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Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

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Re: Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

#31

Post by tachion »

I've tried switching to VIM (from few years of using Sublime) few times already, but failed every single time: bare VIM is too dysfunctional to my taste and ways of working with text editor (missing tabs, file/folder treee view, easy switching documents, easy visual copy/paste and so on, missing code expanding/completion...).

Last time I tried spf-vim[0] but while it looked 'cool' (it has colors, it does code completion, it somwhere have the folder/file tree view and maybe eve tabs/panels...) yet it is overly complicated, quite badly documented (there is no intro like tutorial on getting you up to speed with what you may want from a text editor, just some strange sounding plugin list with few shortcuts here and there) and overloaded with plugins I am not interested in (PHP related ones) not to mention having few strange issues requiring googling and writing additional configuration just to make VIM behave...

So, while I'd love to use VIM for its speed, the fact its easily portable with the configuration and is available on almost every OS (BSD, Mac, Windows, Linux, you name it) I still write 99% of my code in Sublime, and only use VIM on servers to change this and that. Perhaps another time ;)

[0] http://vim.spf13.com/

Re: Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

#32

Post by tthayer »

ixtli wrote: post #21

I agree with everything here except the idea that you shouldn't start with MacVIM. The main issue with new users getting into modal editors is the learning curve. If you can reduce the upfront difficulty by accepting OS-specific hotkeys and mouse events, why not? Using VIM saves you time and a smart user will search out the ways the editor can help her, but there's no value in making the user go cold turkey.

The main problem I have with suggesting starting with MacVim is that using it doesn't translate well when you're SSH'd into another system running a different OS. I've been using Vim for a while (and now neovim) and recently tried out MacVim and it just didn't make any sense to me. The menus are totally non-intuitive if you're used to doing everything from the keyboard. Conversely, I wouldn't expect someone who started by using MacVim to be comfortable with the keyboard shortcuts either.

Opening up a virgin vim session on a new system kind of makes you realize how much you'll miss out on if you don't know about :set number, :set wrap, :set syntax .

Re: Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

#34

Post by segmondy »

Karunamon wrote: post #11
imakesnowflakes wrote: post #7

One year? That is like "Takeaways from riding a Superbike in first gear, for one minute - Verdict. Super bikes are way overhyped!"

So let's assume that, by using vim as the primary editor as a coder, the author used it roughly 8 hours a day for 5 days a week. That's 1,920 hours. I daresay it's impossible for someone to not use a tool, however complicated, for nearly 2000 hours and not become quite familiar with its operation. This is also 1/5th of the (disputed) "magic number" of 10,000 hours to master a skill.

It's very possible to use a tool for a year or 10 and not be quite familiar with it's operation. You have to actively make the effort to learn new things to learn new things.

Re: Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

#35

Post by fendrak »

mixedmath wrote: post #19
andresmanz wrote: post #13

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Exactly. Recently, I switched to i3[0] and Vimium[1] and it's just wonderful. Now I'm way faster than before and hardly ever use the mouse. [0] https://i3wm.org [1] https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogba...

As a slight aside, how did you choose i3 over the other tiling window managers? I chose xmonad at one time, but it was more or less by chance --- someone else used it that I knew, and so I tried it. But I haven't actually compared any.

I was a one-time Xmonad user, but switched to i3 recently. The enormous complexity of configuring Xmonad is what got me to switch, honestly. Perhaps if I A) needed enormous configurability or B) knew Haskell well I would have stuck around, but i3's config is much simpler to manage. i3 is also slightly prettier, but that's orthagonal :)

Re: Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

#36

Post by nilkn »

iLemming wrote: post #8

now you should try Spacemacs

I know this is going to sound silly, but I'd go so far as to say that Spacemacs is one of the best editors ever made.

But it's not nearly as portable as vanilla vim. Even vim with several plugins, including vimproc and Unite, I've found is a lot more portable than Spacemacs. Spacemacs is a lot slower as well.

For me, unfortunately portability is really important, which is why so far nothing has been able to sway me away from my trusty tmux + vim + Unite combination.

Re: Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

#37

Post by JupiterMoon »

tachion wrote: post #31

I've tried switching to VIM (from few years of using Sublime) few times already, but failed every single time: bare VIM is too dysfunctional to my taste and ways of working with text editor (missing tabs, file/folder treee view, easy switching documents, easy visual copy/paste and so on, missing code expanding/completion...). Last time I tried spf-vim[0] but while it looked 'cool' (it has colors, it does code complet…

Some thoughts:

What you call tabs are what vim calls buffers. (EDIT vim has something called tabs as well but they do something else.)

Completion press e.g. control-x (although I actually use a plugin here so I don't know how good vim's built in is).

Visual selection add set mouse=a to the .vimrc

Or using the "v" command

Re: Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

#38

Post by nemild »

tachion wrote: post #31

I've tried switching to VIM (from few years of using Sublime) few times already, but failed every single time: bare VIM is too dysfunctional to my taste and ways of working with text editor (missing tabs, file/folder treee view, easy switching documents, easy visual copy/paste and so on, missing code expanding/completion...). Last time I tried spf-vim[0] but while it looked 'cool' (it has colors, it does code complet…

One thing I'd stress: Start with Vim for side tasks, not to replace Sublime. Once you have the basics down, you can then layer on the IDE features (addons like Ag, NerdTree, CtrlP) that make Vim comparable to what you are used to in Sublime.

I'm happy to act as a coach for you (and anyone else), if it's helpful. If you have a good plan of attack, you can get Sublime-like functionality pretty quickly.

Re: Vim: Takeaways from One Year of Typing

#40

Post by olalonde »

tachion wrote: post #31

I've tried switching to VIM (from few years of using Sublime) few times already, but failed every single time: bare VIM is too dysfunctional to my taste and ways of working with text editor (missing tabs, file/folder treee view, easy switching documents, easy visual copy/paste and so on, missing code expanding/completion...). Last time I tried spf-vim[0] but while it looked 'cool' (it has colors, it does code complet…

> there is no intro like tutorial on getting you up to speed with what you may want from a text editor, just some strange sounding plugin list with few shortcuts here and there

You should try `vimtutor` (it usually ships with vim). For the first 1-2 weeks of using vim, you will be less productive than with your usual editor but you have to force yourself to use it. Eventually, you will not want to go back.

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