Modal Editing Is a Weird Historical Contingency We Have Through Sheer Happensta
Posted3 months agoActive2 months ago
buttondown.comTechstory
calmnegative
Debate
20/100
Text EditorsModal EditingVim
Key topics
Text Editors
Modal Editing
Vim
The article argues that modal editing is a historical contingency that has stuck around due to circumstance rather than deliberate design, sparking discussion on its relevance and usability.
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Oct 21, 2025 at 2:03 PM EDT
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Discussion (2 comments)
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jibbit
3 months ago
this bugs me because what actually happened.. vi being the last survivor of a once universal interaction paradigm - is way more interesting than this unfathomably incorrect 'what a strange historical quirk' version.
compressedgas
2 months ago
But "REPLs for text-editing" are modal editors. They have a command mode and an insert mode.
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ID: 45659262Type: storyLast synced: 11/17/2025, 9:09:43 AM
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