jacek's blogWhat Have You Done That’s So Great?by jacekSteve Jobs, in his reply to Gawker's Ryan Tate: By the way, what have you done that’s so great? Do you create anything, or just criticize others work and belittle their motivations? Indeed… The vi/vi(1)/vi(I) Mystery Explained…by jacekI recently got another email from a confused reader of vi(1) Tips: Essential vi/vim Editor Skills, 1st ed. I am quoting it and my reply hoping it will help those who are also confused. Dear Sir, Thinking to buy a good modern book on vi I looked at your book. I was startled to see an entirely new term, i.e. vi(1). Soon you introduce vi(I) that is a roman numeral inside the parentheses. It is hard for me to believe that vi(1) is the same as vi, but a series of glances through the book NEVER defines vi(1). I may never find out what this (1) string is for but in any case I can't recommend the book as long as this mystery hangs around it. Sincerely yours, (name withheld to protect the reader's privacy) And my reply: Dear Sir, vi(1) is a reference to the Unix manual page for the vi editor, which you can display on the Unix command line using the following command: $ man 1 vi or $ man vi You don't need to type $, it is used to represent the Unix command-line prompt As for vi(I) that is an artifact of the typeface we used to typeset the book. The numer 1 is represented by a shape that looks more like I and 1. We will fix it in the next edition. Thank you for writing. Kind Regards, Jacek Artymiak Still Here at 38by jacekI recently saw my 38th birthday. Not the best birthday in my life and I decided to postpone the celebrations until I am in a better shape. But it was still a time to reflect on life and what I've done so far. I cannot say that my job is done and there are plenty of things I still need to do, fix, and accomplish, but so far, at no small expense (emotional, financial, health), I live my life the way I imagined it in 1993-1994 when I saw a UK TV programme about this thing called "the Internet". There I saw a guy travelling the world, communicating via CompuServe using his PowerBook who had his home in a remote place in California. Little did I knew that it would come true. It's not been as glamorous as I had imagined, but despite all troubles, I am still here, living my life my way, not the way others have been trying to force me to. And for that, I am thankful to everyone who makes it possible. |