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A Eulogy for Vim

drewdevault.com

51–60 of 151 posts

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#51

Plenty of people already submit AI code as their own change. I’d argue every open source program is already “tainted” in that way.

Didn’t think I’d have to clarify what quotes mean in this context but using an LLM to help with coding is fine and people should get over it as it’s already everywhere anyway.

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#52
I prefer VS Code with Claude Opus 4.6, it makes me more productive during my working hours so I can take more quality time with my family.

I know that my point of view is considered .+(cist|phobic) (based on the post). I'm sorry for that.

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#53
post #39

If emacs can live through Stallman's descent into absurd un-asked-for pedophilliac defense positions, not limited to defense of Jeffrey Epstein himself, Vim can survive the simple passing of its creator.

> defense of Jeffrey Epstein himself

Do you have a link for this? What I recall of that whole scenario was that Stallman said something fairly minor regarding Minsky, and the nuance of the words written were lost on the mob and he was accused of saying something worse than that.

I'm not aware of him providing any defense of Epstein himself.

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#54

> I think it’s more important that we stop collectively pretending that we don’t understand how awful all of this is Lord forbid if people disagree with you. I know Drew's vibe is always "I'm right because I'm the only one with the correct opinions", but it does get tiring after a while. Not to say AI isn't having huge drawbacks being introduced, and aren't exactly worry-free, but why not change your frame of mind fr…

> Lord forbid if people disagree with you.

This is too shallow of a take. Especially when your very next point objects to what he uses as a default reference frame that you disagree with. Lord forbid drew disagree about, I think priorities, and values?

> why not change your frame of mind from "Why don't others understand how awful it is?!" to "People are seeing something I'm not, what am I missing?"

It's the same question. I sympathize with both questions, I constant feel both frustrated, and broken with how few people care about quality, and participating fairly. I try very hard to find the positive aspects "everyone" claims llm codegen provides. I'm looking hard, and can't find them. It's painfully average, often worse so when it gets lost. It doesn't and can not help me, only get in the way, what am I doing wrong? Why is everyone missing something I see as obvious? But again, both could easily be true from both frames you suggest. "Why can't people identify this as trash" could very easily be followed by "what I'm I missing from the equation?" and be the same thought/idea.

> so your article could actually contain something else than personal and emotions rants?

I mean, it's titled, A Eulogy for Vim. That seems to be what it says on the tin, no?

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It's a little wrong. It's probably going to replace middle class jobs more than the jobs of the poor.

Poor tend to think of themselves as middle-class.

so do the rich

note I used "rich" there, not "wealthy"

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#56
Without getting into some of the other things mentioned in the article,

I don't think Vim is going away. Even with all the AI code written, engineers navigate through Claude Code / Codex using Vim (ex: Vim mode in Claude Code).

I really like Vim so much that I've built a gamified way to learn it at https://vimgolf.ai that I am working on completing.

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#57

> And at a moment when the climate demands immediate action to reduce our footprint on this planet, the AI boom is driving data centers to consume a full 1.5% of the world’s total energy production in order to eliminate the jobs of the poor and replace them with a robot that lies. That sentence jumped out at me.

This is backwards. If it weren't for 'eliminating jobs' we'd both be peasant farmers right now. Automation has improved the standard of living and raised wages for everyone, rich and poor alike.

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#58
post #39

If emacs can live through Stallman's descent into absurd un-asked-for pedophilliac defense positions, not limited to defense of Jeffrey Epstein himself, Vim can survive the simple passing of its creator.

Please don't do this. "editors outlive their creators' reputations/departures" - is a reasonable point. But to make it land as a zinger, you decided to dig up some most inflammatory Stallman material possible, that does a lot of collateral damage to the framing.

Emacs the tool and Stallman the person are not nearly as coupled as your comment implies. Stallman created Emacs, yes, but the Emacs community drove him out of the FSF in 2019, pushed back hard when he tried to return in 2021, and has been actively distancing itself from him for years. The community's resilience despite Stallman is kind of the opposite of what you're trying to say - it's not like Emacs users were defending him in solidarity.

Tools transcend their creators - it is actually an interesting point and worth making. You just didn't have to push Stallman shit here.

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I think the point is that regardless of what benefits LLMs are bringing to the table, there are a list of downsides that Drew views as non-negotiables. It doesn't matter what other people are seeing, because he sees a fundamental issue underlying the entire premise. It does seem like most people completely ignore the obvious harms caused by AI when talking about using LLMs for programming, as though somehow it is dis…

> there are a list of downsides that Drew views as non-negotiables Which is all fine and dandy. But why play the "You simply don't understand it as well as I do" rather than something more investigative and curious? Just fuels the whole "holier than thou" vibe Drew been trying to increase seemingly every day. It's a disagreement of opinion, not some "I'm the only smart person who can realize this", which is why it ki…

In fairness he pretty explicitly states that he thinks people do understand it, but are pretending not to to wash their hands of the consequences. I'm definitely not reading it in the same way you are.

Re: A Eulogy for Vim

#60

I've long had great respect for Drew, way since way back when he was sircmpwn writing cool calculator software. Great programmer, and an incredibly based individual. Stays true to himself even in the face of overwhelming pressure. I completely disagree with his take on this; battleship vibecoder in vimscript is awesome and important, socially, because vibe coding makes computer programming accessible to the masses. I…

It does things for them and tells them what to do. Is that really making programming more accessible? I guess in the sense of lowering the barrier to creating stuff. But accessible as in a path to actually start working on things yourself and developing an interest? For most people vibe coding 99% of their lines, I doubt it. And I don't really think that's a problem to be honest, but I don't really buy that it makes…

> I guess in the sense of lowering the barrier to creating stuff.

That is the sense which I think most important. There are millions upon millions of very bright people with lots of valuable domain experience in a massive variety of specialities other than computer programming, who will now be able to use their expertise to guide the creation of software which before would have taken them many years of study, or millions of dollars to hire programmers. Empowering people to create their own tools will be a massive boon to humanity.

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