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I never managed to move away from arrow keys. Anyway, start early/stay consistent. This stuff seems overwhelming until you surprise yourself with muscle memory

I never managed to move away from arrow keys. Anyway, start early/stay consistent. This stuff seems overwhelming until you surprise yourself with muscle memory Can't speak for others, but I don't think about spelling/make-up of words while typing. They flow. This is the ideal state with vim; muscle memory for documents. In the end it can reduce effort/improve speed

jononomo 3y ago
using Vim without using h, k, j, and l for navigation is incomprehensible for me. 20% of the keystrokes that I perform in command mode must belong to that group of four keyboard navigation moves. In fact, I have Vim mode turned on in all contexts where it is possible -- in my terminal, in any editor I use, etc. It is difficult for me to properly edit text without Vim mode, honestly. But not using h, k, j, and l would cripple my productivity in command mode. It allows me to zip down 6-8 lines just by holding the j key down for an extra split second, or 6-8 lines up with k key -- and I can control exactly which line to stop on by lifting my finger. It pains me to think of not having this at my fingertips.
bravetraveler 3y ago
Too late now... but I'd like to edit :) :%s/vim/any editor/ A similar idea applies to skateboarding, basketball, whatever. Sure - it's physically exhausting to get there, but the motions become routine
danielvaughn 3y ago
I'm slowly getting into it, though I definitely didn't start early (been coding since 2009). Although funnily enough, I do remember using Vim a couple of times back when I was 10 years old, on my 95 Packard Bell. For me, hjkl for directional keys is extremely difficult to remember. I think because in the spoken word we say "up and down", not "down and up", so my brain wants j to be up and k to be down. My muscle memory really fights me on that.
- serial_dev 3y ago
  Remapping them is always an option (though it obviously has its disadvantages).
- spiderice 3y ago
  It surprises me how few people are aware of https://vim-adventures.com https://vim-adventures.com Beat that game and hjkl will feel just as natural as arrow keys, and so will a ton of vim commands. I think the creator does himself a disservice by selling 6 month licenses rather than lifetime. But 6 months is more than enough to play through it. I think it only took me a couple days.
  - bravetraveler 3y ago
    Agree on the disservice; I'm aware of this and many other gamified ways to learn 'vim'. I'd be more likely to buy/support lifetime over six months, or really, any interval. This is a largely-unchanging editor. Why drag out this relationship? Once I learn the things, it's on me to put them to practice/make it real. Six months is lifetime, if you haven't mastered it by then I'm not sure you will. I can't say whether or not this would be more effective than others, I haven't played it. The proposition of buying a license at all is a bit of a hard sell. Again, there are a lot of free things to give me the info and gamified experience. Perhaps not as nice, but this needs to do a bit more to sell me than look pretty. The hard part is aided by several other freely available games, yet experience of all kinds still teaches. I have a feeling it's more motivation or personal choice, than game(s), when it comes to why my arrow-key usage persists. Then again, I also don't use services for languages. I'd rather read. A lot.
    - bravetraveler 3y ago
      To be clear, I'm not intending six months to be some sort of limit. I know it seems elitist but my intent is the exact opposite. Someone willing to be so dedicated that they'll invest both money and time, while not falling back to old habits, will most likely succeed without the 'payment' part. Anyone should be able to sit down and dedicate themselves to self-improvement or entertainment for free. It's all very arbitrary. Not all six months are equal. Not all editing is equal. I edit more than any healthy person should, is it good or bad? Who knows.
soperj 3y ago
I use j & k, never really have used h & l, even then I don't use j & k much since there's better ways to get around. / - search & n/N for next backwards and forwards. w - one word forward b - one word backwards
- edward28 3y ago
  w one word forward and land at the beginning, while e is one word forward but land at the end.

jononomo 3y ago

using Vim without using h, k, j, and l for navigation is incomprehensible for me. 20% of the keystrokes that I perform in command mode must belong to that group of four keyboard navigation moves. In fact, I have Vim mode turned on in all contexts where it is possible -- in my terminal, in any editor I use, etc. It is difficult for me to properly edit text without Vim mode, honestly. But not using h, k, j, and l would cripple my productivity in command mode. It allows me to zip down 6-8 lines just by holding the j key down for an extra split second, or 6-8 lines up with k key -- and I can control exactly which line to stop on by lifting my finger. It pains me to think of not having this at my fingertips.

bravetraveler 3y ago

Too late now... but I'd like to edit :) :%s/vim/any editor/ A similar idea applies to skateboarding, basketball, whatever. Sure - it's physically exhausting to get there, but the motions become routine

danielvaughn 3y ago

I'm slowly getting into it, though I definitely didn't start early (been coding since 2009). Although funnily enough, I do remember using Vim a couple of times back when I was 10 years old, on my 95 Packard Bell. For me, hjkl for directional keys is extremely difficult to remember. I think because in the spoken word we say "up and down", not "down and up", so my brain wants j to be up and k to be down. My muscle memory really fights me on that.

serial_dev 3y ago
Remapping them is always an option (though it obviously has its disadvantages).
spiderice 3y ago
It surprises me how few people are aware of https://vim-adventures.com https://vim-adventures.com Beat that game and hjkl will feel just as natural as arrow keys, and so will a ton of vim commands. I think the creator does himself a disservice by selling 6 month licenses rather than lifetime. But 6 months is more than enough to play through it. I think it only took me a couple days.
- bravetraveler 3y ago
  Agree on the disservice; I'm aware of this and many other gamified ways to learn 'vim'. I'd be more likely to buy/support lifetime over six months, or really, any interval. This is a largely-unchanging editor. Why drag out this relationship? Once I learn the things, it's on me to put them to practice/make it real. Six months is lifetime, if you haven't mastered it by then I'm not sure you will. I can't say whether or not this would be more effective than others, I haven't played it. The proposition of buying a license at all is a bit of a hard sell. Again, there are a lot of free things to give me the info and gamified experience. Perhaps not as nice, but this needs to do a bit more to sell me than look pretty. The hard part is aided by several other freely available games, yet experience of all kinds still teaches. I have a feeling it's more motivation or personal choice, than game(s), when it comes to why my arrow-key usage persists. Then again, I also don't use services for languages. I'd rather read. A lot.
  - bravetraveler 3y ago
    To be clear, I'm not intending six months to be some sort of limit. I know it seems elitist but my intent is the exact opposite. Someone willing to be so dedicated that they'll invest both money and time, while not falling back to old habits, will most likely succeed without the 'payment' part. Anyone should be able to sit down and dedicate themselves to self-improvement or entertainment for free. It's all very arbitrary. Not all six months are equal. Not all editing is equal. I edit more than any healthy person should, is it good or bad? Who knows.

soperj 3y ago

I use j & k, never really have used h & l, even then I don't use j & k much since there's better ways to get around. / - search & n/N for next backwards and forwards. w - one word forward b - one word backwards

edward28 3y ago
w one word forward and land at the beginning, while e is one word forward but land at the end.