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Vim ported to iOS

applidium.com

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Re: Vim ported to iOS

#61

Post by sliverstorm »

super_mario wrote: post #35
kylebrown wrote: post #31

Yet another emacs/vim article, and I always look for an excuse to get excited but never can. It seems that the speed at which I think/code is much slower than the speed at which I type. So I can't imagine that I would benefit from skills in emacs/vim-fu. Is this preconception valid, or can anyone debunk?

VIM is not only about typing. It's about editing, which involves making a small change in one place, then navigating somewhere else, and making another different small change etc. This is where VIM is unbeatable, because of ridiculously many fast ways to navigate and edit intelligently (in a very small amount of keystrokes). You don't have to type 120 WPM do be faster in VIM, but if you are a fast touch typist, you c…

Agreed. Navigation through a file without using the mouse or arrow keys greatly speeds up misc. edits in a large tree of files.

Other upsides are the ability to delete text without the backspace or delete key, and to perform more complicated operations on a file, such as full regex search-and-replace, macros, and so on.

Really what it boils down to is a powerful text editor that lets you keep your hands on the keyboard at all times- which of course is not appropriate for all tasks, but very useful for many.

Re: Vim ported to iOS

#62

Post by gcv »

apaprocki wrote: post #6

... and the one feature they don't list: iCloud .vimrc sync!

If it can sync .vimrc, could it also sync a directory over iCloud? That would be amazing. I'm a die-hard Emacs user, but this would be enough for me to use Vim for at least some work.

Re: Vim ported to iOS

#63

Post by daxelrod »

neckbeard wrote: post #11
cleverjake wrote: post #8

I'm confused, how does one use the esc key without a keyboard?

As explained on the splashscreen, they've remapped that to backslash. I suspect it'd be much more useful with a BT keyboard - lack of ctrl and tab for a start. The font is pretty ugly too - I can't easily tell the difference between q and g. However, it is a neat hack, if not very usable.

This commit [1] seems to indicate that it's possible to change the font.

However, I can't actually figure out a way to do so; ":set guifont" doesn't appear to work.

[1]: https://github.com/applidium/Vim/commit/be572d759e857de58453...

Re: Vim ported to iOS

#65

Post by astr »

martinemde wrote: post #46
tambourine_man wrote: post #20

What's the biggest advantage over SSHing to your server? Is the interface optimized? I mean, you're almost never offline these days, so local storage can't be it, right? I suggest mapping 'jj' to ESC rather than '\'

Unfortunately, imap jj in the .vimrc doesn't seem to work. :(

I did `:imap al `. So then you can simultaneously press A and L to leave insert mode. Very easy on the iPad.

Re: Vim ported to iOS

#66

Post by riobard »

6ren wrote: post #59

Vim is for coding. How does this work out on the iPad? Does one edit remote files locally, and compile/run remotely? (the benefit is the editing feels instant - no keystroke latency.) Or has Apple let up on the "no coding for you!" iPad/iPhone terms? (I thought they would eventually, once their dev environment is firmly established - and they'll have to, if/when they adopt iOS on their {lap,/desk}tops - but maybe tod…

Vim is for coding. How does this work out on the iPad?

With a bluetooth keyboard and a charging dock or a stand, iPad is a great platform for Vim coding.

Does one edit remote files locally, and compile/run remotely? (the benefit is the editing feels instant - no keystroke latency.)

With Dropbox support this would be possible.

Or has Apple let up on the "no coding for you!" iPad/iPhone terms?

There is no such term. The term used to be that you cannot bundle a compiler with your app, but even that has been lifted recently with Lua interpreter embedded in many games.

Re: Vim ported to iOS

#67

Post by knewter »

super_mario wrote: post #35
kylebrown wrote: post #31

Yet another emacs/vim article, and I always look for an excuse to get excited but never can. It seems that the speed at which I think/code is much slower than the speed at which I type. So I can't imagine that I would benefit from skills in emacs/vim-fu. Is this preconception valid, or can anyone debunk?

VIM is not only about typing. It's about editing, which involves making a small change in one place, then navigating somewhere else, and making another different small change etc. This is where VIM is unbeatable, because of ridiculously many fast ways to navigate and edit intelligently (in a very small amount of keystrokes). You don't have to type 120 WPM do be faster in VIM, but if you are a fast touch typist, you c…

This is a huge deal, and you've done a great job expressing it. I definitely find that I think faster as a result of being a vim user / being in vim. Since most of the actual editing gets thrown to muscle memory, all I have to do is think 'gosh it'd be nice if that refactoring happened' and it does, while I'm on to thinking through the next step.

I'm constantly mortified at how rarely my co-workers/employees use vim macros. I make vim do the hard parts for me.

Re: Vim ported to iOS

#68

Post by kisom »

g3orge wrote: post #13

I was always using "Prompt" to connect to an ssh server and then use vim there with an external keyboard. But that's a nice touch.

I've only got a WiFi iPad and I'm offline quite a bit, so this is cool.

Re: Vim ported to iOS

#70

Post by halostatue »

cgag wrote: post #30
stevelosh wrote: post #19

Earlier quoted context omitted.

nnoremap jk

It's hard to believe there are people who regularly use vim and still use escape.

Why? It's quite convenient for my left-hand pinky on nearly every keyboard that I use, and I've picked up the habit of doing periodic `jk` movements as I'm examining some code. I tried the `jk` combination that some people recommend, but it doesn't work for me.
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