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I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

evanhahn.com

31–40 of 142 posts

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#31
post #18

This feels like the "wrong" direction today with the advent of AI? Just seems like in the realm of "bending yourself to the tool vs bending the tool to yourself," it's the LATTER that's about to get a whole lot easier, if it isn't already. So, sure, there are probably things you can learn, but e.g. I'm much more about "I think it should be THIS way so how do I make it do that."

You are getting downvoted quite heavily but I do wonder what percentage of people are growing more and more accustomed to the latter.

I say this someone who was dedicated to (neo)vim for a decade. With AI I spend a lot less time writing/editing pure code these days, and all the VSCode based IDEs have become so essential to my workflow/productivity that using vim only would be masochistic. I still enable the vim binds in my editor and while they’re never a perfect 100% replacement I get so much value out of other tools I can’t see myself going back.

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#32
post #18

This feels like the "wrong" direction today with the advent of AI? Just seems like in the realm of "bending yourself to the tool vs bending the tool to yourself," it's the LATTER that's about to get a whole lot easier, if it isn't already. So, sure, there are probably things you can learn, but e.g. I'm much more about "I think it should be THIS way so how do I make it do that."

You are getting downvoted quite heavily but I do wonder what percentage of people are growing more and more accustomed to the latter. I say this someone who was dedicated to (neo)vim for a decade. With AI I spend a lot less time writing/editing pure code these days, and all the VSCode based IDEs have become so essential to my workflow/productivity that using vim only would be masochistic. I still enable the vim binds…

[dead]

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#33
post #11

> single keystroke could move the cursor halfway across the file to exactly the right spot. sorry what is this? exaggeration?

>> single keystroke could move the cursor halfway across the file to exactly the right spot. > sorry what is this? exaggeration? It is indeed. I need two keystrokes to move from an arbitrary positions in an arbitrarily long file to the exact spot I need to be. I use it all the time, in fact. Multiple times an hour. It's muscle memory now for me, while reading/navigating code, to automatically do `ma` or `mb` etc. At…

if someone really want to have single keystroke, there's always F key that they can map to their frequently used movements, such as last edit, next function, special marker (such as `m`), etc.

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#34
I applaud this project, “setting all the options”. I think it’s a really good idea to become close friends with the software you use all the time, and getting acquainted through the lens of configuration is one way. Messing around with stuff is good.

I feel it’s worth mentioning that there is a sense in which I think it might be a bad idea. It could be that you’d now be fixating some value that may be optimal right now, rather than benefiting from future improvements to the default settings. But it all depends, of course, on how close friends you plan to be.

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#35
I never understood the appeal of these command-line editors with a million commands for different edge-cases. Why not just use VSCode? It has every possible extension you already need and a simple GUI. No need to type commands just to edit text when there's a file manager... It has remote SSH and features for vm machines. To me the kinds of people using these editors are the kinds of people that love making everything more complex to seem smart.

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#37
post #18

This feels like the "wrong" direction today with the advent of AI? Just seems like in the realm of "bending yourself to the tool vs bending the tool to yourself," it's the LATTER that's about to get a whole lot easier, if it isn't already. So, sure, there are probably things you can learn, but e.g. I'm much more about "I think it should be THIS way so how do I make it do that."

neovim is pretty flexible and extensible if you don't want to follow default behavior.

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#38
I've been using vim for over 20 years as my primary editor. I'm faster and more comfortable in it than I am in any other editor, but I still feel like a vim noob

I still have to look up how to do things I rarely do (like insert the contents of another file at the cursor position). And I don't really use many (if any) of vim's intermediate features, let alone advanced ones.

I've tried various ways to get more fluent, but nothing really stuck or kept my interest. This has always annoyed me a bit...

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#39
post #36

I'm using neovim all the time, but I don't find this "zipping through the code" to be very critical. Most of the time is spent on thinking and analyzing it, not on fast typing or jumping through it.

Maybe but I often find the bottle neck between thoughts in my head is often the speed of which I can put them in motion, with that in mind vim motions are an absolutely amazing way to interact with a keyboard efficiently.

When using any new software my first thought is often how can I map these actions to vim motions and enable a full keyboard experience.

Re: I set all 376 Vim options and I'm still a fool

#40

I never understood the appeal of these command-line editors with a million commands for different edge-cases. Why not just use VSCode? It has every possible extension you already need and a simple GUI. No need to type commands just to edit text when there's a file manager... It has remote SSH and features for vm machines. To me the kinds of people using these editors are the kinds of people that love making everythin…

you do not need to install it anywhere... its already everywhere ( I am vim enthusiast )

for eg: Keep right hand free for writing/eating by reserving left hand for mouse. (keep same settings for right handed mouse) Brrrr... :p

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