Live data from Hacker News

Why I can’t stop using Vim

kornerstoane.com

51–60 of 169 posts

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#51
post #17
post #4

"/ for searching (really, no other editor has made it this simple)" Well, it's really esc-/ which is no easier than ctrl-f. Or am I missing something? Edit: Same with "1G to go to the top of the file, G to go to the bottom" - esc-1-shift-g vs ctrl-home. Same with ctrl-end.

I think you're using the editor's modality wrong. ESC is not used to exit from Insert mode. ESC is used to switch from any mode back to Command mode. In fact Command mode is also called Normal mode. You should spend 95% of your time in Normal mode and use the other modes when you need them. I suggest binding `kj` to ESC since it allows you to quickly make a change and continue browsing your code. Take the following s…

Interesting coincidence, I was pasting a production certificate into Vim the other day and it contained "kj", which escaped the editor and ate a few letters until it reached an "i" and continued pasting.

It took production down for 30 minutes until I noticed it. Remember, kids! ":set paste".

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#52
I use a text editor because using a text editor that you've mastered is pleasant. (I'm an Emacs user fwiw.)

I think we should stop trying to rationalize this choice.

Or rather, we should realize that we like text editors because we went through a long training and acquired complex skills which are fun to put in practice. Being a power user of Emacs or Vim is is satisfying, the same way mastering a video game is satisfying.

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#53
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you join my team and tell me you're a programmer but when you sit down with a terminal you have no idea what to do, then you're off my team and I don't respect you as a programmer. Sorry if this offends you, but how can you consider your self a programmer when you don't know how to use a terminal?

Why would I sit down with a terminal when I don't need a terminal to do the type of programming that I do? Furthermore, anyone who knows how to type and read knows how to use a terminal - it's really not that special of a skill mate :)

What programming do you do? css?

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#54
post #53

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Why would I sit down with a terminal when I don't need a terminal to do the type of programming that I do? Furthermore, anyone who knows how to type and read knows how to use a terminal - it's really not that special of a skill mate :)

What programming do you do? css?

I do C# in Visual Studio all day long. Rarely (if ever) need to touch the terminal. Hundreds of thousands of people use my apps. But nope - I guess I'm not a real programmer because "I don't prefer the terminal". Give us a break mate. Nobody agrees with you.

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#55
post #46

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Anyone who doesn't have the same exact opinion as me isn't a real programmer." Is that correct?

If you join my team and tell me you're a programmer but when you sit down with a terminal you have no idea what to do, then you're off my team and I don't respect you as a programmer. Sorry if this offends you, but how can you consider your self a programmer when you don't know how to use a terminal?

So Windows programmers, according to you aren't programmers?

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#56
post #38

Earlier quoted context omitted.

In my opinion, other people's opinions about how I program are worth just about nothing. I'll never understand the sort of arrogance that leads to posting things like that. do you really believe you're so smart that you figured out the only way anyone should do anything?

Well, I wasn't trying to be arrogant.. sorry. But would you really take a programming class taught by a professor who doesn't know how to use a terminal?

Knowing how to use a terminal != using a terminal for everything.

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#57

>q to record a macro; @ to execute it again Is using macros' really common? I haven't yet figured out in when and where to use macros during my workflow.

Vim user of 18yrs here. I never use macros.

Everyone uses a slightly different subset of vim, in slightly different ways.

Don't worry about dogmas. Try everything out once, and keep what works for you!

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#58

I use a text editor because using a text editor that you've mastered is pleasant. (I'm an Emacs user fwiw.) I think we should stop trying to rationalize this choice. Or rather, we should realize that we like text editors because we went through a long training and acquired complex skills which are fun to put in practice. Being a power user of Emacs or Vim is is satisfying, the same way mastering a video game is satis…

Exactly. It's why I wrote the article. For me, using Vim brings with it a whole general feeling of comfort, which probably includes those early days hacking away on the Xenix box with family close by and Mario dinging in up the hallway.

Weird, I know. But whenever I come back to Vim after straying for any amount of time, I just feel happy. Probably because I can do everything I want to do in the text without having to think about it.

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#59

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I've never had any problems with etags, either. I've always gotten the same functionality as vim. Maybe we are missing something.

I had this same problem: they function differently in evil mode than Emacs mode; for some reason evil does its own word boundary definitions for etags lookups, and it breaks up words on underscores. I dug into it, and it was some problem with evil's word semantics (that only existed for etags lookups). I ran out of energy to debug it further, and just went back to Vim. Regular etags called with the emacs bindings wor…

Thanks for quantifying it for me. I never dug in deep enough to figure it out. It always just felt "wonky" when I used. (That's an opinion, of course.)

Re: Why I can’t stop using Vim

#60
post #4

"/ for searching (really, no other editor has made it this simple)" Well, it's really esc-/ which is no easier than ctrl-f. Or am I missing something? Edit: Same with "1G to go to the top of the file, G to go to the bottom" - esc-1-shift-g vs ctrl-home. Same with ctrl-end.

> Same with "1G to go to the top of the file, G to go to the bottom" - esc-1-shift-g vs ctrl-home. Same with ctrl-end. gg beats both (I don't think I've ever used 1G to jump to the top of the file)

I was taught that one by the brother-in-law. He also tried to teach me 1234l (the letter 'l') to go to the end of a line. I figured out a better way pretty quickly on that one.

I didn't find the magical 'g' until much later, and 1G was already burned into my synapses. I'm trying to change. It's a little awkward :)

Post reply on HN