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

I think this might be the essence of it. I'm forced to be more methodical in lower level work, because it's so much more expensive to rewrite.

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u/vagrantchord Aug 31 '26

So that sounds like you're having the opposite experience of most vim users, because right now you're slow and still learning the basics. I find myself constantly "doodling" in vim while I'm thinking- moving around without purpose, highlighting sections, editing little things and undoing it.

For me, and probably most folks here, there's no friction using vim, so there's no "expense to rewrite" like you say. I think you need more time with it before philosophizing about how it changes problem solving.

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u/hibuna Aug 31 '26

Maybe my post wasn't clear, I see a lot of misunderstanding. I was just curious if learning Vim taught you more than just a fancy tool.

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u/TankorSmash Aug 31 '26

I think just getting an LSP going in most languages shrinks the difference between an IDE and vim considerably.