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View Full Version : What's so great about vim again?


rabbitweed
09-12-2009, 10:46 AM
I'm comfortable using it now, can navigate, edit and save without a second thought.

But uh, what the hell is so great about it? It's supposed to let you edit things omg really quickly, but if anything it seems slower than gedit because I have to change modes all the time :/

Zok
09-12-2009, 08:18 PM
I use vim because it works via command line. If I'm editing a file on my server, I don't have to open ftp, connect, navigate to the directory, download, edit, upload - I can just ssh in, navigate to the file, edit and save.

If you're good with regular expressions, the find/replace engine is spectacular.

Knowing your commands helps also. You can navigate through a file (or multiple files) with just a few short commands - without ever touching the mouse. In my mind, moving my hand to the mouse, moving the cursor, clicking, then moving back to the keyboard is way more work than switching between modes in vim (which is at most two keystrokes).

It's also got built in syntax highlighting for just about every language on the planet.

lolocaust
09-19-2009, 05:03 AM
It's good because it's not emacs. that should be all the reason you need :hrmph:

rabbitweed
09-19-2009, 06:16 AM
It's good because it's not emacs. that should be all the reason you need :hrmph:

I like gedit:)