Comment by skydhash | Hacker News Reader

Comment by skydhash | Hacker News Reader

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The things about multiple cursors is that you think about the processing while doing it, while most people using macros looks at the structure of the text first and then devise the macro. I wouldn’t say the latter is faster, but it’s a different mindset.

And the other thing is that vim has the “dot” command to repeat your last edit. Similar to macros, you think about your local edit first, then about where to repeat it (usually tied to the next item in the search list).

Edit (after reading the article).

Both vim and emacs (which have the steep learning curve) are aimed at power users. It’s best to compare them to professional tools like CAD, DAW, industrial appliances,… The friction when learning is because a lot of users don’t know what’s possible to do or even have the kind of problems that experienced users do (or they fail to perceive them as issues). After a while, it becomes like an extension of your thinking and the tool disappears.

Exactly. And I'm no purist - I'm happy to use "dot" with a mouse if I want to easily repeat an edit in tens of places if they're not nicely aligned or searchable.

One of the things about Emacs and Vim is that you have commands that does things. They all have the same conceptual model. In vim, you have the text objects, the motions, and the counts (and more advanced ones like line and pattern addressing). In emacs, you have the point, the mark, and the arguments (including the universal one) (the advanced ones are which modes are currently active). That’s mostly the internal state that matters when you think about an edit which changes A to B.

You think about the evolution of the internal state and the suitable commands just appears, just like you think of an idea and the suitable words appears. Learning commands is like expanding your vocabulary, not learning how to speak. Learning how to speak is internalizing the aforementioned conceptual model.

> The things about multiple cursors is that you think about the processing while doing it

That visual feedback is EXTREMELY useful because I learn of the edge cases to what I am editing in bulk (usually formatting code or tables or whatever) as I am editing it. When you do a macro, you have to try and get it right, and then try again from the start each time to get it right. `dot` et al are not enough in that regard. So the multiple cursors approach is better not because it's a different mindset, but it produces a different feedback loop to correct mistakes.

If you still prefer the macro approach over the multiple cursors approach, then you do you. But as an example in the article, I have seen people think they are being productive by their own standards, and they really aren't.

> That visual feedback is EXTREMELY useful because I learn of the edge cases to what I am editing in bulk (usually formatting code or tables or whatever) as I am editing it

I do not disagree with that

> When you do a macro, you have to try and get it right, and then try again from the start each time to get it right.

But you are wrong in that, because you assume that visual feedbacks are necessary. They are useful. Using vim and the likes is very much like playing the piano or driving a car. You’re always one step ahead of your actions because translating intent into operations is effortless as they are ingrained in muscle memories. I don’t even look at the cursor much of the time because it will be where I need it. I don’t care for mistakes because they are easily corrected.

Even then, I rarely use macros because they are at the high end of the power spectrum. Only writing your own commands is higher on the list. Easy macros are easy to create, powerful macros are created only when necessary and are worth the carefulness. I don’t think there’s something similar to named registers and emacs counters with multiple cursors solutions. Or the ability to have multiple macros ready to go at anytime (very useful for data cleanup).

You're over-fixating on the misuse of macros and generalize that to make a statement about Vim [1], almost as if that's the only useful feature in Vim. There are more basic editing commands that are much simpler, quicker, and powerful. It's what is actually used most of the time.

Also, getting bulk editing perfect, including the edge cases, is inefficient regardless of the tools you use. For the majority of those cases, I would just combine simple search and replace (cgn), dot repeat (.), and undo plus skip (un) for the edge cases. Then jump back (N) to the edge cases and make manual edits. It's quick, provides instant visual feedback, and requires less cognitive work than trying to process it all at once. And that's the approach people likely have in mind when they mention dot repeat.

[1] Or at least stepping right close to it.

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