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This was my exact impression; I hate leaving the keyboard when I'm writing or reading code. To simulate some of the functionality of codebubble in vim, I :vsp t

This was my exact impression; I hate leaving the keyboard when I'm writing or reading code. To simulate some of the functionality of codebubble in vim, I :vsp the same file and scroll up/down to the method I want. I have, however, come to realize that navigation through a large project with keys alone is suboptimal. One typo in a nav command and you have to press at least four or five more keys. With the mouse, you're less likely to make such mistakes and your retry time would also be low. It'd be like trying to browse the web using the keyboard alone... even I, a hardcore vim user, found firefox/vimperator underwhelming to say the least. What would be awesome is if they made some sort of hybrid superintelligent keyboard where the whole keyboard surface could also act as sort of a multi-touchpad. As a compromise, I've found that the thinkpad-style pointing stick in the middle of the keyboard does a fair job.

edanm 17y ago
This is exactly why I love the "Open File in Project" functionality that exists in some editors/IDEs (e.g., SlickEdit). It lets you type the filename, and does a "fuzzy search" match on it. Practically, this means that whatever file you think of, you can type any part of its name at any time to get to it. Once I got used to working this way, I stopped using the project tree-view: it's just much slower.
- unwind 17y ago
  Agreed. The keyboard shortcut in Eclipse (at least in C/C++ mode, not sure if that changes for other languages) is Ctrl-Shift-R.
- henrikschroder 17y ago
  For those of you using Visual Studio, there is an addon called StudioTools that adds this functionality: http://submain.com/products/studiotools.aspx http://submain.com/products/studiotools.aspx Highly recommended, they both have a smart open file that lets you start typing a filename, and smart goto, which lets you start typing a class or method name. Makes navigation so much faster!
- blux 17y ago
  Vim has a good plugin for this, FuzzyFileFinder. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1894614/vim-fuzzyfinder-usage-tips-gotchas-how-can-one-make-use-of-this-plugin/1897075#1897075 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1894614/vim-fuzzyfinder-u... for instructions on how to set it up.
- Poiesis 17y ago
  Ctrl-Shift-t for similar behavior for "Open Type" in Eclipse, also Ctrl-o is handy for a popup outline for autocomplete navigation to methods/members (if you have huge bloated Java files for example).
kingsley_20 17y ago
There used to be a keyboard like that, called FingerWorks. Was acquired by Apple and was never heard of again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks
- infinite8s 17y ago
  FingerWorks technology became the iPhone touchscreen.
kaiwren 17y ago
Good support for keyboard navigation combined with some amount of smartness about the AST can work wonders, though. Most modern Java IDEs do a fair job of this.
deleted 17y ago
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edanm 17y ago

This is exactly why I love the "Open File in Project" functionality that exists in some editors/IDEs (e.g., SlickEdit). It lets you type the filename, and does a "fuzzy search" match on it. Practically, this means that whatever file you think of, you can type any part of its name at any time to get to it. Once I got used to working this way, I stopped using the project tree-view: it's just much slower.

unwind 17y ago
Agreed. The keyboard shortcut in Eclipse (at least in C/C++ mode, not sure if that changes for other languages) is Ctrl-Shift-R.
henrikschroder 17y ago
For those of you using Visual Studio, there is an addon called StudioTools that adds this functionality: http://submain.com/products/studiotools.aspx http://submain.com/products/studiotools.aspx Highly recommended, they both have a smart open file that lets you start typing a filename, and smart goto, which lets you start typing a class or method name. Makes navigation so much faster!
blux 17y ago
Vim has a good plugin for this, FuzzyFileFinder. See http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1894614/vim-fuzzyfinder-usage-tips-gotchas-how-can-one-make-use-of-this-plugin/1897075#1897075 http://stackoverflow.com/questions/1894614/vim-fuzzyfinder-u... for instructions on how to set it up.
Poiesis 17y ago
Ctrl-Shift-t for similar behavior for "Open Type" in Eclipse, also Ctrl-o is handy for a popup outline for autocomplete navigation to methods/members (if you have huge bloated Java files for example).

kingsley_20 17y ago

There used to be a keyboard like that, called FingerWorks. Was acquired by Apple and was never heard of again. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/FingerWorks

infinite8s 17y ago
FingerWorks technology became the iPhone touchscreen.

kaiwren 17y ago

Good support for keyboard navigation combined with some amount of smartness about the AST can work wonders, though. Most modern Java IDEs do a fair job of this.

deleted 17y ago

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