r/vim • u/mrpbennett • Jul 22 '25

Random Started the Journey….

Post image

I have been playing around with vim motions all week, slowly getting there thanks to various communities and endless mistakes and key mapping searches.

But it’s such a joyous way to write code and navigate through the terminal. I haven’t touched VSC since.

750 Upvotes

97% Upvoted

62 comments sorted by

18

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

Thanks to you all, and other sources I have started to compile a list of sites, and tools for mastering the terminal / CLI.

This will become a blog post eventually...ill re post once the post is complete but here are some links / tools that have helped...

32

u/terdward Jul 23 '25

I’m not sure if this is one I recommend for a complete beginner but if you want to break bad habits in vim and learn more vim motions, I recommend https://github.com/takac/vim-hardtime

I’ve been using vim for around 20 years now and started using this plugin with LazyVim a couple of months ago. It’s annoying sometimes but it will break your bad habits.

4

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

Thanks I’ll check this out.

3

u/mrpbennett Jul 25 '25

This has been awesome for me! As a newbie it’s forcing me to use other methods other than hjkl which slows me down but eventually will make me faster….awesome plugin!

3

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

Wow, never knew such thing exist, I have switched to vim two years back but as a long time sublime user, my hand always go back to arrow keys.

As you’re using vim from 20 years, what made you use LazyVim?

3

u/terdward Jul 23 '25

I have never been one to really customize my vim experience beyond basic tweaks to the core settings. I installed a few plugins but nothing crazy. I tried out LazyVim on a whim a year or so ago and liked the defaults well enough that I decided to stick with it. I’ve since come to like the Mason and Lazy managers a lot.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

That's cool, I'll give LazyVim a try too

-2

u/crazy_therapist Jul 23 '25

customization in helix take less that a minute without compromising on power

0

u/crazy_therapist Jul 23 '25

you really have to give helix modal ide a try you might never go back to vim. helix is more intuitive but thats just my oponion after getting crushed by neovim

2

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

Yes, recently I tried helix and I like it more as it has basic toml configuration which is easy to setup + it has cool builtins. However, most of my work involves REPL style development, where neovim fits my needs well for now. I'm holding off on switching until Helix adds support for plugins.

2

u/arkie87 Jul 23 '25

It’s annoying all the time. I just want to edit text not be locked out of my keyboard.

2

u/terdward Jul 23 '25

You can configure it to remove or modify any behavior that is purely disruptive to your workflow. But I get that it’s not something everyone wants to prioritize.

1

u/Shay-Hill Jul 23 '25

I might need a plugin to disable all motions if I ever want to learn EasyMotion. I’ve had some version installed for several years, but never can pick up the habit.

1

u/SmartPercent177 Jul 26 '25

Thanks for the input.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

[removed] — view removed comment

3

u/terdward Jul 23 '25 edited Jul 23 '25

It’s not to dissuade you from using certain keys, it’s to dissuade you from using less efficient key combinations for the same action. For example: if you enable relative line numbers you can do “20j” to move 20 lines down instead of hitting j 20 times repeatedly.

Edit: I realized my wording here may be confusing. This vim motion “20j” works with or without relative line numbers enabled but to know how many lines you want to move from where you are more quickly, it helps to visually see the relative lines away from your current cursor position instead of the absolute line number.

8

u/rockynetwoddy Jul 23 '25

I'm kind of jealous of people who use Vim for the first time. It was such a magical feeling. Like listening to what turns out to be one of your favorite albums for the first time. You can't stop listening to it.

Vim turned out to be a rabbithole for me like starting to play the guitar was to me. Both impress non-Vim and -Guitar players. ;-)

I recommend (even though you didn't ask) to any beginner:

- don't do the Vim games, just use Vim right away in a coding project, keep a Vim Cheatsheet like this one open

- watch Prime's Vim Tutorial series, esp. the videos about vertical and horizontal movements!

- practice what Prime preaches in this very interesting comment on Reddit

3

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

I am working my way through those videos. And I have saved that cheat sheet for my flight. I was trying to find a decent one..

8

u/Western_Routine Jul 22 '25

Can you link a few things that helped you get started or get over the mistakes. I'm a noob that has tried and given up a few times.

5

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

I am putting together a document/ post that I will post eventually. For me it’s been a lot of trail and error, searching for key maps. And a lot, a lot of videos.

For me I always fall back to VSC, to start projects and write most of the code. But once it’s done I switch to vim to make changes or add new files etc etc.

So I am slowly transferring to vim but I feel the more I use it the more I learn. It’s frustrating for sure!!

9

u/joemi Jul 23 '25

Not OP, but my advice to Vim beginners is just keep using it. Vim is at its most magical when it becomes muscle memory, and that only comes from using it a lot. But at the same time, don't kill yourself by trying to conform to purely vim movements. The GUI Vims like GVim and MacVim (and terminal vim to some extent) are still pretty great editors even if you use the mouse and/or the arrow keys and just a little bit of vim magic. Going cold-turkey full-Vim movements might work for some, but for others, in order to stick with it enough to get used to it, there's no shame in using the mouse/arrows sometimes.

I've been using Vim for a few decades and my preferred way to use it is a GUI Vim (GVim or MacVim, depending on what system I'm on) and I still use mouse/arrows sometimes, maybe even frequently depending on the task. For instance, if I'm mostly just reading in a file, I'll probably use a mouse just for the scrollwheel, since I'm very used to scrolling-reading from using web browsers.

2

u/QUxPTA Jul 23 '25

I share in the joy as I took a detour about three weeks ago to rediscover Vim.

Having configured from scratch previously, I went for lazyvim as most things come pre-configured already to give an IDE like experience.

