Keyboards are Good; Mouses are Dumb

An anonymous reader writes "Most emacs/vi users know this, but it seems the more I use the mouse, the less output I am making. The keyboard does seem to make much more of a mind-meld than the imprecise mouse. Paul Tyma hits it on the head."

Thinly veiled "I love emacs" article

[winkydink]

Let the editor wars begin!

One activity where this ISN'T true...

[rel4x]

...Counterstrike.



I've tried it. Absolutely impossible.

Hits it on the head..

[PopeAlien]

Hits it on the head..

This page cannot be displayed due to an internal error.

..and apparently knocks it out.

So that's why...

[null etc.]

...all Hollywood movies and TV shows never allow the characters to use a mouse.

I'm impressed how those guys can use the keyboard to rotate around and zoom 3D graphics in realtime, and then apply some amazing pixel-sharpening processing algorithm, all by using keyboard commands.

I've often wondered how they could do this so quickly. Especially when they literally have to type everything they want into a text field on the screen. For example, "search for drivers license of all bad guys within last two days".

I mean, it's a search engine - you don't have to type "search" into the text field!!!

Re:Nice read and all, but...

[Scrameustache]

when did opinions become news?

Right before the word "editorial" was invented, I believe.

1980

[FreeUser]

I believe Fox News was founded in 1980.

Let the games begin...

[rd4tech]

I vote for vi and fully expect to get troll, flamebait, or redundant on this post :)

Re:emacs.. vi.. FIGHT!

[Daniel Baumgarten]

And you just confused the smurf out of every Mac zealot going to this story to denounce the heresy of the superiority of the keyboard.

Mouses are dumb?

[ArielMT]

I got a computer to let my mouse surf the 'Net. What am I supposed to tell my mouse when he reads this article, you insensitive clod?

:wq

Keyboard vs. Mouse

[suitepotato]

While both have cords, mice lend themselves to seconday use as garottes due to the small size of the mouse, espcially mini USB models for laptops. Keyboards meanwhile have a definite edge as a blunt instrument, able to focus the full power along one edge or to spread the impact across the face of the bottom, or even cause the embedding of key shrapnel.

Other than these thoughts, WTF? is definitely going through my mind as in "WTF is this article for anyhow? Should be kiss Gnome and KDE goodbye and go back to text where we can commune with our keyboards? Should we do everything by mouse in a gui to strike back? Does this article have any point to it?

Now... back to the real uses of keyboards and mice...

please don't write "emacs/vi"

[trybywrench]

I do not wish vi to be seen so close to emacs lest someone think they are together. vi wouldn't be caught dead with the likes of emacs... the after prom party doesn't count there had been much drinking

Re:Nice read and all, but...

[Anonymous Coward]

And don't forget about FooFoo. Poor little mice.

Little Bunny Foo Foo
hopping through the forest
scooping up the field mice
and bop 'em on the head.

No kidding.

[Matilda the Hun]

They're stupid. As a matter of fact, GUIs are stupid too. So are command lines. If you're a REAL geek, you'll do your computer work with a punch card. If it can't be done with that, well, it must not be worth doing.

Re:Thinly veiled "I love emacs" article

[BlogPope]

The smaller your editor, the bigger your penis! Text editors want to be minimalist!

Thats why I write all my term papers in binary as Postscript files. My keyboard is a simple rocker switch, left for 1, right for 0. You crazy kids and your ASCII!

Slow news day

[jfengel]

So rather than being a general case study with broad applicability, Slashdot has just put on its front page an article that says, "I like keyboards!"

Somehow, "News for one particular nerd" just doesn't have the right ring.

Slow news day, here we come.

Re:No kidding.

[Rosco P. Coltrane]

If you're a REAL geek, you'll do your computer work with a punch card.

Pfff, kids these days...

Real geeks program their computers with 8 switches and leds, the ALTAIR way. Like real men.

