JOE editor - why are you using literally anything else?™

Because I'm used to vim and I don't want to nor I have the time to learn a whole new set of key strokes.

some data files I used to deal with were pushing the 1GB mark. Before, thankfully, they went to binary.

Because in-editor linting is useful.

Because I use ed - the standard editor

so its only useful for admin monkeys on a remote line?

You get a far smaller attack surface with terminal programs than GUI programs. A text editor works perfectly on the terminal. You really don't need a GUI to manipulate plain text.

how many exploits targeting editors are there?

There has never been a single one.

then why do you care about attack surface?

Not him but why would you want to make things more complex and bloated with a GUI when you can do it all in your terminal which you use daily already