4 ms·

I've tried for the past couple of years to get into vim but I can't force myself to remember the odd short cuts I can't seem to ever match up with the action it

by cdevs 10y ago

I've tried for the past couple of years to get into vim but I can't force myself to remember the odd short cuts I can't seem to ever match up with the action it's doing. I could if I rewrote them butttttt then that blows when I want to jump into a new server without my config. So it's always been nano for one liners and sublime through sftp mounted filesystem.

beachstartup 10y ago
you've probably never: 1. been forced to use a system with nothing but vi, ed, and ex, which was common for commercial unixes until the 90's 2. had to make thousands of edits to thousands of files in minutes without access to a scripting environment or other more advanced tools 3. had to edit and debug a program under the above conditions on a super laggy dialup internet connection vi is a force multiplier for operating a terminal under duress in adverse network conditions. that's literally why it was developed. i say it does an even better job of it under good, modern conditions and unless you look at it through that lens, it's never going to make much sense to you. and those adverse conditions still pop up now and then, especially with wireless networks and public cloud shitstorms. "[Bill] Joy explained that the terse, single character commands and the ability to type ahead of the display were a result of the slow 300 baud modem he used when developing the software and that he wanted to be productive when the screen was painting slower than he could think." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi
- justinlardinois 10y ago
  To be honest vi and vim are different enough that as someone who was taught on vim, I get lost when I have to do anything beyond opening a file in vi.
  - beachstartup 10y ago
    yeah, it's pretty awful.
lucb1e 10y ago
Note that Vim is pretty much identical to nano when you press the letter i. Then hit escape and use :wq to write to disk and quit. Over time you'll probably start using more and more Vim features to do text editing quicker. It took me two years to learn Vim well enough that I could objectively say it works better than standard text editors. I'm not surprised you didn't succeed in learning it all at once. It's like using a mouse for the first time ever that comes with 50 buttons. I don't think anyone could learn that and put it to use from muscle memory (that's where it really starts to pay off) in one sitting.
a3n 10y ago
Instead of "odd shortcuts," think of it like this guy does: Learn to speak vim — verbs, nouns, and modifiers! https://yanpritzker.com/learn-to-speak-vim-verbs-nouns-and-modifiers-d7bfed1f6b2d#.ylw37xksp https://yanpritzker.com/learn-to-speak-vim-verbs-nouns-and-m... "To move efficiently in vim, don’t try to do anything by pressing keys many times, instead speak to the editor in sentences " delete the current word: diw (delete inside word)"

by cdevs 10y ago

beachstartup 10y ago

you've probably never: 1. been forced to use a system with nothing but vi, ed, and ex, which was common for commercial unixes until the 90's 2. had to make thousands of edits to thousands of files in minutes without access to a scripting environment or other more advanced tools 3. had to edit and debug a program under the above conditions on a super laggy dialup internet connection vi is a force multiplier for operating a terminal under duress in adverse network conditions. that's literally why it was developed. i say it does an even better job of it under good, modern conditions and unless you look at it through that lens, it's never going to make much sense to you. and those adverse conditions still pop up now and then, especially with wireless networks and public cloud shitstorms. "[Bill] Joy explained that the terse, single character commands and the ability to type ahead of the display were a result of the slow 300 baud modem he used when developing the software and that he wanted to be productive when the screen was painting slower than he could think." https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi

justinlardinois 10y ago
To be honest vi and vim are different enough that as someone who was taught on vim, I get lost when I have to do anything beyond opening a file in vi.
- beachstartup 10y ago
  yeah, it's pretty awful.

lucb1e 10y ago

Note that Vim is pretty much identical to nano when you press the letter i. Then hit escape and use :wq to write to disk and quit. Over time you'll probably start using more and more Vim features to do text editing quicker. It took me two years to learn Vim well enough that I could objectively say it works better than standard text editors. I'm not surprised you didn't succeed in learning it all at once. It's like using a mouse for the first time ever that comes with 50 buttons. I don't think anyone could learn that and put it to use from muscle memory (that's where it really starts to pay off) in one sitting.

a3n 10y ago

Instead of "odd shortcuts," think of it like this guy does: Learn to speak vim — verbs, nouns, and modifiers! https://yanpritzker.com/learn-to-speak-vim-verbs-nouns-and-modifiers-d7bfed1f6b2d#.ylw37xksp https://yanpritzker.com/learn-to-speak-vim-verbs-nouns-and-m... "To move efficiently in vim, don’t try to do anything by pressing keys many times, instead speak to the editor in sentences " delete the current word: diw (delete inside word)"