23 Jul
2022
23 Jul
'22
9:29 a.m.
On Fri, 22 Jul 2022 13:56:13 -0600 Joe Zeff joe@zeff.us wrote:
On 7/22/22 13:34, James Szinger wrote:
I first encountered UNIX after years of using VMS, IBM mainframes, and a plethora of personal computers. They ALL had editors better than vi. Who writes an editor where the arrow keys don’t work!
To be fair, when vi was written, there were no arrow keys. Still, I my personal opinion is "Fi on vi!"
The IBM 3277 was released in 1971 and had arrow keys. The DEC VT05, from 1970 and the VT52, released in 1975, had arrow keys. Later models, such as the VT100, VT220, and IBM PC had arrow keys. The ex editor is from 1976, but the vi name dates from 1979.
By the mid 1980s arrow keys were ubiquitous, but vi still couldn’t cope with them.
Jim