> I hate the ideas many programmers have about backwards compatibility, that it's more important than development speed and modern concepts.
Please clarify by what is meant by "backwards compatibility," since this is a loaded phrase. On the one hand, it's the idea that software system B can do everything that earlier software system A can, using the semantics of software system A (e.g. "vim can do everything vi can, using the semantics of vi"). On the other hand, it's the idea that software system B is semantically incompatible with software system A (e.g. SublimeText vs vim), but software systems A and B can coexist without breaking each other. While I agree that achieving the former idea of backwards compatibility isn't always important (particularly in the realm of text editors), achieving the latter is an absolute must. If there is one thing I will not tolerate on my systems, it is a piece of software that breaks other working software that I rely on.
> There is nothing holy about Unix era software, chances are it's shit and a lot of it should be thrown out.
Like it or not, we're still in the Unix era, and likely will be for some time. Unix is more than a specific implementation or even a specific API--it also includes the logical abstractions behind them. You still deal with files, directories, processes, threads, pipes, sockets, dynamically-linked libraries, paging, etc., whether you're on Unix or Windows. This means SublimeText is "Unix era software" too--it's built on top of the same Unix-era abstractions as vim. Perhaps the only Unix abstraction vim makes use of that SublimeText does not is the TTY, but that doesn't stop me from using vim where TTYs don't exist.
And you're right, most Unix era software is shit. But don't limit yourself to Unix era software--most software in general is shit. Very few pieces of software become as robust and widely-used as vim, and SublimeText isn't going to make vim disappear anytime soon (especially since it doesn't break working vim installations).
> We as developers in the Open Source community should be ashamed people are still using Vim to write LaTeX in Bash running on terminal emulators.
Feel ashamed of me then, since I do exactly this. Why? Because there isn't anything sufficiently better for what I need to do. I have given every single WYSIWYG editor that claims to do a better job a good-faith trial, and I have always gone back because each contender always lacked the ability to do something I needed to do.
I'm not saying it's impossible to do better; it certainly is. It's just that I've seen nothing that actually is better. I would address this myself, but I have too many other, more important things to work on (like finishing my PhD thesis).
> (Yes, it gives me shivers just thinking about how much each of those technologies sucks when you think about how good it all could be.)
Code doesn't write itself :) Software systems don't design themselves either :) What you're asking for is a very, very tall order. Many have tried to replace that which is "good enough," and yet we're still in the Unix era despite their efforts.
Please clarify by what is meant by "backwards compatibility," since this is a loaded phrase. On the one hand, it's the idea that software system B can do everything that earlier software system A can, using the semantics of software system A (e.g. "vim can do everything vi can, using the semantics of vi"). On the other hand, it's the idea that software system B is semantically incompatible with software system A (e.g. SublimeText vs vim), but software systems A and B can coexist without breaking each other. While I agree that achieving the former idea of backwards compatibility isn't always important (particularly in the realm of text editors), achieving the latter is an absolute must. If there is one thing I will not tolerate on my systems, it is a piece of software that breaks other working software that I rely on.
> There is nothing holy about Unix era software, chances are it's shit and a lot of it should be thrown out.
Like it or not, we're still in the Unix era, and likely will be for some time. Unix is more than a specific implementation or even a specific API--it also includes the logical abstractions behind them. You still deal with files, directories, processes, threads, pipes, sockets, dynamically-linked libraries, paging, etc., whether you're on Unix or Windows. This means SublimeText is "Unix era software" too--it's built on top of the same Unix-era abstractions as vim. Perhaps the only Unix abstraction vim makes use of that SublimeText does not is the TTY, but that doesn't stop me from using vim where TTYs don't exist.
And you're right, most Unix era software is shit. But don't limit yourself to Unix era software--most software in general is shit. Very few pieces of software become as robust and widely-used as vim, and SublimeText isn't going to make vim disappear anytime soon (especially since it doesn't break working vim installations).
> We as developers in the Open Source community should be ashamed people are still using Vim to write LaTeX in Bash running on terminal emulators.
Feel ashamed of me then, since I do exactly this. Why? Because there isn't anything sufficiently better for what I need to do. I have given every single WYSIWYG editor that claims to do a better job a good-faith trial, and I have always gone back because each contender always lacked the ability to do something I needed to do.
I'm not saying it's impossible to do better; it certainly is. It's just that I've seen nothing that actually is better. I would address this myself, but I have too many other, more important things to work on (like finishing my PhD thesis).
> (Yes, it gives me shivers just thinking about how much each of those technologies sucks when you think about how good it all could be.)
Code doesn't write itself :) Software systems don't design themselves either :) What you're asking for is a very, very tall order. Many have tried to replace that which is "good enough," and yet we're still in the Unix era despite their efforts.