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How Did Vim Become So Popular?

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Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#291

Post by tennineeight »

jcfields wrote: post #44
kevarh wrote: post #31

Vi (and ed) are the only text editors required to be included in the POSIX spec. A base Unix (and most Linux) installs will have some version of vi or vim installed by default. If I'm working on someone else's box this pretty much guarantees I can edit files with my basic vi knowledge without having to install a different editor.

That's why I learned vi initially years ago, because I was told it was the only editor that would always be available anywhere you went. I only ever use it in ssh sessions these days, but I still feel like learning how to use it has paid off many times. I was playing with Haiku recently and was surprised that vi or vim wasn't included in its base install. Granted, Haiku (like BeOS before it) doesn't ever claim to be…

That also happened with NixOS. But then again, not really surprising for something that breaks FHS.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#292

Post by IshKebab »

pengaru wrote: post #179
ricksharp wrote: post #92

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…

There's too many little things to mention, they do all add up to be quite significant in the course of programming. Here's a tiny sample of some stuff I use constantly: Move cursor forward word at a time: w ignoring punctuation: W reverse: b B Move cursor to next occurrence of character Z: fZ reverse: FZ Delete forward to next occurrence of character Z: dfZ reverse: dFZ Change forward to next occurrence of character…

> Delete forward to next occurrence of character Z

How often do you really do things like this though? It seems like, sure you can do weird obscure things quicker in Vim, but only if you happen to remember how do to the weird obscure things, and it's only useful in weird obscure situations.

For 99% of tasks the built-in VSCode stuff does the job for me. Ctrl-D especially.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#293

Post by alwillis »

williamdclt wrote: post #264
dastx wrote: post #253

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is really interesting. I'm quite the opposite. I keep trying to make vim my main devtool but I just can't stay away from a fully fledged ide. At the same time, having heard from literally everyone that once you do get used to it, vim is way faster to do everything in. What advice do you have for someone like me to proper get used it once and for all? Are there any good resources you used to learn all the vim sho…

Same as you. I've ended up accepting that whatever the features or the plugins, the UX constraints in terminal editors (1-character unit of space, colors, graphical plugins...) will always be a huge limitation. That's reason enough to convince me to use VSCode or Webstorm with a vim plugin

MacVim uses the Mac’s graphical goodness to make a pretty slick interface for Vim.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#294

Post by RMPR »

hannofcart wrote: post #186
jjice wrote: post #176

I've been using Vim more and more in the past few months, but I still use VS Code primarily for a lot of my work. At work, I do a lot of Node/TS stuff, so VS Code just offers a whole wealth of tools that I'm already familiar with. I'm sure I could pimp out Vim to do it just as well, if not better, but I still enjoy VS Code. Where Vim shines for me is for creating and editing small files. I use vim for my journal, qui…

VSCode is very customisable. So you can make it behave exactly like your vim (+plugins) setup behaves.

Not quite, or maybe I'm the one not doing things the right way, when I tried to make VsCode behave like Spacemacs there was always these annoying things where you'll have the feeling that you're better off using the mouse: for example when you're editing, you can't close the sidebar without focusing it and firing Ctrl+E, I eventually discovered an emulation made by a bunch of people[0], it was great, but for things like Git, I still needed the mouse whereas in Spacemacs you can use the excellent Magit which is entirely keyboard focused.

1: https://github.com/VSpaceCode/VSpaceCode

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#295

Post by majewsky »

karolsputo wrote: post #215
reactchain wrote: post #170

Earlier quoted context omitted.

100% concur with this. I learnt Vim many years ago and I genuinely don't know what I'd do without it. It's always just there when I ssh into a new server. And the JetBrains suite has an awesome vim mode meaning I can use most (but not all) vim shortcuts with an actual IDE. I don't think vim itself works well as an IDE substitute, and wouldn't use it for hardcore web dev for example - but for quickly editing random fi…

If one wants to do web dev on vim I strongly recommend neovim setup with coc.nvim. I know some people strongly disagree with transforming vim into and IDE, but this is a really productive setup for creating code (works like a charm for my current React project) Personally I’ll sometimes use VSCode to browse big files or explore the codebase, but when it comes to editing them neovim with coc, fzf and a language pack i…

FWIW coc.nvim does not require the NeoVim fork, it also works with vanilla Vim 8.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#296

Post by RMPR »

bsdz wrote: post #32

Something I've come to rediscover is how good vi/vim is on a slow network connection. Our sharp networking team route me from London to Sydney so I can remote back to my London PC. Seeing what you type several seconds after you typed it is reminiscent of the 90s and dial up connections. Having familiar vi keybindings in so many applications these days has been a productivity saver.

>Having familiar vi keybindings in so many applications these days has been a productivity saver.

There's even a list[0] for that, Vi is the beast.

0: https://vim.reversed.top/

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#297

Post by alwillis »

not_kurt_godel wrote: post #241
war1025 wrote: post #89

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've been using vim for ~8 years now as my editor at work. I don't even use the "fancy" movements that everyone always brags about. It's still way more convenient to move around in than any other editor I've used. I don't know where I saw it, but the idea that "Code exists to be read" really resonates with me. I don't care how fast I can crank out code. I care about how efficiently I can hop around from place to plac…

This just sounds like a nightmare to me. I can't stand it when I have a terminal program with an unseeable list of files/panes that have to be opaquely navigated through. I very much want to be one of those vim/emacs ninjas but I just don't see how this is more ergonomic than Jetbrains where any file - not just 'open' ones - is readily available with all sorts of search methods with a single shortcut. And then I can…

Vim can operate like that if you want. Most people use NerdTree to have all of their files visible like most IDEs: https://code.tutsplus.com/tutorials/vim-essential-plugin-ner...

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#298

Post by jng »

noir_lord wrote: post #225
busterarm wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's proof enough that you'll figure it out. Years of interviewing people for my own teams has shown me that understanding your tools (especially to the point of being opinionated about them) is probably the #1 indicator of success.

Where I work we use a lot of jetbrains IDE's and I've been a massive fan of Intellij, I absolutely love it when I can show someone something that makes their life easier. Whether it's how to implement an external program properly using all the expansions or how to use bookmarks (how people can use an IDE for years and not find that is a good question). I've always RTFM of whatever tool I'm using as the first step the…

... and Jetbrains IDEs support a plugin called IdeaVIM that provides pretty solid vi/vim emulation.

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#299

Post by RMPR »

diegs wrote: post #184

i tried to switch to emacs+evil, but i can't bring myself to do it. partly because I'd have to invest a lot of time in getting an equivalently productive environment, but partly because of the following 1. vi is everywhere, and... 2. vi with no plugins is still super powerful, which is helpful on random hosts / coworker's machines / basically anywhere, and... 3. since vi is still so powerful out of the box, i only ne…

>99% of my plugin usage is fzf

Even that can be handled by Vim ootb, just add

   path+=**
to your vimrc and you're set, you can recursively :find pretty much anything in the folder where you opened Vim and you can even go fuzzy, for how it works in practice: https://youtu.be/XA2WjJbmmoM?t=493

Re: How Did Vim Become So Popular?

#300

Post by MaxBarraclough »

bsdz wrote: post #32

Something I've come to rediscover is how good vi/vim is on a slow network connection. Our sharp networking team route me from London to Sydney so I can remote back to my London PC. Seeing what you type several seconds after you typed it is reminiscent of the 90s and dial up connections. Having familiar vi keybindings in so many applications these days has been a productivity saver.

> Our sharp networking team route me from London to Sydney so I can remote back to my London PC.

Is there are story here? This must annoy the whole office!

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