this post was submitted on 02 Sep 2024
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Vim (or emacs, or any other advanced text editor) is much easier to use than nano when you need to do something more complex than type couple of lines.
Better? Maybe!
More efficient? Surley!
But easier?! Hell no! Easy means you can use it without a lot of training or studying. It is self explanatory. And there is no way on earth that vim is easier than nano. I don't need to know anything to use nano I need to check docs for hours before I can even start using vim
This makes it seem like jerking off to MILF porn is hard because there is a learning curve
It is easier after you learn basics. Learning is not easy, but usage is.
Well okay by that logic playing Beethoven on piano is super easy
A handful of shortcuts isn’t that hard
Right, it's remembering them and using them efficiently that's hard. It's amusing watching coworkers try to flex in vim and then struggle at the most basic tasks.
No, some piano plays are still harder than others, mo matter how long you practice. Editing text with vim is easier than with nano after some practice.
If something is "easy to use" this includes the time you need learn said thing.
Drinking rahmen from the bowl is easier then using chopsticks (even if you are more elegant with chopsticks)
Driving automatic is easier then driving manual (even if you may be more efficient with manual if you practised shifting a lot)
Walking is easier then flicflacs (even if you may be faster with flicflacs if you practised a lot)
Using Ubuntu is easier than using arch (even if arch gives you more control and opportunities if you understand it)
"Easy to use" means that you do less and get more. Learning doesn't count if you learn something once and then use the skills you obtained many times.
(...once you learn the bindings)
And how often does that happen in the real world?
VIM may have been a very useful tool 20 or 30 years ago, but today it's nothing else but a tool for one's sense of superiority. It's the vinyl of editors.
If you have to type that much code in a terminal, your infrastructure is outdated. Simple as that.
Every day in my case, except holidays.
...so your infrastructure is outdated.
Why do you think so?
Yes it's so outdated that mostly every IDE offers usage with its keybindings.
You seem to believe that people only use the terminal if they HAVE to. I doubt anybody these days HAS to type any amount of code in the terminal, but choose to anyway. Like probably anyone else I have access to modern tools and infrastructure, but I choose to do work in the terminal because I’m more productive there. I use (neo)vim because I like it more than any other text editor I’ve used, and have no problem writing code and debugging in the terminal.
You're using the terminal, because you're used to it. It is not the better tool, it's simply what you happen to know already.
People who argue with productivity because of some key bindings live in the world of the 80s. You don't just sit there and type code 12h a day, that's not how modern software development works.
And all those blockheads down voting me are caught up in their weird superiority complex. They are the powerful superhackers, and don't understand that we are just highly qualified plumbers.
I’m actually fairly young and wasn’t around in the 80s. I graduated college with a CS degree in the past 5 years, where I was exposed to many different tools and software. What did I come out of that experience with? I like the terminal more than any IDE I had to use in any class.
Now in the real world, we don’t always get to use our favorite tools for every task, obviously. I do need to use other, more enterprise, software from time to time for work. But whenever possible I go to the terminal because I’m faster there, and I can quickly automate things.
I’m not saying the terminal is the best tool for every job, I’m just saying it is the best for ME. Notice I’m also not putting down other tools here. It seems to me like you might be the one with a superiority complex.
No, I'd argue you simply didn't want to invest in the other tools.
Think about it, you probably spent hours on customizing and automating vim, and then say you're faster in that. Well, that's called a habit.
IDE are objectively more powerful and since you can actually see options and navigate quickly, you don't need to memorize every obscure feature.
All the terminal editor enthusiasts are actively holding us back, because they insist everything outside vim is garbage for enterprise and kiddies.
If your tool of choice is actively hostile to new users for no reason other than "that's how it's always been, and thus it's better", well then you're digging a moat to automate your gatekeeping.
vim + terminal is actually objectively more powerful than any IDE, and most IDEs include a way to pull up a terminal as a crutch for things they can’t do. In any case It seems you can’t be reasoned with. Your argument is just a strawman about what you say other people are saying.
So, because you don't understand something, it's outdated?
Ok, I can see you have no idea what you're talking about.
I understand it very well. And that's exactly why I'm writing this.
Then say, grandmaster delusion, what purpose does vim serve, where it is actually the best tool? Writing code? Hardly, it's way too limited and requires a ton of upfront investment and headspace. Writing config files? Hardly, because if you write these by hand, you're living in the 90s, that's what Ansible, Terraform etc are for.
You just don't want to admit, that vim is nothing more than a habit. Muscle memory.
I actually use VIM bindings in PyCharm, slightly cursed but actually works really well and meshes fairly nicely with the other IDE shortcuts. Being able to use it in any terminal is a nice bonus.