Sorry, I have to disagree. It's fine if you need to write a few dozen lines once a week or something, but if you code any more than that, I'd suggest learning a more advanced editor. Don't limit yourself to pico or nano. Try emacs or Vi. It's worth the few weeks to learn (and few years to learn well).

I've used both, though seem to be a bit quicker in Vi - try evim (easy vim) if you're not comfortable with jumping right in.