[bnegreve]

I use a text editor because using a text editor that you've mastered is pleasant. (I'm an Emacs user fwiw.)

I think we should stop trying to rationalize this choice.

Or rather, we should realize that we like text editors because we went through a long training and acquired complex skills which are fun to put in practice. Being a power user of Emacs or Vim is is satisfying, the same way mastering a video game is satisfying.

[kornerstoane]

Exactly. It's why I wrote the article. For me, using Vim brings with it a whole general feeling of comfort, which probably includes those early days hacking away on the Xenix box with family close by and Mario dinging in up the hallway.

Weird, I know. But whenever I come back to Vim after straying for any amount of time, I just feel happy. Probably because I can do everything I want to do in the text without having to think about it.

[doorhammer]

I get the same feeling. It's usually accompanied by the similar feeling I get when I drop back into a linux terminal after having spent eight or nine hours at work on .net. I just sort of automatically relax and feel good, heh.

It's like the nostalgia I get when the seasons change, and for a few days I can feel my childhood.

[tomphoolery]

If that is so, why do people change text editors? (I agree with you, I just wonder this myself)

[doorhammer]

I'm only speaking for myself with the below. ymmv of course

I get the "grass is greener" feeling sometimes, so I go looking to see if anything better has come along.

Then there's just the practical switch. My main job is in .net right now, while my home computers are all linux distros. It's made me search through a lot of editors to find something that runs well and feels good with windows.

I also just like to explore software, you know? A for instance would be Sublime Text. I've said it in a few other threads, but I do dig some of the features in ST2. They really did multiple cursors right. It's a really simple, but intuitive and powerful way to edit things. Using that on ST2 me want it everywhere else, and also made me fall in love with how they set up the command palette. Using emacs for a bit made me really dig how elisp worked. Light Table showed me another take on the integration of a language into the editor itself. So it's a lot of curiosity with that, and to know what's out there.

As an aside, if Neovim delivers it's promises, it'll probably solidify vim even further as my only editor of choice, but I'll still go looking around to see what other people are coming up with.

[alwillis]

Haven’t installed this yet, but it looks promising for multiple cursor support for Vim: http://vimawesome.com/plugin/vim-multiple-cursors

[saraid216]

If the analogy holds, the answer is the same reason people play different video games. I think the analogy holds a bit: variety and different kinds of mastery feel like a correct answer.