jacek's blogMerry Christmas 2011by jacekWhen I wrote in 2009 about my upcoming surgery I wasn't sure that it would be successful. As it turned out, my health was not good enough to let the doctors operate on me. What followed was a two-year harsh struggle that put a lot of strain on my body, mind, and my family. I did go into surgery near the end of 2010, two and a half years after I was told I had to get it done. The last 12 months could be better, but I won't complain. I'm still here, writing words and code. Let's hope 2012 will be a good year. Merry Christmas! What 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 |