Use vim to look cool

A YouTube video I watch recently suggested to learn vim motions because "you look badass" when you use them. I've also seen many more videos where people say things like "I'm going back to vscode because:, vim sucks, emacs sucks, I don't want to look cool, I want to get productive, etc". All these videos has one common theme: they tried vim to look cool! and they'd rather do work than look cool. If you are learning vim because you want to look cool that's a recipe to disappointment.

I believe everyone should use tools they like/enjoy the most, also which make them productive the most. A code editor/ide is just a tool, but a very important one for a developer. Because it's the main tool you use to read/write/modify code. So whichever you pick you need to learn how to use it efficiently to browse through a code base or edit efficiently.

Learn your tools

Whether you use vscode, vim, neovim, emacs you should learn how to use it. I get it, it's so much easier to get up and running with vscode because you don't have to write a lot of manual configuration files.

I have seen people exclusively using the sidebar file tree to open each file in vscode, that's a very inefficient way to use vscode. You should learn how to use the fuzzy file finder that's already pre configured for you. Just hit `C+p` then start searching for what you want.

Also there are many more editing features of vscode like multiple lines, duplicate lines, etc, you should learn these features an start adding those as a part of your daily routine.

Learn to type first!

If you cannot touch type on whatever keyboard layout you use forget about trying vim, looking cool., first learn to touch type. If you really want to look cool touch typing can help you do that and get more productive at the same time. Typing is something that you have to do dispite whatever editor/ide you use. So it's not like learning how to use a different text editor and spending hours, days learning how to use it and end up not switching.

And especially you want to really get in to any keyboard driven text editor like vim or emacs and you cannot yet touch type, then you should first master touch typing. Trying to use a keyboard-driven text editor without being able to touch type is like getting a real sports car as a 2-year-old. You'll learn all the fancy features but feel defeated when try to use them, because you are not good at the keyboard. Then you can do another "vim sucks going back to vscode" YouTube video.

Use vim to look cool

Use vim to look cool! don't!

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Learn your tools

Learn to type first!

Command Palette

Comments (1)

More from this blog

Learn your tools

Learn to type first!