VIM?VIM is a text editor that got more popular recently on account of ruby developers who decided to switch from TextMate. It’s very powerful but not very easy to start working in. Probably, the reason why it’s so hard to pick it up is the fact that VIM is modal. VIM behaves very differently depending in which mode it is in. It’s unusual (or even unnatural) for the folks who worked only in modern IDEs.
Why VIM?I was using VIM for occasional editing for a few years. You don’t need to be a ninja to do it. Just knowing a few tricks is enough. But as I’m becoming a professional ruby developer in a couple of days I’ve decided to invest some time in learning best practises of VIM.
How to get started?I found that it’s easier for me to learn the basics of VIM by watching people working with it rather than by reading about it. I bought the Peepcode screencast about VIM. It costs $12 but it’s worth it. It’ll give you a good overview of how different modes work. You’ll also learn a few important tricks that will increase your productivity.
After watching the screencast I went to http://vimcasts.org. These screencasts are free but they’ll be helpful only for those who at least know the basics.
When I got familiar with VIM and practised using it for a few days I found this book which I found quite helpful: http://vim.runpaint.org/. It’s a free online book with a lot of recipes. Perfect for knowledge consolidation.
And, of course, practice, practice, practice…How to get VIM?Two most popular distributions of VIM are MacVim and GVim. Sometimes I open VIM in my shell, but only for editing small config files. If I’m working on a project – MacVim is my choice.
Read more: Victor Savkin
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Why VIM?I was using VIM for occasional editing for a few years. You don’t need to be a ninja to do it. Just knowing a few tricks is enough. But as I’m becoming a professional ruby developer in a couple of days I’ve decided to invest some time in learning best practises of VIM.
How to get started?I found that it’s easier for me to learn the basics of VIM by watching people working with it rather than by reading about it. I bought the Peepcode screencast about VIM. It costs $12 but it’s worth it. It’ll give you a good overview of how different modes work. You’ll also learn a few important tricks that will increase your productivity.
After watching the screencast I went to http://vimcasts.org. These screencasts are free but they’ll be helpful only for those who at least know the basics.
When I got familiar with VIM and practised using it for a few days I found this book which I found quite helpful: http://vim.runpaint.org/. It’s a free online book with a lot of recipes. Perfect for knowledge consolidation.
And, of course, practice, practice, practice…How to get VIM?Two most popular distributions of VIM are MacVim and GVim. Sometimes I open VIM in my shell, but only for editing small config files. If I’m working on a project – MacVim is my choice.
Read more: Victor Savkin
QR: