[implementations-list] How important is a Vimpulse user manual? How to make one? Copy from Vim docs?

Sat Dec 26 17:16:00 CET 2009

> Date: Sat, 26 Dec 2009 12:12:34 +0100
> From: stepnem at gmail.com
>
> I strongly disagree -- IMO Vim documentation is very clear and useful
> both for beginners and long-time users, not newbie-unfriendly in any
> respect (if you really find the Reference Manual -- whence the above
> quotation -- too "unfriendly", there is also the wordier and more
> tutorial-like User Manual).

I don't find it unfriendly, but I've used Vim for some time, and I was
totally dependent on the Vim tutor to get started. Vim is famous for
its steep learning curve,[1] and gaining the prerequisite knowledge is
a time-consuming process, likely to be aborted unless the user is kept
interested by some cool feature or otherwise indicator that the effort
will be worth it. The same is true of Emacs. Today I feel Emacs' help
system and general transparency is the best thing since sliced bread,
but I didn't appreciate neither when I started out.

[1] http://lca2srv30.epfl.ch/sathe/data/emacs_learning_curves.png :)

>> What is it a Vim user doesn't know, then? Emacs, and Emacs Lisp.
>
> For this, there are two Elisp manuals: The Emacs Lisp Reference
> Manual and A simple introduction to Emacs Lisp programming.

Yes, and they are excellent, but they are also very comprehensive.
They don't provide a quick way to get started, which is what the Vim
user will be looking for. For my part, I only got around to reading
the Introduction after a year or so of amateurish Lisp hacking and I
finally decided that my hackery wasn't cutting it anymore, but up to
that point -- and this is crucial -- my "hacker's approach" had been
very effective. We need to let the newcomers get away with a few
shortcuts and spark their interest before we hand out the 500-page
manuals.

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