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This is excellent... for Vim users. A lot of developers either are not willing or haven't gotten around to learning the complexities of Vim, and use other IDEs

This is excellent... for Vim users. A lot of developers either are not willing or haven't gotten around to learning the complexities of Vim, and use other IDEs like JetBrains or Eclipse. This workflow won't work for them.

enobrev 6y ago
JetBrains' various apps can do this as well with a feature called "Show Local History". I'm not sure where it is in the menus but you can hit shift twice and type it in. It automatically commits after every change since the IDE was opened, and can easily be diffed and reverted as needed. Reverting saves another entry, so you can revert back to the future as well.
- Quekid5 6y ago
  It's in the context menu for files/classes at least.
- voodootrucker 6y ago
  This. I've seen developers _think_ they lost code in Android Studio and spend hours trying to recreate it when it was in local history all along...
- cmehdy 6y ago
  IIRC you can right-click on the column with line numbers to the left of the main editor and you'll have that option too
- watwut 6y ago
  Eclipse has the same thing.
ramraj07 6y ago
I am one of those "not willing" people. I encounter the same issue discussed here without even thinking about it, and solve it as such: 1. Realize I need to check how my new code looked like 5 min back. 2. Copy full file into clipboard, undo by a few steps 3. Do a temp commit on GitHub desktop 4. Paste the new code back and look at the diff on GitHub desktop, and if needed undo the temp commit from above. Is this more clicks than the vin shortcut? Sure. But I don't have to go learn the internal tree structure representation of my text editor and spend my time in that universe. I have found a way to do what I need to with the tools I have in hand. This is the same way how the majority of finance runs on excel when they could do better with better programing. In the end whether you get the job done in fields where you're not billed by the second is not dependent on how well you use your tools necessarily. The other analogy is cars - for most people it's something that gets them places, for others it's a way of life if not at least a more involved proposition.
- buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
  > The other analogy is cars - for most people it's something that gets them places, for others it's a way of life if not at least a more involved proposition. But if code is your way of life, which it is for many people here, it is beneficial to learn the tools that allow you to do it easier. If someone can see how their code was 5 minutes ago in a few keystrokes, they’re going to take advantage of that significantly more frequently than someone using your cumbersome method.
- flipcoder 6y ago
  It's not as hard to learn as people say it is. It's just weird at first because it's modal and different than what they're used to. You can get away with using it pretty naively and still get a productivity gain.
- xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
  As some other comments suggest, vim is the gift that keeps on giving. I'm not going to try and convince you to use it -- do whatever you want. But for me, every little thing I learn in vim pays off... a thousand times? Macros alone have probably saved me a cumulative few hundred hours. And with every other little thing I learn, compounds with this effect. I write macros much better than I did five years ago, but I still surely have tons of stuff to learn. No IDE will ever compete because vim is just four keystrokes away at any time, no matter where my terminal is.
- pharke 6y ago
  Not so sure about this, I think it depends on how frequently you have to do that task. If you're doing it every day or even every week you could potentially be saving a huge amount of time and effort by using a tool that does the job well. It's sort of like using a random heavy object as a hammer, sure it's fine in a pinch if you need to occasionally hang a picture but if you're working as a carpenter it's counter productive. Comparing it to the notorious abuse of excel spreadsheets in finance is not doing the argument any favours.
alpaca128 6y ago
If you learn Vim like anything else - slowly and starting with the basics - it's not more complicated than figuring out any IDE. And once you know the basics you are fully in control how deep you want to go. Personally I have found Vim more approachable than IDEs actually. It doesn't throw all those overloaded toolbars at you according to some one-size-fits-all principle. For me it went so far that last year I actually did a Java project in Vim instead of an IDE for the first time, because the latter had grown to be so frustrating to use.
112 6y ago
If writing text more than 4 hours / day is what you do for a living, and you have at least 10 more years left of doing that, not learning Vim is just lazy. Vim gives you back enough time to think about what you're writing. Also, if you go cold turkey, you'll be productive in less than a month, and arrive at a good workflow that fits you in less than six months, flow that you will improve over the years in amazing ways.
hnlmorg 6y ago
And there are a lot of people, like myself, who do use vim regularly and somehow completely missed this feature. For those people the OPs post is excellent. Likewise, if you have any recommendations for your preferred workflow I'm sure some will find it useful. Hopefully those who don't use your preferred $EDITOR don't then rush to complain that not everyone uses $EDITOR. ;)

enobrev 6y ago

JetBrains' various apps can do this as well with a feature called "Show Local History". I'm not sure where it is in the menus but you can hit shift twice and type it in. It automatically commits after every change since the IDE was opened, and can easily be diffed and reverted as needed. Reverting saves another entry, so you can revert back to the future as well.

