Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
"Take a look" at VIM? You can't. It'll blow your mind. You don't really edit text; you're constantly issuing commands to have text edited by VIM.
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That is why I emphasized that I do not normally suggest to people to have a look at it.
I think that HarryT is smart and experienced enough not to run away screaming.
Harry has been learning Greek (!!!), so he could read Greek classics in original. Vim can't be *much* more difficult, can it?
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
(And no, there are no VIM modes; not IMHO. Using "i" is just the command used to start inserting text.)
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There *are* modes in Vim. Five of 'em. The difference from vi is that the Vim indicated what mode you are in (when properly configured).
Quote:
Originally Posted by HarryT
Oh, it's a "vi" clone, is it? I know "vi" like the back of my hand; used it for years on Unix systems during my "former life" as a radio astronomer.
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I that case, here is a short instruction
Install it. Find file vimrcexample.vim and rename it to vimrc.vim - because without configuration file Vim behaves just like canonical version of vi, so you are missing like 90% of cool stuff.
start [G]vim
press Esc several times
type :help
on the command line. It has *very* nice manual built in in form of User manual written by a real technical writer and a reference manual that is better than any documentation I have ever seen for any piece of software.
To see the list of all commands type
<Esc><Esc>:help index
When you edit your vimrc file, put something like
:source mswin.vim
at the end. mswin.vim is a configuration file you can find somewhere in directories Vim installs and has configuration for all the stuff you are used to, like Ctrl+C, Ctrl+Insert, ... so you do not need to do everything "the Vim way" - like using hjkl letters for navigating the cursor. You do not have to rewire your brain, just because somebody things that hjkl is more natural to touch typist than the use of arrow keys.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
Yes, it's a Vi clone... adding about a gazillion additional commands.
After you have learned all of them, you'll find that there's always...
JUST
ONE
MORE.
And if there's not... then there WILL be, with the next release.
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You just use a very small subset of all commands and features. The nice thing is, everybody uses *different* subset. You just need to be aware of all the possibilities and you can look up that exotic Regular expressions metacharacter or whatever when the need comes.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
You either don't use Vim... or you use it for about everything.
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I use Vim where I can use its very rich capabilities. I still use lots of other programs and I haven't installed any plugin to any of my programs to make it work like Vim. I do use key '/' to start searching for text in Firefox. I think that you might have to activate the functionality somewhere ... it's been a really long time since I have configured my firefox from scratch.
Quote:
Originally Posted by Katsunami
It's impossible to "casually" use it.
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I know people that do casually use it. They are, for example, people that have to edit a config file or two on a Filer server (the one from NetApp). They know 7 commands and they know they have to press 'i' to start writing and press <Esc>:wq to save and quit. This is all you really need to know for casual use.