"They had no concept of a duty of care to their users."
A computer scientist critiques the lack of backward compatibility in the NeoVim text editor, specifically regarding persistent undo files. He argues that software updates should prioritize user data integrity and avoid breaking established workflows.
Why it matters
It highlights the tension between rapid software innovation and the long-term stability required by professional power users.
A Mastodon post by computer scientist David Chisnall has a very Unsung opener:
I have used vim since around 2000. I have written five books, a PhD thesis, a few dozen papers and over 150 articles with it. At this point, my higher brain functions are not engaged at all when I use a bunch of common vim commands, they just happen. Documents I wrote with anything else have random :w in the middle.
Chisnall goes on to talk about one specific vim feature:
Persistent undo is one of my favourite features of vim. […]
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