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Traditional Ex - Vi editor VS GNU Emacs

Compare Traditional Ex - Vi editor VS GNU Emacs and see what are their differences

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Traditional Ex - Vi editor logo Traditional Ex - Vi editor

The vi editor is one of the most common text editors on Unix.

GNU Emacs logo GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more.
  • Traditional Ex - Vi editor Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-09-09
  • GNU Emacs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-19

Traditional Ex - Vi editor features and specs

  • Lightweight
    The Traditional Ex - Vi editor is very lightweight and consumes minimal system resources, making it ideal for use on older systems or when resources are constrained.
  • Fast Startup
    Due to its small size and simplicity, the editor starts up quickly, allowing users to begin editing without delay.
  • Standard on Unix
    Ex - Vi is traditionally included in UNIX-like systems, providing a consistent and accessible tool for text editing across many environments.
  • Modal Editing
    The editor supports modal editing, allowing users to switch between different modes for efficient text navigation and editing.
  • Keyboard-Centric
    Ex - Vi uses keyboard commands exclusively, which can enhance productivity once the user is familiar with the command set.

Possible disadvantages of Traditional Ex - Vi editor

  • Steep Learning Curve
    The editor has a steep learning curve due to its modal nature and reliance on keyboard commands, which can be challenging for new users.
  • Limited Features
    Compared to modern editors, Ex - Vi lacks many advanced features such as syntax highlighting and integrated development tools.
  • Minimal User Interface
    The editor provides a minimal user interface that might be unattractive or unintuitive for users accustomed to graphical interfaces.
  • Lack of Support for Large Files
    Handling large files can be cumbersome with Ex - Vi, as it is not designed to efficiently manage extensive datasets.
  • Not User-Friendly
    The reliance on command memorization and lack of visible menus make it less user-friendly, particularly for occasional users or beginners.

GNU Emacs features and specs

  • Highly Extensible
    GNU Emacs is highly customizable, allowing users to configure nearly every aspect using Emacs Lisp. This makes it remarkably adaptable for various workflows.
  • Rich Plugin Ecosystem
    There is a wide array of plugins available for Emacs, extending its functionality for programming, text editing, project management, and more.
  • Versatile
    Aside from text editing, Emacs can function as an email client, web browser, terminal emulator, and more, making it a powerful multi-purpose tool.
  • Free and Open Source
    GNU Emacs is free to use and modify, with source code available under the GNU General Public License, encouraging collaborative improvement and transparency.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Emacs runs on many different operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and various Unix-like systems, ensuring a wide reach and consistent experience across platforms.

Possible disadvantages of GNU Emacs

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its vast array of features and unique keybindings, new users often find Emacs difficult to learn initially.
  • Performance
    Emacs can be slower compared to more lightweight text editors, especially when heavily customized or handling large files.
  • Keyboard-Centric Interface
    Emacs relies heavily on keyboard shortcuts, which can be overwhelming and complex, leading to potential finger strain from extensive use.
  • Complex Configuration
    While its customizability is a strength, configuring Emacs to fit personal needs can be time-consuming and complex, requiring knowledge of Emacs Lisp.

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Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Traditional Ex - Vi editor and GNU Emacs)

Traditional Ex - Vi editor

GNU Emacs

Text Editors
8 8%
Text Editors
92% 92
IDE
8 8%
IDE
92% 92
Software Development
14 14%
Software Development
86% 86
IDEs And Text Editors
0 0%
IDEs And Text Editors
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare Traditional Ex - Vi editor and GNU Emacs

Traditional Ex - Vi editor Reviews

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GNU Emacs Reviews

14 BEST LaTeX Editor for Mac & Windows in 2022
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It is one of the best LaTeX editor for Mac that allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Emacs has been around in its various forms since 1976 and is another very worthy Notepad++ alternative. When I first started using Emacs I have to admit that I didn’t find it the easiest to use. But once I got used to it I realized just how powerful Emacs is for the programming community.
Source: www.technize.com
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com
7 open source alternatives to Dreamweaver
Vim or Emacs. Without participating in the holy war between these two traditional text editors, I can safely say that there are a number of enhancements for web editing available for both. So if you're already a terminal junkie, take your pick. Or, if those don't satisfy, try one of these Emacs/Vim alternatives.
Source: opensource.com
10 Best Sublime Text Alternatives in 2019
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Traditional Ex - Vi editor should be more popular than GNU Emacs. It has been mentiond 10 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

Traditional Ex - Vi editor mentions (10)

  • S/Sed/Ed
    > If I remember correctly, vi was the visual mode of ex. This is correct. https://ex-vi.sourceforge.net/. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • Vim, infamous for its steep learning curve, often leaves new users confused where to start. Today is the 10th anniversary of the infamous "How do I exit Vim" question, which made news when it first hit 1 million views.
    The traditional vi is still available. I have it on my Fedora system. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Arch Linux turned 20 years old today. It was released on 11/March/2002
    Is the current version of Vi older than GNU Emacs? Pacman links to this page which states the software was made an 76 and adopted an open source license in 2002. Source: about 3 years ago
  • What's the tangible difference between Vi and Vim?
    I installed ex-vi on my computer, and it created vi as a symbolic link to the ex program that it installed. See man vi on your computer; you might find some more information about which vi you have. After having installed ex-vi, I see the following in man vi on my computer:. Source: about 3 years ago
  • What's the tangible difference between Vi and Vim?
    Unlike many GNU distributions, it looks the distribution you are using does not install vim-tiny as vi; instead it seems to have either Keith Bostic's implementation of vi, called nvi)[https://sites.google.com/a/bostic.com/keithbostic/vi/], or the real vi (at least, the closest to the real vi that Bill Joy wrote). Source: about 3 years ago
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GNU Emacs mentions (6)

  • Emacs daemon as sytemd service in debian 12 (gnome)
    Cat .config/systemd/user/default.target.wants/emacs.service [Unit] Description=Emacs text editor Documentation=info:emacs man:emacs(1) https://gnu.org/software/emacs/ [Service] Type=notify ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/emacs --fg-daemon # Emacs will exit with status 15 after having received SIGTERM, which # is the default "KillSignal" value systemd uses to stop services. SuccessExitStatus=15 # The location of the... Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Why does emacs exec path variable not just copy the users path variable?
    ## If your Emacs is installed in a non-standard location, you may need ## to copy this file to a standard directory, eg ~/.config/systemd/user/ . ## If you install this file by hand, change the "Exec" lines below ## to use absolute file names for the executables. [Unit] Description=Emacs text editor Documentation=info:emacs man:emacs(1)... Source: about 2 years ago
  • Hi DM's, what medium do you use to organise your campaign?
    For gathering notes, writing and organizing, Org-Roam which implies Org and Emacs. Source: over 2 years ago
  • This Guy is getting out of control at this point.
    I was heading to gnu.org/software/emacs to prove my point and it said:. Source: over 3 years ago
  • opam doesn't see emacs?
    <><> Version-specific details <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 🐫 Version 1 Repository default Homepage: "http://gnu.org/software/emacs" Bug-reports: "https://github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/issues" Authors: "anil@recoil.org" Maintainer: "anil@recoil.org" License: "GPL-1.0-or-later" Flags: conf Synopsis Virtual package to install the Emacs editor Description This... Source: over 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

When comparing Traditional Ex - Vi editor and GNU Emacs, you can also consider the following products

vile - vile is a portable vi clone with extra features and other improvements.

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Vim - Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Kruptos - Lock and encrypt your photos, movies, files and folders using 256-bit file encryption.

Microsoft Visual Studio - Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.

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