Re:Mousers vs. Keyboardists
by cstejerean on Wednesday August 27, 2008 @10:25AM
(#288049)
when somebody asks me about an Emacs shortcut I usually have to at least move my fingers as if I was typing and visualize what the keys would be. Muscle memory is truly amazing.
Re:Mousers vs. Keyboardists
by LogicHoleFlaw on Wednesday August 27, 2008 @12:50PM
(#288196)
I will get this effect in vi when I type out a long string of manipulation commands in normal mode. I'll look down and realize that I don't even remember what I typed to get that certain effect. Kinda freaky.
If you record your vim input to a macro (q key), you can paste the contents of the macro to see what you typed. Unsurprisingly, mine look like line noise -- vim macros are very much write-only.
I learned Emacs first, and then became a vi user in the last few years. However, I notice that when I need to use emacs for some reason I can type the correct keyboard shortcuts, even though I don't remember anymore what the exact combination is ... It is a tryly amazing feeling.
For example, I recently started using Emacs. At first you do have to do a lot of remembering of commands, but after a while you don't really think about the commands you are typing.
It's kind of like playing the piano. If you learn a song and practice it enough times, you probably don't remember every chord or note, but your hands play the whole song kind of like if your hands have a mind of their own. When a musician is asked something like what the chord progression of a song is, or what the notes to the melody are, usually he sits down at the instrument and plays it out with his hands first, triggering his memory.
So I think it mostly boils down to practice, rather than memory. When he says "EMACS is for people that can remember lots of stuff," that's not quite correct.