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0 pointsrobomartin13y ago0 comments

I'll tell you when and why I use vim and how I can justify its useage: Linux servers. I use vim on my servers to edit everything. Why? Because I know it's there and I don't have to install anything. And, even though I think it's a horrible UI that could only be justified in an era with keyboards that barely had characters and numbers, I use it.

A religious attachment to vim? No friggin way. No editor has ever caused one of my projects to come in late (or early). The factors that affect real projects are so far removed from the software one uses to edit code that it is incredible some people evangelize something like vim to such an extent.

The other really funny thing is to see articles and blog posts describing how to add trees, tabs and all manner of other things to vim and how this makes it even cooler. Really funny.

0 pointsrobomartin13y ago0 comments

The other really funny thing is to see articles and blog posts describing how to add trees, tabs and all manner of other things to vim and how this makes it even cooler. Really funny.

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3 comments · 1 top-level

avenger12313y ago· 2 in thread

I agree with the usefulness of Vim on Linux servers. I would say that everyone is different in how they approach their work and in the case of software development, the tools they use.

I wouldn't consider it funny that someone would want to optimize a very important tool to make it more functional. The tools we use for software development are both a curse and a blessing. A curse that there is no ONE TRUE WAY of doing something and a blessing that we can build and mold the tools to accomplish what we need.

I am not religious about Vim or any other text editor but I can definitely appreciate others wanting to optimize their usage.

Personally, I find that once you have setup Vim the way you want, its pretty much on autopilot. I would say that if someone is a natural tinker, Vim is the best black hole one can get into as there can be no end to the tinkering.

robomartinOP13y ago

Yours is an absolutely reasonable non-fanatical position on this topic. No issues whatsoever.

My blood pressure goes up when people start to get religious about this stuff. Some go as far as proposing that one can only be a professional programmer if one uses vim, which is utter nonsense.

goldfeld13y ago

Well you've come off as quite the extremist shouting to the rooftops that people shouldn't try to be super efficient with vim. People who might not go out on a limb to say everyone should do it too. As for your comment on tabs and trees, sorry, those are heretics. True vim followers use buffers only.

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