On Text Editing Efficiency pt. 2
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date: 2022-11-21 13:04:02 EST
---
written on: desktop
using: Emacs (M-x phlog)
listening to: All I Need by Goose
---
I was trying to describe my phlog entry from last night
to Jennie over lunch and came up with an analogy that I
thought was worth a quick followup:
If we consider text editing efficiency to be a
mountain, where the higher you are the more efficient
you are...
Emacs is like deciding to go on a multi-day backpacking
trip up the mountain: it'll be tough, take a while, and
you'll probably have a lot of type-2 fun.
VSCode is like a neighboring mountain with a gondola to
the top and a bar with all your friends drinking beers
overlooking the Emacs backpackers.
Now here's the kicker: as a professional programmer,
it's your job to be at the top of the mountain, or at
least close. Your coworkers will notice if you're still
at the base, or, even worse, if you take the gondola
down to climb another mountain.
There's a few reasons it might still be worth climbing
Emacs mountain:
* It's _possible_ that it's a taller mountain (and that
you can get more efficient than VSCode)
* The mountain is older and less likely to disappear;
you can stay at the top longer.
* You don't have to pay to hike it :)
* Hiking it can just be plain fun, and you'll learn
things and make friends along the way
On the other hand, if it turns out that VSCode mountain
is higher, it becomes harder to justify the effort to
climb Emacs mountain. And similarly, if Vim and Emacs
mountain are the same height, it's hard to justify
descending one to climb the other (other than the fact
that you might enjoy the new hike).
The relative heights of the mountains are, of course,
up for debate. But the effort to climb them is probably
not.
I like hiking, what can I say. I think it's important
to recognize that the time could be spent elsewhere
though.
