For years, I’ve been advocating for Vim to anyone who will listen – whether they are programmers, writers or human beings in general. I use Vim everyday to type documents, notes and code. With Vim bindings, I’m even able to navigate the web with greater ease and convenience. I’m actually typing this blog post using Vim right now!
Typing with Vim not only boosts your speed and efficiency, it can also transform the way you think about writing. Believe it or not, becoming proficient Vim has been likened to learning a foreign language! It is an incredibly powerful tool that fundamentally rewires your brain and allows for new thinking processes.
Before I delve into the many reasons why you should incorporate Vim into your workflow, let’s first explore what is a text editor, what is Vim and why you would even need one.
A text editor is a tool used to edit plain text. It allows you to write, modify and manipulate text documents. Think of Notepad, Microsoft Word or Google Docs – they all provide a text editing environment but take a completely different approach. Think of using Notepad or Microsoft Word like riding the bus every morning to work – it gets you there sure, but it takes longer than necessary and is not nearly as fun. Vim on the other hand is like taking a luxurious limousine, or even piloting an attack helicopter to work!
What makes Vim so powerful? It’s all due to its “modal” interface. Picture modal editing as changing gears while behind the wheel of a car – you can reach your destination much more quickly by adapting your speed based on different tasks. Vim supports many different modes, Normal mode, insert, command, visual and Ex mode. This breakdown the task of creating editing and manipulating text into smaller, more efficient steps. As a new users you may initially find this concept difficult to grasp, yet the moment you understand it – you will be astonished at how swiftly work can be completed!
Now that you’re familiar with the power of Vim, let me break down some advantages it has to offer.
Undoubtedly, one of the best reasons to learn and use Vim is that your BASH shell offers a dedicated mode for it. Vim mode. Just type “set -o vi” in your shell and you’re ready to start editing at the command line. To set your terminal back to default emacs key bindings (why would you want to go back ?) type “set -o emacs” or just open up a new shell. Utilizing Vim bindings isn’t restricted to just bash; many Unix tools feature them, allowing you to control programs with only a few keystrokes. Here is a link to a list of many unix programs that support the Vim bindings.
As previously mentioned, Vim provides users with incredible speed and productivity. Every task is achievable in a few keystrokes the modal interface of Vim, thus eliminating the need for multiple clicks that would otherwise be necessary when utilizing other..
Vim is an incredibly flexible tool that can be customized to your own requirements. As this series grows, I will demonstrate how some of the shortcuts I created have massively increased my productivity!
Portability is another great advantage of Vim. It’s a lightweight text editor that can be installed on almost any machine, plus it works across different operating systems. In addition, Vim has been adapted for mobile devices, so you can work on the go!
Unlike many modern programs, Vim doesn’t come with a hefty price tag – in fact it’s completely free and open source! The only thing you will pay for will be the time you invest in learning Vim.
Now that I have highlighted some of the key benefits of using Vim, let’s get practical and see how easy it is to create a file in Vim and write “hello world”.
1. Open up Terminal and type vim followed by the file name, e.g vim hello.txt
vim hello.txt2. Press i to enter Insert mode
i3. Type ‘Hello World’
hello world4. Press ESC key to enter back into Normal Mode ( a pro tip you can enter control + [ to exit Insert mode)
esc5. Type :wq to save and exit out of the file (a pro tip to quickly exit is pressing ZZ in normal mode )
:wqCongratulations! You’ve just written your first line of text in an amazing and powerful editor, the beginning of many more to come.
As you can see, Vim offers many great benefits for your workflow. Whether you’re a novice just starting out or an experienced coder, Vim can help you become more efficient and productive. Vim also has a builtin tutorial that can help you get up and running, I highly recommend checking it out. In your terminal type:
vimtutorIn my next article, I will dive into the concept of Vim’s modal editing in detail and recap vimtutor. So stay tuned!
