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How Did Vim Become So Popular?

pragmaticpineapple.com

121–130 of 507 posts

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What a great test, and it makes sense - a craftsman cares very much about their tools, an average tech will use the first thing that they're taught.

It's also what's so hard about hiring junior candidates and why so many companies shy away from it. Truly junior hires don't really know the tools yet. You can't really afford to wait for the rare junior who does, so unfortunately it's not as useful a test in that situation. That's why I think OP's "seasoned sysadmin" line is perfectly valid. The junior that knows their tools has already cleared the hardest hurdle fo…

Indeed, I always advise people who want to be developers to build some stuff to show, to separate yourself from everyone else, and make it easier for the hirer. That is another reason to do it, an IT degree doesn't mean you can write code, as you say the rest can be learnt.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#122
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused by your workflow. Why are you opening a second Emacs instance? In Emacs you just C-x C-f /path/to/config, for sudo C-x C-f /sudo::/path/to/config. Starting location will be home, or the parent of the active file (if the active buffer is an editor).

tl;dr: terminal -> vim == less context switching Even though I live in Emacs, I frequently use GP's workflow as well. For me, it's often the fact that I am already working in the terminal when I need to edit the config, so going to Emacs is a context switch. Moreover, I often fist do a cd /path/to/config; once there it's trivial to do vim foo or sudo vim foo. I have an alias that can send that file to emacsclient --…

That makes sense, if I'm in a terminal I'll just use vim, although I do get a lot of use out of eshell.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#123
post #53
post #23

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Long time vim lover here as well, but I guess I hear often that for a lot of folks, input isn't the bottleneck.

I've been using vim for about 7 years and for me it's not so much about the efficiency as it is the pleasure of commanding (programming!) a powerful, wellmade tool.

And once the commands become second nature, you almost feel “at one” with the file you’re editing. I feel the fluidity that vim offers me lets me dedicate more cycles to the problem at hand.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#125
post #93

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I'm confused by your workflow. Why are you opening a second Emacs instance? In Emacs you just C-x C-f /path/to/config, for sudo C-x C-f /sudo::/path/to/config. Starting location will be home, or the parent of the active file (if the active buffer is an editor).

tl;dr: terminal -> vim == less context switching Even though I live in Emacs, I frequently use GP's workflow as well. For me, it's often the fact that I am already working in the terminal when I need to edit the config, so going to Emacs is a context switch. Moreover, I often fist do a cd /path/to/config; once there it's trivial to do vim foo or sudo vim foo. I have an alias that can send that file to emacsclient --…

Run emacs in the terminal too? I use it inside tmux exclusively.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#127

Does anyone have a good video comparing vim speed coding vs vscode using built in editor features? I’ve been using vscode for years and the YouTube videos that demo vim features are shallow (like how to enter a blank line - really?). I can do the same thing I have seen in vim videos without memorizing a bunch of strange key bindings all while being able to edit code instantly without changing modes. I would love to s…

Jump to definition and rename every usage are really handled by the language server. Vim supports language servers quite well. I do both those commands in vim all the time. And vim complements them with (book)marks, return to last edit, etc.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#129

Input is not the bottleneck. I don't have a good reason why, but I love editing text with Vim. I enjoy learning complex tools. Maybe that's why. I am also a JS developer, I guess it all makes sense now.

Vim isn’t just about optimizing input. I would say it’s for optimizing navigation and editing patterns.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#130

Speaking personally, I've been a professional developer for almost decade and even in my relatively short career I've seen a lot of technologies come and go. I was reluctantly roped into it by my first boss, an enthusiastic Vim advocate. And since, almost nothing else (save for maybe git) beat learning vim from a return on investment perspective. From the default mac OS installation to some old Fedora box that has no…

If you like vimium, you may also like qutebrowser. It's built with keyboard bindings from the ground up, and is keyboard-first. I can browse most sites without taking my hands off the home row.
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