Are they the best developers, and if so how do you measure that?
> Great programmers use vim or emacs
This another form of No True Scotsman, and not a valid argument.
> because the imagery in their mind is far more powerful than anything an IDE could display
How do you know, and how do you measure this? Surely, you would admit that Vi and Emacs are better than pen and paper, or punch cards, right? So does it not follow that Vi and Emacs could be improved upon? Or are they the pinnacle of inputting instructions into a computer? If they are which one is better? Why? How do we measure that?
The steering wheel could be improved upon in some theoretical sense, but the chances are that any new car steered by, say, an iPad is much worse and definitely isn't going to be used in races any time soon.
> Great programmers use vim or emacs This another form of No True Scotsman, and not a valid argument.
> because the imagery in their mind is far more powerful than anything an IDE could display
How do you know, and how do you measure this? Surely, you would admit that Vi and Emacs are better than pen and paper, or punch cards, right? So does it not follow that Vi and Emacs could be improved upon? Or are they the pinnacle of inputting instructions into a computer? If they are which one is better? Why? How do we measure that?