Using vim, the text editor, is like learning martial arts. Once you learn it you can use it for everything. Vim can be very intimidating at first, but once you learn it you will use it everyday.
If you don’t know it, Vim is a classic text editor and the popular choice among programmers and developers around the world.
It’s worth learning because the well defined keyboard shortcuts and modal editing environment will enable you to edit large files with great speed and efficiency.
If you are new to vim, you can master the shortcuts quickly on vim.is
Why vim?
vim is a terminal-based text editor that a large percentage of programmers use. I use it. You might use it. Your neighbor uses it. You have probably used it once. But why?
It's well built and works extremely well because it was updated over time by thousands of people with different needs. Contrast this to shiny modern editors.
When I was first introduced to terminal text editors more than a decade ago, I was aware of the kind of power that comes with them: how they can be customized and programmed to do almost anything, and more importantly how they can improve my efficiency.
I thought I’d share some of the reasons why I chose vim and stuck with it — and why more developers should consider giving it a try.
Vim has a future: Vim has been around for a while. It survived the test of time and is still going strong. This is a sign of a mature piece of software designed for a specific niche.
vim is minimal: who needs a full blown editor with hundreds of buttons? It's much easier to use keyboard shortcuts and vim provides that
It works everywhere: you can use it on your Linux box, Windows, OS X, remote SSH sessions and even ancient computers
It is powerful: Vim can do anything from editing files, recording and replaying keystrokes and lots more
Top comments (1)
I love vim. I've just created a post about my little distro: dev.to/sensorario/a-little-vim-dis... and if you prefer github.com/sensorario/newdots