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After the holy war of the programming editors, I went out and did some research
on the matter. It turns out that the best editor for programming perl is 'ed'. 

What is this 'ed'?
  'ed' is a line editor, which means it operates by changing a line (or lines)
  of a file. 

What possible benefits could *that* have?
  1. Because viewing code is painful, it induces the coder to write code that
     is compact and legible.
  2. Because making changes is painful, it induces the coder to write code that
     is non-reduplicative and modular!
  3. Because making changes is painful, the coder quickly masters regular 
     expressions, as typing in a whole line again is dumb. 

Common Myths about 'ed':
  1. 'ed' is everywhere. You can find 'ed' or 'edlin' on virtually every box
     in the universe. 
     Not true. 'ed' is NOT found on pizza boxes. And we all know pizza boxes 
     outnumber computer boxes, even at Google.
  2. No matter how screwed up your terminal is, you can use 'ed'.
     Not true. Nothing saves you from 'echo -e \\16', except 'echo -e \\17'.

Top 3 Quotes* about 'ed':
  1. "It's not cryptic, there's only 5 commands!" -- Alan Cox
  2. "Bad movie. Good editor!" -- Bill Joy 
  3. "Oh, please." -- Richard Stallman 
 
Summary
  As anyone can plainly see, 'ed' clearly trumps all other editors. 


Patrick. 

* These are quotes in the sense that the person who is cited as saying them,
  to our knowledge, has not ever and is not now, saying, writing, or otherwise
  communicating them. 
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