UNIX/Linux has many editors.  Eventually, during the course, you will be 
most of your work on Linux computers.  It is a good idea to start choosing
your favorite UNIX/Linux editor now.

Beginners are sometimes introduced to pico, because there are few 
commands, with hints at the bottom about what commands are 
There is a quick learning curve, but pico is not very powerful.

While vi has more mind-share today, some people prefer emacs.
The emacs editor is a little more intuitive (especially
xemacs).  For common editing tasks, vi/vim is typically faster.  Some feel
that emacs has better support for complex editing tasks.

To start learning vi, do:
  vi <THIS_DIRECTORY>/vitutor.vi
To start learning emacs, do:
  emacs  [or possibly:  emacs -nw   ]
and then type:
  ^Ht  (Type "control-h" (control key pressed while hitting "h"), followed
	by "t".)  
In both cases, you learn the editor by "doing".  In both cases, the
cursor keys work, and the rest of the file teaches you other commoands.


There is also xemacs, which allows one to use mouse and menu,
or keystroke commands.  It provides an easy transition from
Windows-style GUI editors to UNIX-style editors.


Estimated time for the emacs or vi tutorial is about an hour.
For those interested in vi, vilearn-part6 exists for more advanced commands.