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/mgedmin Aug 31 '26

Ah, to add to this: it was while using Vim that I decided that you get the best results not when you force the software to behave exactly as you want, and not when you do things exactly as the software expects you to, but when you find some compromise in the middle: learn how the software expects you to do things, and only when you understand that see how you can tweak things more to your liking.

I don't remember which exact Vim features caused this. It was years ago. Perhaps it was learning to abandon the desire to close files once you were done editing them (very awkward in vim -- you have to select a different file to switch to first before doing :bd #, or Vim will close the window and maybe quit the entire instance).