Vim, the best tool for Programmers (2024)

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Vim is the best text editor/IDE out there. It is the "editor of choice of old-time Unix hackers".

Vim is one of the most popular programming editors out there. It's loved by geeks for its speed, extensive feature set, and flexibility.

Vim is very powerful, and very efficient. It is fast, lightweight. It has been around for nearly 20 years, and when I'm editing text files on a remote server I always reach for vim first .

Does learning vim make sense?

Vim can be used anywhere. In the terminal, in GUI (gvim) and inside your IDE (Jetbrains, VSCode etc). It increases your productivity when writing code.

vim isn't going away either: it has grown in popularity over the last 10 years or so thanks to the efforts of a small group of dedicated developers who are working tirelessly to keep vim alive and relevant.

Since its creation in 1990 by Bram Moolenaar, a Dutch programmer who continues to develop it today, vim has evolved to be one of the most flexible text editors out there. The name vim is an acronym for "Vi IMproved" because Vim was forked from an earlier text editor called vi.

If you are new to vim, I recommend these exercises

Vim, the best tool for Programmers (8)

What can I do with vim?

Vim is a text editor that’s more powerful than notepad. It can do anything from editing small files to programming software. It’s been optimized for speed and efficiency which makes it great for developers.

You can do many things with Vim. Some of these features include:

  • Available on every OS you can imagine
  • Supports most popular programming languages
  • Syntax highlighting and folding
  • Unlimited Undo/Redo
  • Edit files over SSH
  • Record and replay keystrokes
  • Jump cursor through code in ways that are not possible with other editors
  • Super fast, super small editor
  • Excellent file browser built-in, with easy navigation and file operations
  • Supports plugins like NerdTree

Vim includes a GUI, visual selection mode, Unicode support, fast browsing, flexible syntax highlighting and search patterns and regular expressions.

Vim, the best tool for Programmers (9)

Most importantly, Vim uses a natural keyboard-oriented interface for all commands.

Some commands include:

:e filename - read filew - jump to next word:w - write file:q! - quit a file without saving it:q - quit, saving changes:wq - write (save) and quit

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Vim, the best tool for Programmers (11)

Waylon Walker

Data Engineering with python, kedro super user.

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    Iowa State University

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Can't argue about that. It is something that you need to understand at more than a surface level to become effective. It's definitely not for everyone, I would not push it on anyone. I completely get the argument for wanting something that just works well out of the box sot that you can focus on your work.

Vim, the best tool for Programmers (13)

Waylon Walker

Data Engineering with python, kedro super user.

Any great vimmer will tell you that its more about the fact that vim speaks their language the ability to wrap complex operations around simple pneumonics makes editing simple, leaving more brainpower for the actual work at hand.

Vim, the best tool for Programmers (15)

Waylon Walker

Data Engineering with python, kedro super user.

  • Location

    Peoria, Illinois

  • Education

    Iowa State University

  • Work

    Sr. Data Scientist

  • Joined

How did you highlight the ,'s in the gif?

Vim, the best tool for Programmers (17)

Using the vim-multiple-cursors plugin github.com/terryma/vim-multiple-cu...

It's deprecated, but vim-multi is a replacement github.com/mg979/vim-visual-multi

Vim, the best tool for Programmers (19)

Waylon Walker

Data Engineering with python, kedro super user.

  • Location

    Peoria, Illinois

  • Education

    Iowa State University

  • Work

    Sr. Data Scientist

  • Joined

The multiple cursors looks super trick, thanks for the links. I would do the same edit with a substitute. Substitutes are super powerful when you get the hang of them. They can do whild things that would be tricky too do otherwiise.

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Vim, the best tool for Programmers (2024)

FAQs

Is Vim good for Programming? ›

We have learned that Vim is a powerful text editor popular among developers. It's based on shortcuts, called the Vim language, which can make coding and writing faster and more efficient.

Do developers still use Vim? ›

Knowing how to use vim may not be the most essential part of being a developer. However, knowing and using it increases your productivity and you can write a lot of code in a very short time. You can use Vim in mostly every modern Text Editor/IDE: IdeaVim in all JetBrains products.

