What is the best way to force yourself to master v

Question

A good while ago, I read an article by the creator of viemu, clearing up a lot of the misconceptions about vi, as well as explaining why it's a good idea (and why it's been very popular for the last 30 years+). The same guy also has a great set of graphical cheat sheets that teach the basics a few bits at a time.

I'm convinced.

I've been convinced for the past 2 years in fact. But I still really haven't gotten around to force myself to learn vi as my primary editor, the learning curve is just too high. When I get down to work, acceptable but immediate productivity (using my current editor) has so far won over tremendous productivity farther down the line (using vi).

Does anybody have any good tips to help get past the learning curve? It can be straight out tips, some other tutorial or article, whatever.

Edit: Note that I'm aware of the vim/gVim, Cream and MacVim (etc.) variants of vi. I kept my question about vi to refer to the vi family as a whole. Thanks for all the great answers.

Update (April 2009)

I've been using Vim (more precisely, MacVim) in my day to day professional life since last December. I'm not going back :-)

Good luck to everyone in their Vim mastery.

Answer 1

My recommendation is to come up with some simple programs and write them, start to finish, using VI.

Odds are, you will be too frustrated at first by the learning curve to force yourself to use them at work or in any time-sensitive environment.

I've done this before to get familiar with environments/editors, and it works pretty well.

If you are having problems coming up with things to write, I recommend redoing projects you did in school (or anything else that you've done previously). This method has the added bonus of letting you see how much of a better developer you have become. :)

Edit: forgot to mention that you should do this entirely from the console to avoid any temptation to use the mouse!

Answer 2

I wrote a guide to efficient editing with Vim a while back. You may find it helpful.

I'd step back for a minute and ask yourself "why do I want to learn this editor? What makes me think it'll be faster or better than my current text editor?" Then learn those features that will make Vi(m) indispensable to you.

For instance, Vim's CTags integration is completely indispensable for me. I work with a very, very large codebase, and the ability to jump to a function or class definition in one keystroke (regardless of which file it's in) is an absolutely killer feature, one I have trouble working without.

Use your .vimrc file to make macros that automate common tasks.

Your autopilot editor-chooser will pick the editor that will get the job done quickest and with the least amount of mental effort. A little prep-work will ensure that editor is Vim. :-)

Answer 3

I've been a on-again, off-again user of vim throughout the years (doing the occasional sys admin job). I just recently started spending more time doing my programming work in it. I'd suggest starting with gvim too. It integrates well with most OS environments, and (even better), you can fall back to the mouse when you need to :).

To get going with vim, run through the vimtutor (bundled with gVim) once or twice (takes an hour or so). I can't overstate how helpful it was for me! Especially the first parts about the different ways to move through a document, and how edit actions are recorded with motion commands, etc, etc. After that, things will be MUCH clearer.

Then, start doing quick, minor edits with it (notepad-replacement stuff) 'till you are comfortable enough to do useful editing at a rapid clip. Then try doing your day-to-day work in it. You'll find yourself pining for the "repeat last action" command in other editors in no time!

Answer 4

You might want to start out with Cream. Cream describes itself as "a modern configuration" of vim. Basically, it is a special version of vim which looks and feels like any other text editor for all practical purposes. But enable the "expert mode" and you have all the power and behavior of vim.

So you can start using Cream as a regular text editor and then experiment with the "expert mode" until you are comfortable enough to fully switch to vim.

Answer 5

Don't use X11?

$ sudu rm /usr/local/bin/emacs

Change your login shell to vi?

First, force yourself to use ed, then vi will seem like a luxury?

Use the vi key bindings in bash?

Just start using vi all the time?

It seems to me that learning an editor isn't terribly different from learning a language. Immersion works best.

I use vi for really quick edits or when I can't use X11 for some reason, but I live in emacs. Really powerful editors are worth taking the time to learn.

Answer 6

Two things that will greatly improve your vi skills:

1. Practice, practice, practice
2. Nethack