Micro v1.0 – a terminal-based text editor written in Go

Re:Micro v1.0 – a terminal-based text editor written in Go by ChuckMcM on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @12:29PM (#12391556)

And kilo[1] is 28k but it doesn't have as many features. Also a "keyboard" vs "keystroke" editor, editors built before ginormous keyboards became ubiquitous use various keystrokes for commands, ones that came to exist in an assumed presence of a ginormous keyboard use special keys for commands. (example, if the only way to move the cursor up in your editor is the cursor up arrow key, you are a "keyboard" based editor. Not that either choice is better or worse just something I find an interesting distinction.

[1] https://github.com/antirez/kilo

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Re:Micro v1.0 – a terminal-based text editor written in Go by SamReidHughes on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @03:21PM (#12393069)

That's weird, I didn't know keyboards used to be smaller. I assumed they started with the space cadet and kept shrinking.

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Re:Micro v1.0 – a terminal-based text editor written in Go by ChuckMcM on Tuesday August 30, 2016 @06:01PM (#12394301)

You are right, that isn't the correct analysis. Initial programming editors like EMACS, vi, EDIT, TECO, FINE, SOS, and KED tended to keep cursor motion and edit commands bound to key combinations that would be available on most (if not all) terminals. This minimized the use of "special function" keys, even if they were there, because they weren't there for all terminals. So the working set of keys was smaller even though the keyboards themselves were of nominally average size.

My observation was around the use of the PC's special keys used in "generic" editors because the authors of those editors have chosen to assume that everyone it typing on a keyboard that matches, or emulates, the 101 or 108 key keyboard that the PC made standard.

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