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I think that it is necessary to learn Vim not because it is the best text editor (it's not!), but because it is one of the best ways to edit texts. It was hard

by kovrik 12y ago

I think that it is necessary to learn Vim not because it is the best text editor (it's not!), but because it is one of the best ways to edit texts. It was hard for me to get used to it (I forced myself to write all scripts - Perl, Bash etc. - in Vim). But it was absolutely worth it. Now I use vim mode in browser, in huge Java IDE (Idea), in file manager etc. Vim (as an editor) has many disadvantages (Google it). But it is a superior way to edit texts. I switched to Emacs recently (for LISP-coding), but immediately downloaded Evil package. Now I have best from both worlds :) Yes, I use Emacs, but my love is Vim. My point is: all text editors are just tools. But try to learn Vim way to edit texts.

MrBuddyCasino 12y ago
Interesting - so IDE + Vim mode would be the best of both worlds. Do you find there is a lot lost in translation, or does that feeling carry over well? I'd be especially interested in Emacs and IDEA.
- dllthomas 12y ago
  I've typically found that vim impersonations miss at least a couple features that I use regularly. I've heard that Evil, in particular, is pretty complete though.
  - sea6ear 12y ago
    Evil is the first Vi/Vim emulation package that didn't frustrate me pretty intensely with things that didn't quite work as expected coming from Vim. However, it doesn't attempt to turn Emacs into Vim, it's more like it gives Emacs an acceptable Vi interface for the places where that matters. As a result, if you are using both Vim and Emacs contemporaneously, it's still easy to develop habits in one, that will cause you pain in the other. For example, because Evil still allows you to do a lot of Emacs shortcuts, and because :q kills Emacs if there's only one window open, I find myself doing C-x k a lot to git rid of buffers. However, that causes huge pain when I accidentally do that when I'm back in Vim. Instead I should really get in the habit of using :bd to get rid of buffers, but that's one aspect of Vim that I've never fully moved to from using naive vi style :q.

by kovrik 12y ago

MrBuddyCasino 12y ago

Interesting - so IDE + Vim mode would be the best of both worlds. Do you find there is a lot lost in translation, or does that feeling carry over well? I'd be especially interested in Emacs and IDEA.

dllthomas 12y ago
I've typically found that vim impersonations miss at least a couple features that I use regularly. I've heard that Evil, in particular, is pretty complete though.
- sea6ear 12y ago
  Evil is the first Vi/Vim emulation package that didn't frustrate me pretty intensely with things that didn't quite work as expected coming from Vim. However, it doesn't attempt to turn Emacs into Vim, it's more like it gives Emacs an acceptable Vi interface for the places where that matters. As a result, if you are using both Vim and Emacs contemporaneously, it's still easy to develop habits in one, that will cause you pain in the other. For example, because Evil still allows you to do a lot of Emacs shortcuts, and because :q kills Emacs if there's only one window open, I find myself doing C-x k a lot to git rid of buffers. However, that causes huge pain when I accidentally do that when I'm back in Vim. Instead I should really get in the habit of using :bd to get rid of buffers, but that's one aspect of Vim that I've never fully moved to from using naive vi style :q.