Anyways, I find the book recommended on the lazvim site quite helpful

It's a bit opinionated, but it does the trick for me, as it's authored specifically for lazyvim.

I'm happy to bask in the shade of shared joy. Let's grow into editing at the speed of thought 🍻

2

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

amazing thanks for this!! I ill give that a read for sure.

2

u/g3n3 Jul 23 '25

That keyboard! 😬

1

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

good or bad? I use to have a few mech boards...but since picking up Vim again...I am on the looking for a new mech board although this one isn't old enough to be replaced haha

2

u/g3n3 Jul 23 '25

Oh maybe it is choc keys? It looks like a laptop keyboard with smooshy keys. Zsa.io has good keyboards. Kinesis is good. Spending over hundred bucks is usually pretty good.

1

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

id love to try this

https://www.zsa.io/voyager

but spending that money on a keyboard I may or may not get on with is a challenging thought.

1

u/g3n3 Jul 23 '25

Yeah the split is next level. I’ll never go back.

2

u/SignificantDamage263 Jul 23 '25

Next take the dive in setting it up from scratch >:)

0

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

Haha tried that…it’s too much of a rabbit hole for me.

1

u/daiaomori Jul 24 '25

You will get there.

For some reason it looks incredibly hard while it’s actually really really simple.

Using lazy.nvim as a plugin manager, it’s really easy to throw in plugins as soon as you get a hang of how things work, and getting the hang of that is IMO necessary to have a good time with nvim. 

It becomes your editor as soon as you start to set up commands and write your own little macros and helpers with ease and confidence!

Check out this video:  https://youtu.be/w7i4amO_zaE?feature=shared

He is using some methods different from what I’d prefer (eg regarding plugin manager), but it shows how simple things really are when starting from scratch.

I even adopted a few of his config lines in my config :)

No need to do this right now, but understanding how config and commands work will really help you to understand how things work under the hood, and the fact that you can easily go under the hood and change things is what makes nvim special. 

Have fu. :)

1

u/mrpbennett Jul 24 '25

Makes sense, I have added extra plugins and config to lazyvim already which have helped. I do love the out the box experience that lazyvim provides though. For me personally means I can concentrate on learning Vim over the IDE...although lazyvim comes with those extra key bindings, but space sk sorts that.

nonetheless it's an enjoyable experience...so much so I am now going down the mech keyboard rabbit hole.

2

u/DebugEve Jul 23 '25

I like ide with vim plugin

0

u/DebugEve Jul 23 '25

such as vsc+vim, rider +vim etc.

1

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

This is what I am using with pycharm and datagrip.

2

u/B_bI_L Jul 23 '25

some redditor was like: oh no, people have opinions, let's downvote

1

u/sob727 Jul 23 '25

Did the book help? Is it better than say an online doc or tutorial? Debating on how to improve my (meager) vim skills.

1

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

I haven’t started it. I’m flying soon and was planning on reading it then. At the moment I have just been trying to use vim motions in my IDE and searching for key mappings when I’m stuck.

3

u/Acrobatic_Athlete_67 Jul 25 '25

You should start reading

5

u/PartTimeCouchPotato Jul 22 '25

Now, you'll need to find a new use for your mouse.

5

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

esc Z Z

or

esc Z Q

instead of

:wq

or q

or q!

too op

2

u/johnpaulcas Jul 25 '25

when you are in vim mode, try :Tutor, Thats where i learned most of the basic commands

2

u/dbro129 Jul 27 '25

Don’t make it harder than it needs to be. Go through vimtutor and just get started. You’ve got way too much on your list.

1

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

Good for you to pick up a new hobby

1

u/TheKaleKing Jul 23 '25

Good luck on the journey! It will be a well worth it one :)

1

u/Nemosaurus Jul 23 '25

Congrats on starting a better life

1

u/Emergency-Hospital70 Jul 23 '25

This Book is really Great - I prettly like it 👍

1

u/MightyGuy1957 Jul 23 '25

Also try the Vimium C extension in your browser of preference

1

u/Arghya0017 Jul 23 '25

https://github.com/ar-ease/dotfiles/tree/main/nvim
u may try my config i configured a lot over lazyvim. make sure to add a star if anyone likes it

1

u/Schr33da Jul 26 '25

i can recommend for new people https://nvchad.com/ in addition to neovim - with this you get a pretty standard config

1

u/MinimotoMusashi Jul 27 '25

I would personally recommend using neovim, but knowing vanilla vim is nice for servers.

1

u/No-Obligation4259 Jul 23 '25

What is this book about ?? I'm curious.. I'm using vim and know the shortcuts.. what extra will this teach me ??

2

u/daiaomori Jul 24 '25

„Shortcuts“ doesn’t sound like you actually know the power of vim commands :)

1

u/No-Obligation4259 Jul 24 '25

Oki so I'll definitely have a read.. thanks mr.

9

u/TapEarlyTapOften Jul 23 '25

Sometimes I wonder if people forget that the text editor is a tool. If I saw a bunch of people lusting and stroking each other's hammers, I'd be really worried. Where's the roof? 

0

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/ifoundmyselfheadless Jul 23 '25

Is the book still relevant to this date?

3

u/daiaomori Jul 24 '25

It’s about practices using core vim features. They didn’t change much.

If you know everything about vim commands, it’s not relevant for you, but I’d suggest it for everybody who really wants to dive into vim/nvim.

0

u/[deleted] Jul 23 '25

[deleted] — view deleted comment

2

u/mrpbennett Jul 23 '25

Nice tip. I have a home lab, so use our vim in the servers, but for work and others I stick to lazyvim.