Ask Experienced Devs

1230 readers

1 users here now

Icon base by Delapouite under CC BY 3.0 with modifications to add a gradient

founded 1 year ago

MODERATORS

Users of Vim and similars, what exactly makes it useful compared to other text editors? How much time do you suppose you save when working with it? (programming.dev)

submitted 2 months ago by ICastFist@programming.dev to c/ask_experienced_devs@programming.dev

72 comments fedilink hide all child comments

I'd like actual examples instead of "I work faster", something like "I can move straight to the middle of the file with 7mv" or "I can keep 4 different text snippets in memory and paste each with a number+pt, like 2pt", things that you actually use somewhat frequently instead of what you can do, but probably only did once.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments

[–] peto@lemm.ee 21 points 2 months ago (2 children)

Honestly the best bit is just not feeling the need to take my hand off the keyboard and use the mouse. I don't think I can quantify the time saved, but I can tell you I really notice when I'm using software that makes me have to switch.

[–] grrgyle@slrpnk.net 4 points 2 months ago (1 children)

Yeah when my hand goes to the mouse it feels like I've broken a combo or streak. Like I've switched from an active to a passive mode. The mouse is for clicking and scrolling, like reading email and webpages

[–] pmk@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 2 months ago

The Acme editor (and Sam) begs to differ. Sadly it's hard to find a mouse that can do mouse chording today.

[–] corsicanguppy@lemmy.ca -3 points 2 months ago (1 children)

So, like every text editor also without a beep-mode?

[–] Transform2942@lemmy.ml 9 points 2 months ago* (last edited 2 months ago)

I don't know if this comment comes from ignorance or snarkiness but it's really not the same. Other editors add in hotkeys over time to perform a single function.

Vim key bindings are actually a terse text manipulation language where you can form arbitrary "sentences" like:

ciw - change the current word, meaning remove it and then enter insert mode
D - delete until end of line
dt: - delete everything between the cursor and the next colon on this line
10"ap Paste the contents of the a register 10 times