutely customizable and programmable, because of it's Lisp interface. Check the Emacs Tutorial (C-h t) to learn how to use its most basic features.

The only truth is never use ed!