UNIX for Dummies Questions & Answers

Quick question for all of you Unix gurus. What are your thoughts on Pico as an editor. I have been using this editor for the last week or so and have made a lot of headway with my script writing. However, I find a lot of the quirks associated with this editor to be quite annoying. For instance, I often find myself going from an ability to edit my existing script to unintentionally overwriting information - like if you were to select Insert in a normal text document. If Pico is considered old hat, what would you suggest instead?

Real Unix people don't use pico. It's too primitive (just a bit more advanced than the old MS-DOS Editor). Usually we prefer vi(m) or emacs. Which one to choose is solely your own choice and let's not go into a vi(m) vs. emacs flame here. Both have undo. vim automatically safes a backup at regular intervals so that if your disk crash in the middle you can virtually recover everything. I think emacs has a similar feature. So they are both more safe compared with pico.