Thanks for this writeup. Could you share a bit more about how you got into using Vim and why you’ve found it to improve speed so much? I occasionally need to use vi when there’s nothing else installed on a system, but the clunkiness and high barrier to entry has never made me tempted to use Vim as my primary editor.
Keyboard shortcuts are faster than the mouse. Keys accessible from homerow are faster than distant keys like the arrow keys. Keyboard shortcuts you can combine are more powerful than standalone keyboard shortcuts. As gianlucatruda mentioned, the important thing is Vim keybindings, not the editor itself. You can get a similar speed boost by installing Vim keybindings on your favorite editor.
I learned Vim very early in my programming career because I knew the upfront investment would pay itself over many times—and it has. Vim has paid my initial investment back many times over purely in terms of time saved. But speed does not just help me save time editing files. It also helps me think faster because my memory is volatile. For every time interval Δt there is a chance I will forget a critical piece of information. My volatile memory puts a limit on how complex of a task I can handle. If my think-decide-act cycles iterate faster, I can complete more complicated tasks before my volatile memory expires.
Thanks for this writeup. Could you share a bit more about how you got into using Vim and why you’ve found it to improve speed so much? I occasionally need to use vi when there’s nothing else installed on a system, but the clunkiness and high barrier to entry has never made me tempted to use Vim as my primary editor.
Keyboard shortcuts are faster than the mouse. Keys accessible from homerow are faster than distant keys like the arrow keys. Keyboard shortcuts you can combine are more powerful than standalone keyboard shortcuts. As gianlucatruda mentioned, the important thing is Vim keybindings, not the editor itself. You can get a similar speed boost by installing Vim keybindings on your favorite editor.
I learned Vim very early in my programming career because I knew the upfront investment would pay itself over many times—and it has. Vim has paid my initial investment back many times over purely in terms of time saved. But speed does not just help me save time editing files. It also helps me think faster because my memory is volatile. For every time interval Δt there is a chance I will forget a critical piece of information. My volatile memory puts a limit on how complex of a task I can handle. If my think-decide-act cycles iterate faster, I can complete more complicated tasks before my volatile memory expires.