6. Vim

What is Vi(m)?

Have a look at Vim on Wikipedia to get an introduction what vi or vim is.

The power of Vi(m)

There’s this good old joke:

How do you generate a random string?
Put a web developer in front of Vim and tell him to save and exit.

Even if it feels weird at first and if it’s annoying as hell, mastering vim can be really helpful in IT. Reasons why you should learn how to use it are:

  • It can be used when working on a shell

  • It can be used to commit messages via Git

  • There’s a vi-mode included in a lot of editors (e.g. Sublime Text)

  • Once you know Vim, it becomes a really powerful tool and you become very efficient

  • You don’t need to take the mouse for most operations

  • You look like a bad ass hacker

Learning Vi(m)

You should now learn how to use Vim. There are 2 different options:

  • Head over to the VIM Adventures and do the tutorial

  • Run the vimtutor program on your shell

Note

You can always start with basics now, then carry on with the next chapter and come back here later.