Re:Thinly veiled "I love emacs" article

[eno2001]

ed! You visigoth! cat and echo are the only editors worth speaking of. ;P

Re:Thinly veiled "I love emacs" article

[Shads]

Three Editors for the macintosh-kings under the a great gui,
Seven for the Unix-lords in their interface of lines,
Nine for the Windowed Men doomed to a bad gui,
One for the Dark Lord on his dark throne
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.
One Editor to rule them all, One Editor to find them,
One Editor to bring them all and in the darkness bind them,
In the Land of Mordor where the Shadows lie.

Vim is the One. Bow mortals.

(Sorry Tolkien)

Maybe he's right...

[ObjetDart]

You know, I think he might be on to something. When I click on the link in the article with my mouse, nothing happens!

Re:Yeah?

[Rolan]

Try using photoshop without a mouse. Not a problem, I'll use my tablet. It's easier anyway.

Re:Thinly veiled "I love emacs" article

[Shads]

Your emacs style is good... however my vim style is better.

Re:Thinly veiled "I love emacs" article

[Anonymous Coward]

Shouldn't that last line be:

"In the Land of Mordor where it's all VI"

(or similar... but this is on the spot)

Draw a circle with a keyboard...

[Ruger]

...then we'll have something to debate.

Ruger

Re:One activity where this ISN'T true...

[VanillaBabies]

This used to be true, before the widespread use of aimbots and wallhacks. Now you simply need to walk around and let your scripts do the looking and shooting. Somedays you don't even need to look at the screen to win. Mouse be damned.

Re:Thinly veiled "I love emacs" article

[Tackhead]

> > nano [nano-editor.org] rocks! The smaller your editor, the bigger your penis! Text editors want to be minimalist!
>
> That's why I use ed.
> -rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 2144156 Apr 4 16:11 /usr/bin/vim
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 152984 Jun 3 15:15 /bin/nano
-rwxr-xr-x 1 root root 74348 Mar 21 14:34 /bin/ed

Increase your size! Give her more pleasure with echo.

-r-xr-xr-x 1 root wheel 48208 May 16 2004 /bin/echo

But when I really want to show off, I just turn on echoing and use a dumb terminal. My Wang weighs about 15 pounds and uses only a few kilobits of ROM!

Re:Nice read and all, but...

[Shads]

You are wise and your kung-fu is good.

Thats it pretty much, need to replace the mouse... it sorta sucks. It's nice to aim with in FPS though.

Re:1980

[poot_rootbeer]

I believe Fox News was founded in 1980.

Well that's your opinion. It's not fact.

Worse than useless

[Anonymous Coward]

Instead of being creative or expanding on anything, you've stranded yourself in the stone age, writing wasted counterintuitive code to draw a smiley face when three or four mouse clicks would accomplish the same thing.

You attain premature ejaculation in the technical sense, expending yourself before attaining anything for your effort.

This garbage is worse than useless, and actually a detriment to productivity. You contribute nothing. You fail. This is why you will die alone and be completely forgotten.

Re:Nice read and all, but...

[JFitzsimmons]

You must be satisfied with losing a lot.

The lameness filter won't let me do it here...

[TigerNut]

O

What's the debate going to be about? :)

Re:Ok quick, draw me a corporate logo

[Kenshin]

Seriously, most corportate logos are probably a script like that.

- Enter Company Name: ______
- Choose Direction of "Swoosh": ______
- Press Enter

Ugh. I HATE swooshes.

Re:Nice read and all, but...

[shmlco]

And like I'm interested in the highly educated opinion of someone who tells me "mouses" are bad...

Re:1980

[Minwee]

It doesn't get any more fair and balanced than this, folks.

Re:Not quite.

[Anonymous Coward]

"Granted, I am using some specialized software to do this but I don't see why someone couldn't write some scripts to do some of the same tasks that my screen-reader does to simplify web navigation."

THAT IS BECAUSE YOU DON'T SEE AT ALL!!!!

Re:1980

[aug24]

Well it was news to me.

J.