1823: Hottest Editors

Explain xkcd: It's 'cause you're dumb.
Revision as of 15:20, 12 April 2017 by 172.68.51.232 (talk) (Explanation: initial edit)
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Hottest Editors
Elon Musk finally blocked me from the internal Tesla repository because I wouldn't stop sending pull requests for my code supporting steering via vim keybindings.
Title text: Elon Musk finally blocked me from the internal Tesla repository because I wouldn't stop sending pull requests for my code supporting steering via vim keybindings.

Explanation

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The comic has a play on the word 'Editor'. The editors from 1995 to 2000 are plain-text editors, popular among many programmers and other computer scientists to edit machine-readable text. Two of the earlier editors, VIM and EMACS, allow the user to perform common actions (like scrolling, marking text, saving or searching) using keyboard shortcuts. As VIM and EMACS use different shortcuts, someone who is proficient in one editor may have difficulty using the other editor, since the shortcuts are different. The 'Editor wars' refer to VIM and EMACS users debating heavily on which of the two editors is the best (for which keyboard shortcuts, or bindings, are just one of the arguments employed). Modern editors (including Notepad++ and Sublime Text) mainly use the shortcuts determined the operating system, again different from VIM and EMACS.

The 2020 editor 'CRISPR' is not a text editor, but a technique used to edit DNA. The comic may suggest that we will not be editing digital plain-text files, but DNA in 2020.

To make the transition between editors easier, some editors offer VIM or EMACS key-bindings: the shortcuts will be (roughly) the same as in VIM or in EMACS, so that someone who used to be proficient in one of those editors can proceed to use the keyboard shortcuts in the way he or she was used to. The comic suggests that in 2025, the VIM key-bindings will be the most popular for editing genes using CRISPR. This creates a comical effect: CRISPR is a technique that operates on genes, and not on digital hardware, so it does not use a keyboard per sé. Consequently, it is surprising that CRISPR would have key bindings. The comic also suggests that in 2025, VIM will make a comeback in DNA editing, thus having 'won' the battle with EMACS.

Transcript

HOTTEST EDITORS

1995-2000 - EMACS-VIM EDITOR WAR

2005 - VIM

2010 - NOTEPAD++

2015 - SUBLIME TEXT

2020 - CRISPR

2025 - CRISPR (VIM keybindings)


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Discussion

So Randall is saying that in 2005 Vim as the most popular editor, and no Emacs user bat an eye? I came here to see why, highly disappointed 108.162.229.230 00:18, 5 January 2020 (UTC)

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CRISPR, a procaryotic immune defense system that, coupled with Cas9, has been used by molecular biologists as a technology for precise edition of a the genome of virtually any organism. 141.101.105.216 14:59, 12 April 2017 (UTC) LinVl

So.. the M-x crispr command? 172.68.51.172 15:54, 12 April 2017 (UTC)ZZ

You mean `ESC:crispr` ? 162.158.62.183 13:54, 15 April 2017 (UTC)
Do you spend all of your time in insert mode? PoolloverNathan[talk]UTSc 00:00, 16 May 2022 (UTC)

The first editors are not for machine-readable Text. But for sourcecode which is human-readable.162.158.90.192 16:49, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

Well, the compiler or interpreter can hopefully read your source code, so in some sense it's machine-readable :P. --172.68.54.112 18:13, 12 April 2017 (UTC)

i noticed the article fails to mention the comic declaring vim as the winner in 2005... kind of a huge oversight. mayhaps there is bias in the author of this wiki? mayhaps the author is a huge emacs fan?

Maybe he's alluding to this with CRISPR-VIM in 2025.162.158.74.51 22:12, 12 April 2017 (UTC)
As a 30+ year Emacs user, I too wanted to know why vim was declared the winner. Is there some sort of objective basis for the declaration, or is it just a joke in the context of Emacs versus vi debate STILL going on? 172.68.54.100 19:33, 20 April 2017 (UTC)

I'm surprised no female name is included. I mean, there must be lot of newspapers with female editors and some of them are likely hot. -- Hkmaly (talk) 02:06, 13 April 2017 (UTC)

Could CRISPR being the hottest editor refer to DNA computing? https://www.britannica.com/technology/DNA-computing

"Sublime Text is the current "most popular" text editor according to Randall[citation needed]". Citation needed? Someone should link that phrase to this comic then, LOL!

And I want to mention, this site has been looking all wrong and messed up on my iPad 1 for the last week or two. The entire left side is missing, being relegated to looking wrong below, the logo is gone, the buttons are in some different Times-looking font, and this comment text box is only using the centre half of the screen, horizontally. It's like a style sheet got corrupted. Or it's been made prejudiced against older devices and OSes. :) - NiceGuy1 108.162.219.88 03:18, 14 April 2017 (UTC) I finally signed up! This comment is mine. (and the site was fixed, maybe when it went down for maintenance?) NiceGuy1 (talk) 05:45, 13 June 2017 (UTC)

Have you tried turning it off and on again? 162.158.114.46 21:06, 14 April 2017 (UTC)

A modal editor with a modal modem : In the days of Hayes modems, using "+" in vi to move down a line (similar to "j") would not always work because "+++" sent in a short time period changes the modem from data mode to command mode. One could imagine a future Tesla having a debug mode entered through a similar key sequence.

"Vim will make a comeback in DNA editing, thus having 'won' the battle with Emacs" - Why would Vim only win the battle with Emacs in 2025, when, according to the chart, Vim already was the hottest editor in 2005 (which Emacs never was)? --YMS (talk) 15:07, 19 April 2017 (UTC)

So CRISPR _was_ the hottest editor in 2020 all right. 172.68.246.73 17:00, 1 February 2021 (UTC)

I'm from the year 2020 to ask: ARE THERE ANY BAGELS LEFT?!?! But seriously, CRISPR is not the hottest editor of 2020. Maybe in 2025? --172.68.57.55 19:09, 2 June 2021 (UTC)

When I just graduated from school, I became a bioinformatics researcher(that means I edit "gene" sequence by text editor); later I entered the IT and Internet industry(that means I edit code by text editor), so I really like the "editor" in this joke, because I understand it too well, haha. --Node (talk) 10:09, 14 September 2024 (UTC)

we should do that tesla vim keybinding thing

for funsies

(if anything goes wrong we blame randall)

172.69.194.207 12:35, 23 September 2024 (UTC)