Do you use vim as your default text editor? If you do not, have you ever been in a situation you could do nothing but use vim?
For quick edits in the terminal? Sure.
As my main IDE? No way. I’m too used to GUI IDEs like VSCodium and PyCharm.
I just find it easier to navigate with a mouse. With just keyboard, I find I overshoot the block of code I’m looking for, whereas scroll wheel gives me more control.
I’ve been in a situation where I could do nothing but use vi until I installed vim. Then could only use vim or vi. I’ve also had to use GVimPortable on Windows because of shitty corporate computers don’t have bash or vim (or didn’t back in the day.)
It’s not hard. Just grab a cheat sheet. There is an Android app cheat sheet for Linux commands with Vim. You’ll be fine.
Yes. But mostly IdeaVim in JetBrains IDEs though.
For those that haven’t yet learned vim: the real power is that the commands can be combined to form a mini-language. Commands can also be recorded in macros and replayed. This is what makes it so awesome. But to really make use of this you have to properly learn it, only knowing i and x isn’t enough.
Also note that modal editing isn’t for everyone. I’m happy to learn hotkeys, I even got far enough to build musclememory for vim’s normal mode. What never went away though was my confusion about what mode the editor is in. I would constantly input text in normal mode and input commands in insert mode, leading to costly mistakes that tore down any speed advantage vim would have given me. I really tried, but never built muscle memory for this kind of context switching[1], maybe it’s an ADHD thing.
These days I’m on Emacs with an always improving custom command scheme of non-modal but context sensitive commands that do similar things in all major and minor modes.
Same situation with tmux which is almost a requirement for the typical vim workflow, and adds another layer of mode switching on top. On Emacs window management is included and so are remote shells/editing, so no need for the tmux<->editor context switch. ↩︎
Yes, won’t quit, can’t quit, seriously, help.
Nah, I’m another nano guy. You can set up syntax highlighting for it you know?
It’s not that any one is better than the other, it’s up to your use cases. I’ve learned vim a few times in my life already (and mostly just know the hjkl bindings from playing tons of terminal roguelikes) but it always decays because I don’t put the knowledge to use. Because it just doesn’t fit my use case.
I write small scripts, some Python and stuff and I’ll usually use PyCharm to debug that these days. So nano is relegated to the small tasks like config editing or quick, in place fixes to scripts.
It’s not that any one is better than the other, it’s up to your use cases.
This is correct. For example, if the use case is editing a text file, then vim is better.
Vim is slop-coded now, unfortunately. I use evil Emacs.
I guess I should take another look at evil-mode.
I’m a freelance linux it nerd. I figured I better get used to vim/nvim because every company I visited had different tooling available but their servers ALWAYS had vim.
Now I have a nice .vim setup I can easily copy/paste and work easily and fast. I’ve become quite adept in the years following that decision.
Plus, as a freelance dude using vim quickly and flying through code bases makes it really seem like I know what I’m doing / hacker type … I don’t. And I’m no hacker… But the customer is happy soooo :-)
P.s. I’m currently trying out the Zed editor with vim bindings. They are emaculate!
I started using emacs a while back. Before that i was using helix. If i need to make a quick edit in the tty i still find myself going back to nano. I’ve never been in a situation where i could only use vim. If i ever am though, i would know my way around.
Emacs is a pretty nice OS - all it’s lacking is a good text editor.
Emacs is ok, provided it’s in evil mode
I started out with evil mode, but got kinda frustrated with it at times because i was coming from helix, which does some things differently from vim. There is a helix-mode package but it’s pretty new and could use some polish. So now i’m actually using the native emacs binds. It’s not so bad when you use the inside of your pinky knuckle to press control, that way your fingers don’t leave the home row.
Yes I do and to my delight I’ ve yet to encounter a situation where I can’t use the editor I prefer anyway. Joy.
Do you use vim as your default text editor?
Not just text editor, but also IDE via rocks.nvim.
Ever since I wanted to edit some file that had like 2000 lines and I just wanted to quickly go to line 1164.
Nano wasn’t cut out for that and I hadn’t heard of emacs.
But I use a Typematrix dvorak keyboard, so I had to rearrange all the command.
Now I’m stuck with it.If you do not, have you ever been in a situation you could do nothing but use vim?
Yeah, whenever I type
git commit -m "message goes here"
Also, I wanted to program on a server, so I ssh’d into it and decided that vim was the way to go as an IDE.git config --global core.editor "ed"if you don’t like using vim.
edis the standard Unix text editor!
No, I use Neovim. But this I use 100% of the time.
I have never been on a machine where I can’t install and use nano. I can use vi / vim / nvim, but I don’t have muscle memory. I have tried to convert away from nano, but it’s just too easy and what I have been used to over nearly 2 decades on Linux. I have nvim installed with a few plugins and a bit of a custom config, but anytime I need to do something important or complex I jump into nano. If I remember and am not in a rush I’ll jump into nvim to try and practice.
No
I use to use vim but I discovered org mode so I use emacs.
Recently I been doing programming on plan 9 so I been using acme.
Once your org mode you a in’t go anywhere anymore
I’ve had to use vim once or twice. It’s… fine. Not really my thing. I’m a nano guy (or, ideally, VS Code).
