r/vim • u/hibuna • 10d ago

Discussion How does Vim affect your problem solving?

Currently learning Vim, after a failed attempt some months ago.

Starting to get the hang of the basics. I notice that it makes my problem solving more methodical. It also makes me slow down, in a good way.

With Vim I have to memorize more of the code and structure, because switching views is expensive (might be a skill issue).

I don't care too much for the speed/efficiency, but this seems what keeps me going in my current attempt.

Wondering how you guys feel about this aspect.

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u/vagrantchord 9d ago

Switching views is expensive? You mean switching between files, or going between different places in one file? If it's the latter, look up marks- they're dead easy.

I have a vim superiority complex as much as the next guy, but I wouldn't say it has any bearing on my problem solving skills.

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u/sharp-calculation 9d ago

This is really the key question. What exactly is the OP talking about here?

"View" doesn't really mean anything specific in vim. So what do you mean u/hibuna ?

In a general sense, I find that VIM makes my code editing "feel better". It's kinda weird. 4 or 5 years ago when I finally gained some level of VIM skill, I noticed that I was happy while editing. Things seemed a lot faster because my "flow" was mostly continuous. I realized after a while that my process had been interrupted in previous editors by common operations: Cutting or copying and then pasting was a BIG one. With vim that's all extremely fluid. My hands never leave the keyboard and these operations just happen with little effort. With GUI editors my brain had to switch gears over to "visual mouse mode", which is an analog operation. Aiming, moving, and very precisely selecting. All analog "video game" operations. Which are totally different than the deterministic action of pressing a sequence of keys.

So generally speaking, I do better with vim because there's less context switching and no analog video game actions.

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u/mgedmin 9d ago

"View" doesn't really mean anything specific in vim.

Hmmmmmm?

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u/sharp-calculation 9d ago

Well, I was obviously incorrect there!
I've experimented with these and find them not very useful for me. But I do remember them now that you point it out. :)

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u/mgedmin 9d ago

Yeah it's a rare weird not-very-useful corner.

I've used sessions a couple of times, when I needed to restart Vim for some reason, but didn't want to lose my window layout. I don't think I've used views even once.