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Why nano gets used (lemmy.world)
submitted 16 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago) by Skullgrid@lemmy.world to c/programmer_humor@programming.dev

Nano has already supplanted the great EMacs and Vim as the most popular text editor of all linux distros, for though it has many omissions in functionality it scores over the older, more complete programs in two important respects. First, it is slightly simpler; and secondly it has the text "^ Exit" inscribed in highlighted text on its footer

EDIT : This sees to be going over some people's heads. It's a hitchiker's guide to the galaxy reference.

The Hitchhiker's Guide has already supplanted the great Encyclopaedia Galactica as the standard repository of all knowledge and wisdom, for though it has many omissions . . . it scores over the older, more pedestrian work in two important respects. First, it is slightly cheaper; and secondly it has the words DON'T PANIC inscribed in large friendly letters on its cover.

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[-] Scoopta@programming.dev 19 points 15 hours ago

I've wanted to move elsewhere for a long time, thing is I don't use nano for programming, I use it for config files. For programming I use an IDE, and every time I've tried leaving my IDE for emacs with a language server I find I just can't be bothered to set it up and learn it and make the move. Maybe because while I have some gripes with my current setup...they're very minor

[-] partofthevoice@lemmy.zip 3 points 14 hours ago* (last edited 14 hours ago)

People program in things like nano? Wow. I want to learn that. I also have only really used them for configs, terminal profiles, …

Can they offer autocomplete and syntax highlighting like vscode can, extendable for different languages and whatnot?

[-] GreyEyedGhost@piefed.ca 3 points 8 hours ago

I've programmed in notepad. Not often or very much, because even though I operated in a Windows environment, I didn't hate myself, but simple edits or creating small files was possible if you knew what you were doing. More could be done too, if you wanted to pretend you were a caveman programmer.

[-] YoSoySnekBoi@kbin.earth 9 points 14 hours ago

Nano has syntax highlighting out of the box IIRC. I've used it for programming in a pinch but no, it's nowhere near as extensible as VSCode or Vim. It's a text editor, not an IDE

[-] palordrolap@fedia.io 4 points 14 hours ago

nano has supported syntax highlighting for a good long while, and for the Debian package at least, comes with a bunch of predefined languages in /usr/share/nano/*.nanorc.

I wouldn't recommend it for large projects, but I've created and edited shell and Perl scripts with it plenty of times.

this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2026
300 points (100.0% liked)

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