I would argue that learning both is important, but its always better to learn the dumb tools first (IDE). Dumb tools were made for a reason because they are the

I would argue that learning both is important, but its always better to learn the dumb tools first (IDE). Dumb tools were made for a reason because they are the lowest common denominator and therefore easier to get things done. Your time spent on tooling could have been used elsewhere. VIM / emacs are great if you work in a unix environment, but as a windows user Id rather have nice GUI tools. Requires less memorization to do the same tasks. I would also argue against memorizing shortcuts as well, and if you do, only a select few that you often use. Rather have a quick reference file on hand for these shortcuts to memorize.