Why do programmers prefer Vim? ›

Vim has a small footprint, low latency, fast startup, allows for more screen space, customizable and most importantly, once the muscle-memory has been ingrained, it's nearly impossible to switch to something else.

Is Vim the most powerful editor? ›

VIM is known for its powerful features and efficiency, as well as its distinctive modal design, which allows users to switch between different “modes” for editing and navigating text. VIM has a large and active user community and is continually being developed and updated with new features.

What is the disadvantage of Vim? ›

Difficult learning curve — There's a steep learning curve learning all the commands and modes supported in Vim. Then, we'll still have to spend more time tuning settings to our needs. High effort to customize— I like to say that configuring Vim is a never-ending effort.

What percentage of programmers use Vim? ›

If we look at the StackOverflow survey for 2019 about the most popular development environments, Vim is still there on the 5th place, with around 25% of Web Developers using it.

Should I use Vim in 2023? ›

Vim is still the most efficient way to edit text.

Another reason to come back to Vim, even in 2023, is that it's still one of the most efficient available options to edit text. While sophisticated editors like Visual Studio Code (VS Code) have come a long way, there's still no great replacement for Vim.

What is the replacement for Vim? ›

Emacs, Neovim, Atom, Notepad++, and Sublime Text are the most popular alternatives and competitors to Vim.

Is Vim better than Visual Studio code? ›

VS Code is better than VIM for beginners while VIM is better than VS Code when it comes to fast, efficient text editing and with know-how can be set up with features equivalent or better than VS Code. Whether VS Code or VIM is better for you depends on what category of user you fit into.

Should you use Vim for Python? ›

It is very easy to use and learn as it offers an excellent interface for navigating and editing text. It allows developers to add plugins of their choice by installing other packages so that They can be tailored as per their requirements. This way vim can be transformed into a Python IDE.

Why Vim is better than notepad? ›

Vim is an open source configurable text editor. Notepad++, while being a great editor, is very easy to get familiar with. However, being a serious developer, having the most efficient tool is much more important than having an easy tool. Vim's speed is very much faster than that of notepad++.

Why do people use Vim instead of nano? ›

Vim is powerful, but tough to learn. It is so called "modal editor", as opposed to usual editors, like nano. Vim allows you to reach all text with just a few key presses, so if you have touch-type ability, your movement without a mouse would be even faster than with one.

Should I learn nano or Vim? ›

If you are a beginner and need quick edits, Nano is a fantastic choice. Vim, on the other hand, is a fantastic tool for experienced editors and is very customizable. Vim is a powerful program that is appropriate for specialists to use to modify or edit text-based files.

Why use Vim over Visual Studio? ›

"Comes by default in most unix systems (remote editing)", "Fast" and "Highly configurable" are the key factors why developers consider Vim; whereas "Powerful multilanguage IDE", "Fast" and "Front-end develop out of the box" are the primary reasons why Visual Studio Code is favored.

Does Vim make you faster? ›

A key reason why Vim is used is speed. Vim allows you to be incredibly fast when navigating and editing files. Vim also provides freedom and flexibility. You can customize a vimrc file to override defaults such as default indenting and syntax highlighting defaults.

Should I use VS Code or Vim? ›

"Comes by default in most unix systems (remote editing)", "Fast" and "Highly configurable" are the key factors why developers consider Vim; whereas "Powerful multilanguage IDE", "Fast" and "Front-end develop out of the box" are the primary reasons why Visual Studio Code is favored.

Is Vim good for Python coding? ›

Another reason to choose vim is the range of customizable keyboard shortcuts it offers. It can actually be configured in a way that it would not require you to even touch the mouse. As a result, it can significantly reduce your coding time but the Vim Plugins are what make Vim one of the best options for a python IDE.

Is vim better than VS Code? ›

VS Code is better than VIM for beginners while VIM is better than VS Code when it comes to fast, efficient text editing and with know-how can be set up with features equivalent or better than VS Code. Whether VS Code or VIM is better for you depends on what category of user you fit into.

Should I use vim or Notepad ++? ›

Vim is an open source configurable text editor. Notepad++, while being a great editor, is very easy to get familiar with. However, being a serious developer, having the most efficient tool is much more important than having an easy tool. Vim's speed is very much faster than that of notepad++.

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