However, beginners need to learn these tools if they want to become even somewhat proficient on UNIX systems. No pain, no gain.
I've been using vi (and vim and neovim) for 20 years and it's a fantastic editor but not for people new to the command line. There's no reason that nano shouldn't be the default. It's available on many systems by default anyway and it's much more beginner friendly than any vi spinoff. If the only reason for sticking to a thing is "tradition" then it's right to re-evaluate it.
There's a reason that "how to exit vi(m)" is the most read question on StackOverflow.
"I can understand and appreciate your perspective and opinion and would offer an alternative viewpoint"
Once you learn how to exit vim you only need to look it up a few more times before you begin to get it
I've also struggled to exit nano from the keyboard with ^X or whatever
Appreciating all sides of an argument helps one understand the delicate balance that exists rather than the constant polarizing of opinion that agreement and disagreement evoke
I disagree with everything in this sentence.
(neo)vim + Unix tools make the best IDE in existence. Nothing else to date can hold a candle to that combination (except, perhaps, Plan 9 or Inferno OS).
Don't forget about the Dvorak keyboard. It doesn't work without Dvorak.
Once you get a bit further into the OS and what you can do I find vim to be an important tool to learn.
Changing your editor or shell is super easy to do and anyone who has a strong preference can update either within seconds.
I used nano until I got on my feet too and I'd love for it to be added to the standards so it's always present. But the goal of good POSIXy defaults are for transferable consistent experiences/skills. I think defaults should be things you'd want for typical real world use, not to upgrade off of.
Edit: To clarify: I think accounting for beginners is important! But I don't think using crippled defaults are the way to do that.
> "I think accounting for beginners is important!"
I read this as two conflicting statements.
> But I don't think using crippled defaults are the way to do that.
I disagree that nano is a "crippled default" - nano is a highly competent text editor and I see plenty of industry professionals use it daily.
https://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed-msg.html
Surely you can set EDITOR on any machine you are doing real work on, which isn't going to be a fresh default installation.
OK, so the default should be vi, and damn the newbies... and the emacs users?
Just would hate to have vi dropped entirely, like it is in NixOS / GuixSD.
Also, I can't recommend vimtutor enough to anyone new to it who doesn't have nano at their disposal.
Would prefer if something like nano but non-GPL was available for the BSDs.
