Well, it depends on what you're doing. For example, if I want to duplicate a line in vi, I can type 'yyp' and _bam_: duplicate line. With a keyboard and a mouse, I have to reach over, select the whole line (being careful not to over or under select), hit Ctrl+C, move the cursor down to the beginning of the next line, and hit Ctrl+V. If I want to change the contents of a quoted string, I can type 'f"lct"' and start typing. Again, with a mouse, I have to select what I want to change: if I select too much, I can back up the mouse, but if I accidentally started the selection on the second rather than the first character, I have to abort the whole selection and start over again. If I want to change each line from the current line to the next blank line to a continuous quoted string, I can type ':.,/^$/s/\(.*\)/"\1" +/'. With a mouse, I have to click the beginning of each line and cut+paste the quotes into place, probably undoing at least a couple of times because I clicked the wrong place, etc. etc.
I know, I'm talking about milliseconds (or nanoseconds) here, but when I use vi, it's just, sort of "constant", like playing the piano. I never break my rhythm.
I know, I'm talking about milliseconds (or nanoseconds) here, but when I use vi, it's just, sort of "constant", like playing the piano. I never break my rhythm.