Ask HN: Does anyone still use a line editor these days?
Not counting the shell's own line editor, I'm curious if anyone is regularly using line editors in other scenarios?
The mental model needed for line editing and the one needed for visual editing is different. The former requires a mental model of the document being edited where the latter just requires that you can read. There is a world of difference.
Thank goodness no, well certainly I don't. In fact, I've not seen anyone I know in IT using a line editor for years. Presumably those who use FreeDOS etc. still do.
Even in the days when there was nothing else to use I always hated them especially especially so CP/M's Ed. Moreover, its typewriter-like manual (which I likely still have somewhere), was horrible. But unlike much software these days, at least Ed had a manual!