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Learning VIM while playing a game

vim-adventures.com

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Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#61

Post by agscala »

tibbon wrote: post #52
steve8918 wrote: post #39

I learned how to use the controls of VI decades before I actually learned that VIM existed, through Hack/Nethack. I thought the controls were ridiculous, but I was a kid, so I just accepted it and learned them, little did I know how useful they would become later on in life.

How close are the controls? I never noticed they were similar... maybe I should try to ascend again, as I'm terrible in VI

Movement in a lot of roguelikes is HJKL. Also it's very common for YUBN to make your character move diagonally.

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#63

Post by toomanysecrets »

darklajid wrote: post #57
toomanysecrets wrote: post #53

I don't use hjkl to move around in vim. At this point it's counter intuitive. Lame

The last word of your comment made me respond.. That'd be considered 'wrong' or missing out. Which the game tries to correct. Supposedly later levels will teach you about vim 'words' and you'll combine hjkl with lots of other commands. You cannot do that the way you use the software. How's that 'lame'? And what kind of an attitude is this if you click on a game that is supposed to teach you about vim and complain tha…

"Cursor keys are not the way to move around in VIM"

That's why it's lame. You most certainly CAN. I don't care that other functions combine with hjkl in vim. They're useful but using hjkl for left/right/up/down is annoying and the restriction in this "tutorial" makes it that much worse.

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#64

Post by brown9-2 »

Very interesting idea, but something seems to be off with the email signup - it reports "Error: SMTP Error: Data not accepted. Mail could not be sent." for two addresses I tried, one of them @gmail.com.

However when I try to sign up a second time a minute later with the same address, it reports "Email address is already on the list".

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#66

Post by graywh »

drostie wrote: post #38
lwm wrote: post #20

Fantastic! This game had me laughing instantly...gaining a proficiency in 'hjkl' via a crazy web browser game is a great idea!

On a side note, several times when playing through the game I noticed that my motions weren't working, and traced it back to this: that for me, the home row is jkl; and not hjkl. I don't know very much about vim -- is there a reason that you have to put your hand in the "wrong place" on the keyboard?

Keep your hands on JKL;

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#68

Post by drostie »

graywh wrote: post #66
drostie wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a side note, several times when playing through the game I noticed that my motions weren't working, and traced it back to this: that for me, the home row is jkl; and not hjkl. I don't know very much about vim -- is there a reason that you have to put your hand in the "wrong place" on the keyboard?

Keep your hands on JKL;

This is also an important point because it strikes me that as I play this game I am learning that as an antipattern. Perhaps I should just stick with not-vim.

Re: Learning VIM while playing a game

#69

Post by drostie »

tverlinden wrote: post #46
drostie wrote: post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

On a side note, several times when playing through the game I noticed that my motions weren't working, and traced it back to this: that for me, the home row is jkl; and not hjkl. I don't know very much about vim -- is there a reason that you have to put your hand in the "wrong place" on the keyboard?

vi, which vim is based on, was programmed on the ADM-3A terminal, where the arrow keys are on the H, J, K, and L keys. http://www.catonmat.net/images/why-vim-uses-hjkl/lsi-adm-3a.... http://www.catonmat.net/images/why-vim-uses-hjkl/adm-3a-hjkl...

Ah. So it's a sort of Big Software Syndrome type thing -- "we could do it in a more intuitive way for new people, but it would break all of these existing programmers who learned it the less intuitive way, so let's leave it the original way" -- or am I missing something?
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