>>33071Emacs all the way!
>>29896Most iterations are fully programmable and the mnemonic command set still holds up. Many programming tools also have their own elpa packages, which will let you recompile your entire project in three keystrokes max.
The people complaining about key chords are missing the point, because emacs commands are designed to reduce the conceptual load of editing, not only by being modeless. Compare 'dd dd' in vi with 'C-Space, C-n, C-n, C-w': The latter sets the mark, moves, then cuts; the former cuts the entire current line each and it's one of the simpler vi commands.
Vi's chaining operators incentivize a kind of editing golf, that make you visually hunt for characters you can delete (or change!). Emacs has a few well-thought out word-oriented, line-oriented and page-oriented commands, that will become intimately familiar during use. Everything else is done by combining these distinct commands (not separate action and movement "operators").
This is what i like about emacs: Easy actions are convenient, everything else you can write a macro, a command or a mode for and there is no command/insert dichotomy to trip over (even experienced vi users are known to!).