[9fans] Acme without Flamage

[Wendell xe <wendellxe@yahoo.com>]

When I saw the length of the Acme thread, I thought "Wow, so much information!" But it turned out to be mostly flamage. Can't we all just get along?{C}

I don't believe in a single best IDE any more than a single best language. What is best depends on both the particular work and the coder's personal tastes. And, as with programming languages, I think it's good to familiarize yourself with different paradigms.

My nutshell evaluation of Acme is that it is for systems-level coding in C on modest-sized projects. It seems very well designed for that purpose but quickly becomes awkward as you move away. It is definitely not suited to working with Java or Lisp, or navigating large directories.

Acme is often compared to vi/emacs as a power-user's tool with a different operating paradigm. It is, but I think people wrongly point to the keyboard/mouse issue as the basic difference. The real difference is that vi/emacs are all about configurability but Acme focuses on integration with the system while not being configurable at all (unless you count hacking the source).

Also, the frequent reference to UTF-8 is a bit misleading. Handling Unicode is about more than just recognizing the code points. It is tricky to properly display the various scripts of the world. For a good treatment of the issues presented in a simple interface, look at the Yudit editor.

Finally, I'm kind of surprised at the lack of interest in controlling fonts. My usual coding font is 12 pt. Dina or Terminus. But if my eyes are really tired, I might switch to 16 pt. Monaco. On the other hand, I sometimes use 8 pt. ProFont to better get an overview. I would think even Plan 9 hackers would appreciate being able to quickly shift around like that.