nvi for serious hacking

[Steve Watt]

In article <4352D860.000002.03681 at tide.yandex.ru> you write:
>Hello, FreeBSD people.
>
>First thing to mention is that I'm very experienced Emacs user. I was using it
[ snip reasons for becoming a VI user ]
>and according to documentation it has powerful editing mechanism.

It is.

>So, my question goes to all FreeBSD hackers who uses `nvi' as their general
>editor. Is it possible to do serious hacking with it? More accurate:

I mostly use vim, not nvi.
Reasons:
- vim can do syntax highlighting.
- vim does smart indentation "correctly" for my value of correctly.

>* What programming features it support? (Does it have something like etags?
>Does it have interface to gdb? And such other things..)

Ctags originated with vi.

I can't imagine why an editor should interface with gdb -- that's what
other windows are for.

>* Is it possible to use it comfortable with Dvorak layout? (I noticed some
>bindings that relies on keys arrangement)

I use a Dvorak keyboard all the time.  It works just fine; your fingers
have already learned the hard part.  Besides, j and k are still next to
each other, and I almost never use h or l for moving left/right (usually
use space or W for right and 0 to go to beginning of line).

>* How to setup it to standard FreeBSD C code indentation? And don't use
>tabs as well.

:set tabstop=8 shiftwidth=4

Use tabs.  They're part of the FreeBSD standard, last I checked, but
that's an area of religious discussion I try to avoid.

>It's hard choice for me to switch old good Emacs to something new, so please
>give me your opinions.

I've tried emacs several times, and keep going back to vi because I
don't like hitting so many modifier keys.

-- 
Steve Watt KD6GGD  PP-ASEL-IA          ICBM: 121W 56' 57.8" / 37N 20' 14.9"
 Internet: steve @ Watt.COM                         Whois: SW32
   Free time?  There's no such thing.  It just comes in varying prices...