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Well I think the nice point of doing excercise in a web browser is that you can quickly switch to another tab and search for daring questions such as " by the w

Well I think the nice point of doing excercise in a web browser is that you can quickly switch to another tab and search for daring questions such as " by the way why on earth does this monstrosity want me to use hjkl? That don't make any sense!!!!" https://catonmat.net/why-vim-uses-hjkl-as-arrow-keys https://catonmat.net/why-vim-uses-hjkl-as-arrow-keys For a mostly data/SQL guy wanting to learn more about coding it still don't make much sense but at least I know why and I can move on. When I was trying vimtutor in a CLI interface I was less curious and more WTF F... this is pure madness kind of mood. Dunno if I'll subscribe but nice first experience through this demo.

enriquto 6y ago
> the nice point of doing excercise in a web browser is that you can quickly switch to another tab and search for daring questions such as (...) On the contrary... I'd say that if you are outside a browser, it is somewhat easier to have a browser window side by side and ALT-TAB between both. Having two tabs visible at the same time is a bit cumbersome.
- MetalGuru 6y ago
  On the contrary, having a giant monitor with two tabs open... /s Who cares? So nit. You could hotkey to switch between two windows of the same program.
fantod 6y ago
The most shocking thing to me was that after weeks of struggling to get used to hjkl for navigating in vim, I realized that I had already been using jk for navigating up and down on numerous sites (reddit, gmail, twitter) for YEARS.
tasuki 6y ago
> " by the way why on earth does this monstrosity want me to use hjkl? That don't make any sense!!!!" Indeed, why? Using hjkl is about the worst way to move around in vim...
- X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
  /%<CR>qqnxq19@q is clearly the solution to the "navigate to % and delete it"
  - biohax2015 6y ago
    lolwut
  - drKarl 6y ago
    Or f%x
    - X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
      That doesn't finish the challenge
      - bdamm 6y ago
        It does, actually. But you have to precede the command with <num>G to go to the correct line.
  - tasuki 6y ago
    The correct answer!
- runeb 6y ago
  When you consider the concept of home row keys and touch typing I find it very natural, actually. Its ergonomic and very fast if you get into the habit of resting your fingers on the home row. Though you may have been alluding to more powerful movements!
sodapopcan 6y ago
HJKL also allows you to keep your fingers on the homerow at all times which is really great. I had issues with RSI that when away when I started using Vim properly. Travelling to the arrow keys now feels like a painful task to me! Of course, as a sibling comment mentioned, hjkl is the worst way to move around--"power users" generally only use them to move a char/line or two.
- pandemic_region 6y ago
  Not when using Dvorak, here's how it maps from Qwerty: H->J J->C K->V L->P Still works pretty well, i've gotten used to it.
  - mynameisash 6y ago
    Fortunately, j & k are next to each other, and I never noticed any disconnect in vim w/Dvorak. I never use h & l -- mostly space, w/W, or b/B. But I also learned Dvorak before vim, so I never got used to hjkl.
    - Jtsummers 6y ago
      I played a ton of Nethack in college and adopted Dvorak at the same time. hjkl work remarkably well with Dvorak, and I found it so much more natural than the same letters with Qwerty. j and k being next to each other makes their relative motion sensible still. And the new positions of h and l keep them in the correct relative position to indicate left and right, but easier to use. The right index finger is already on h and the pinky needs to move up one key for l. And up/down is now the left hand, with right/left being on the right hand. I've found emacs to be similarly more sensible and comfortable, using default key bindings, with Dvorak than Qwerty.
- arendtio 6y ago
  On the other side, it is probably the most unnecessary inflicted pain for beginners. Even after years of using vim on a daily basis, I can't get used to hjkl and still use the arrow keys. I tried a few times with different approaches, but it never lasted more than a few days. So pushing someone new to use hjkl for navigation is so unnecessary and just kills a lot of motivation for very little value. Starting with deleting, yanking and pasting would be a lot more fun. Even navigation with gg and G plus numbers would be a lot more useful too. Like when you get an error message that is caused by line 42, you know why you want to use vim next time.

enriquto 6y ago

> the nice point of doing excercise in a web browser is that you can quickly switch to another tab and search for daring questions such as (...) On the contrary... I'd say that if you are outside a browser, it is somewhat easier to have a browser window side by side and ALT-TAB between both. Having two tabs visible at the same time is a bit cumbersome.

MetalGuru 6y ago
On the contrary, having a giant monitor with two tabs open... /s Who cares? So nit. You could hotkey to switch between two windows of the same program.

fantod 6y ago

The most shocking thing to me was that after weeks of struggling to get used to hjkl for navigating in vim, I realized that I had already been using jk for navigating up and down on numerous sites (reddit, gmail, twitter) for YEARS.

tasuki 6y ago

> " by the way why on earth does this monstrosity want me to use hjkl? That don't make any sense!!!!" Indeed, why? Using hjkl is about the worst way to move around in vim...

X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
/%<CR>qqnxq19@q is clearly the solution to the "navigate to % and delete it"
- biohax2015 6y ago
  lolwut
- drKarl 6y ago
  Or f%x
  - X6S1x6Okd1st 6y ago
    That doesn't finish the challenge
    - bdamm 6y ago
      It does, actually. But you have to precede the command with <num>G to go to the correct line.
- tasuki 6y ago
  The correct answer!
runeb 6y ago
When you consider the concept of home row keys and touch typing I find it very natural, actually. Its ergonomic and very fast if you get into the habit of resting your fingers on the home row. Though you may have been alluding to more powerful movements!

sodapopcan 6y ago

HJKL also allows you to keep your fingers on the homerow at all times which is really great. I had issues with RSI that when away when I started using Vim properly. Travelling to the arrow keys now feels like a painful task to me! Of course, as a sibling comment mentioned, hjkl is the worst way to move around--"power users" generally only use them to move a char/line or two.

pandemic_region 6y ago
Not when using Dvorak, here's how it maps from Qwerty: H->J J->C K->V L->P Still works pretty well, i've gotten used to it.
- mynameisash 6y ago
  Fortunately, j & k are next to each other, and I never noticed any disconnect in vim w/Dvorak. I never use h & l -- mostly space, w/W, or b/B. But I also learned Dvorak before vim, so I never got used to hjkl.
  - Jtsummers 6y ago
    I played a ton of Nethack in college and adopted Dvorak at the same time. hjkl work remarkably well with Dvorak, and I found it so much more natural than the same letters with Qwerty. j and k being next to each other makes their relative motion sensible still. And the new positions of h and l keep them in the correct relative position to indicate left and right, but easier to use. The right index finger is already on h and the pinky needs to move up one key for l. And up/down is now the left hand, with right/left being on the right hand. I've found emacs to be similarly more sensible and comfortable, using default key bindings, with Dvorak than Qwerty.
arendtio 6y ago
On the other side, it is probably the most unnecessary inflicted pain for beginners. Even after years of using vim on a daily basis, I can't get used to hjkl and still use the arrow keys. I tried a few times with different approaches, but it never lasted more than a few days. So pushing someone new to use hjkl for navigation is so unnecessary and just kills a lot of motivation for very little value. Starting with deleting, yanking and pasting would be a lot more fun. Even navigation with gg and G plus numbers would be a lot more useful too. Like when you get an error message that is caused by line 42, you know why you want to use vim next time.