Re: [TUHS] screen editors / machine load

[2020-01-09 08:49] Dave Horsfall <dave(a)horsfall.org> I first used Unix on a pdp-11/70 in 1981, first year at university. My professor stopped by the computing center to see how his students were doing - super nice of him and a perk to pre-PC times! - and was showing me something or other regarding Unix. I had only used ed to that point and seeing him fire up vi was practically sci-fi to me. He showed me a few commands and vowed me to secrecy for fear if all students started using it, it would bring the 11/70 to its knees. Were multiple vi sessions really such a potential burden to the machine? I wouldn't think so with the slow nature of human i/o, yet there certainly were times when the pdp-11/70 crashed as project due dates loomed closer and closer! Also, I very much enjoy this list. As an EE I use Unix-like OSes as a tool rather being a builder of the tool like many here. So I don't have the deep background to contribute to the collective history, but I'm on the sidelines enjoying the show. As a brief tie-in to the editor comparisons, I do a lot of DSP work for RF systems these days. Python makes it quick and easy to try new math, but has a maddening requirement that indentation be strictly tabs or strictly spaces. Text window pasting into a tab indented python file wreaks havoc. vim yank/put between split windows retains the type of white space and lets me use my vi muscle memory. Happy 2020, Mike Markowski