5 ms·
Jokes aside, shouldn't the page start with actually teaching how to quit vim? The page is considerably popular to show up on a Google search. I imagine the fru
by talles 7y ago
Jokes aside, shouldn't the page start with actually teaching how to quit vim?
The page is considerably popular to show up on a Google search. I imagine the frustration of a beginner actually trying the first examples and not getting the joke immediately.
- petepete 7y agoI'd bet that most people who get stuck don't start vim themselves though. I taught (the basics of) git to a bunch of students recently and the first time we did a commit I had to go around the room and show people how to operate vim. I bet the same happens when new people use visudo, etc
- noisem4ker 7y agoThis is why vim is a bad default. Thankfully, there's someone thinking about changing this [0]. [0] https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Fedora-Workstation-Vi-To-Nano https://www.phoronix.com/scan.php?page=news_item&px=Fedora-W...
- kungtotte 7y agoI don't know about vim, but in neovim you're greeted by the following when you launch it the first time: type :help nvim<Enter> if you are new! type :checkhealth<Enter> to optimize Nvim type :q<Enter> to exit type :help<Enter> for help This joke is pretty outdated :P (But still kind of funny)
- DarkWiiPlayer 7y agoYou get the same thing in vim, but only when you open it without a file. Chances are, you only do that when you're already a vim user, and most non-users will be confronted with any random program opening a file in vim for them to edit (visudo, git commit, etc.)
- thaumasiotes 7y agogit will open pico if you haven't configured an editor. It's annoying. If you have configured an editor, hopefully you already know how to quit.
- samatman 7y agoIt has to open something, and pico/nano, at least, has a menu that tells you how to quit. What else would be a preferable default?
- thaumasiotes 7y agoI'm open to the idea that there isn't a better default, but that doesn't make it less annoying. Another option would be to fail and prompt the user to configure an editor preference. That wouldn't be much different (to me) than what it does now.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]
- Lio 7y agoYeah, I mean if you really wanted to help people exit Vim you'd trap Ctrl-c in command mode and print the instructions at the bottom of the screen. Something along the lines of "Type :qa and press <Enter> to exit Vim" would probably do it...
- PandaWhisperer 7y agoAt this point, learning how to exit vim by yourself is just standard hazing practice for new devs. It's not a bug, it's a feature.
- Kye 7y agoThis kind of advice confused me early on because I didn't realize the : was part of the command for way too long. For beginners, you might want to spell it out further as: "shift and the : key, then qa, then Enter"
- fourthark 7y agoYes, the version on my machine prints Type :qa! and press <Enter> to abandon all changes and exit Vim
- JdeBP 7y ago
- screye 7y agoNope. The best thing that can happen to a beginner is they continue being frustrated with vim, quit it before they get in too deep, and just use shitty idees like the rest of us trash.
- phkahler 7y agoMy first go at vim was an accident. I was using git and ended up there. I later tried to change the editor invoked by git to something else, but have concluded that was dumb and the only real option is to learn vim. It's still on my todo list. As is the actual OSS work I want to contribute after climbing this hill. It should not be this way.
- RawToluene 7y agoYou don't ever tick that item on the todo list. Learning vim is a never-ending path to wisdom.
- screye 7y agoVScode's text editing/ diff/ git tool is really good. It helps that VScode is also my editor of choice in general.
- deleted 7y ago[deleted]