Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim • Hacker News Board

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#11

Post by beaumartinez » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:08 PM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #9

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #2

Here are some more tips: - disable arrow keys - turn relative numbers on by default - force yourself to only move vertically using relative numbers - force yourself to only move horizontally using [fF,;]

Why would you want to disable arrow keys?

To to keep your fingers on the home row, in order to have better access to all the other keys in your keyboard.

Having your fingers on the arrow keys mean your hand has to travel that much further to type the other keys—making you slower.

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#12

Post by [deleted] » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:09 PM UTC

madeofpalk wrote: post #9

alfiedotwtf wrote: post #2

Here are some more tips: - disable arrow keys - turn relative numbers on by default - force yourself to only move vertically using relative numbers - force yourself to only move horizontally using [fF,;]

Why would you want to disable arrow keys?

[deleted]

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#13

Post by stemc43 » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:18 PM UTC

I'm only using Vim for server-side config editing.

And then a good full-fledged IDE for any large software development tasks.

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#14

Post by chestervonwinch » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:23 PM UTC

Perhaps this is stating the obvious, but for me, the biggest thing was to not allow myself to fall back on my normal editor. Otherwise, the path of least resistance is easiest to follow.

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#15

Post by mwfogleman » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:24 PM UTC

I found Anki / spaced repetition helpful when learning (still learning, always learning) Emacs. I make cloze deletion cards for the commands and their explanations.

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#16

Post by snarfy » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:24 PM UTC

Still relevant: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2911930

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#17

Post by muraiki » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:24 PM UTC

The biggest thing that helped me to learn to use vim fluently by building up muscle memory (and making commands automatic) was playing Vim Adventures, a browser based adventure game that gradually teaches you vim commands: http://vim-adventures.com/

I haven't tried the full (paid) version yet, but the demo was enough to get me moving around text quickly. Now I finally understand why people use this crazy thing. :)

Also, if you really want to fly through text, try out https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-easymotion

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#18

Post by cschmidt » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:42 PM UTC

There is finally a good 'first' book about learning Vim, that just came out this week: Pro Vim

www.amazon.com/Pro-Vim-Mark-McDonnell/dp/1484202511/

He sets you up with a reasonable .vimrc to start, which I think it key to get over the bad defaults. He starts at the beginning, and takes you well beyond what vimtutor covers.

I'm working my way through it now.

I'd also suggest vimcheatsheet.com, for something to hang on the wall. I just don't get the cheatsheets that have a keyboard, since I don't really think about the location of the keys I'm typing.

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#19

Post by icantthinkofone » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:42 PM UTC

Step one should be to get it out of your head that vim is hard or hard to learn. Sitting with my son, years ago, I got him doing simple editing of files for me proficiently in less than five minutes. Deleting words and lines and selecting whole paragraphs and sections. Copying and pasting.

He was 15. vim is easy.

Re: Two Simple Steps Helped Me Learn Vim

#20

Post by desdiv » Wed, Dec 10, 2014, 1:46 PM UTC

stemc43 wrote: post #13

I'm only using Vim for server-side config editing. And then a good full-fledged IDE for any large software development tasks.

The two aren't completely mutually exclusive. There are Vim emulators for pretty much every popular IDE out there.