Quekid5 6y ago
It's in the context menu for files/classes at least.
voodootrucker 6y ago
This. I've seen developers _think_ they lost code in Android Studio and spend hours trying to recreate it when it was in local history all along...
cmehdy 6y ago
IIRC you can right-click on the column with line numbers to the left of the main editor and you'll have that option too
watwut 6y ago
Eclipse has the same thing.

ramraj07 6y ago

I am one of those "not willing" people. I encounter the same issue discussed here without even thinking about it, and solve it as such: 1. Realize I need to check how my new code looked like 5 min back. 2. Copy full file into clipboard, undo by a few steps 3. Do a temp commit on GitHub desktop 4. Paste the new code back and look at the diff on GitHub desktop, and if needed undo the temp commit from above. Is this more clicks than the vin shortcut? Sure. But I don't have to go learn the internal tree structure representation of my text editor and spend my time in that universe. I have found a way to do what I need to with the tools I have in hand. This is the same way how the majority of finance runs on excel when they could do better with better programing. In the end whether you get the job done in fields where you're not billed by the second is not dependent on how well you use your tools necessarily. The other analogy is cars - for most people it's something that gets them places, for others it's a way of life if not at least a more involved proposition.

buzzerbetrayed 6y ago
> The other analogy is cars - for most people it's something that gets them places, for others it's a way of life if not at least a more involved proposition. But if code is your way of life, which it is for many people here, it is beneficial to learn the tools that allow you to do it easier. If someone can see how their code was 5 minutes ago in a few keystrokes, they’re going to take advantage of that significantly more frequently than someone using your cumbersome method.
flipcoder 6y ago
It's not as hard to learn as people say it is. It's just weird at first because it's modal and different than what they're used to. You can get away with using it pretty naively and still get a productivity gain.
xyzzy_plugh 6y ago
As some other comments suggest, vim is the gift that keeps on giving. I'm not going to try and convince you to use it -- do whatever you want. But for me, every little thing I learn in vim pays off... a thousand times? Macros alone have probably saved me a cumulative few hundred hours. And with every other little thing I learn, compounds with this effect. I write macros much better than I did five years ago, but I still surely have tons of stuff to learn. No IDE will ever compete because vim is just four keystrokes away at any time, no matter where my terminal is.
pharke 6y ago
Not so sure about this, I think it depends on how frequently you have to do that task. If you're doing it every day or even every week you could potentially be saving a huge amount of time and effort by using a tool that does the job well. It's sort of like using a random heavy object as a hammer, sure it's fine in a pinch if you need to occasionally hang a picture but if you're working as a carpenter it's counter productive. Comparing it to the notorious abuse of excel spreadsheets in finance is not doing the argument any favours.

alpaca128 6y ago

If you learn Vim like anything else - slowly and starting with the basics - it's not more complicated than figuring out any IDE. And once you know the basics you are fully in control how deep you want to go. Personally I have found Vim more approachable than IDEs actually. It doesn't throw all those overloaded toolbars at you according to some one-size-fits-all principle. For me it went so far that last year I actually did a Java project in Vim instead of an IDE for the first time, because the latter had grown to be so frustrating to use.

112 6y ago

If writing text more than 4 hours / day is what you do for a living, and you have at least 10 more years left of doing that, not learning Vim is just lazy. Vim gives you back enough time to think about what you're writing. Also, if you go cold turkey, you'll be productive in less than a month, and arrive at a good workflow that fits you in less than six months, flow that you will improve over the years in amazing ways.

hnlmorg 6y ago

And there are a lot of people, like myself, who do use vim regularly and somehow completely missed this feature. For those people the OPs post is excellent. Likewise, if you have any recommendations for your preferred workflow I'm sure some will find it useful. Hopefully those who don't use your preferred $EDITOR don't then rush to complain that not everyone uses $EDITOR. ;)