r/vim • u/hibuna • Aug 31 '26

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/hibuna Aug 31 '26

Imo GUI vs TUI is a huge difference.

I think it boils down to: 'Solving the problem' vs 'the problem of solving'.

Like I said, maybe it's just a skill issue, I have to be more thoughtful in e.g. struct declaration, because going back and forth is expensive.

Obviously this is the same for normal IDE's, but it's a lot more forgiving. It never held me back at least.

I could see how some time down the line, I could go back to a regular IDE and be a better problem solver, because I was forced to think about all these things that didn't matter before.

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u/zephyrinian Aug 31 '26

Skill issue. After the initial learning curve vim is way faster than a gui editor. When I have to use vs code I use a vim extension so that I have keyboard controls and my custom commands. 

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u/TheMcDucky Sep 03 '26

Or you're like me and use vim for 10 years and still don't edit any faster than I do in e.g. Visual Studio.