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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
UNDERSTANDING VI(M)

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
Currently on a mission to narrow the gap
between human thinking and computer
language
Kai Richard König
P A R T N E R @ B I T S P A R K

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
Vi user for 10 years
Switched from textmate
I use VI(M) professionally for a long time
now

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
Before falling in love with VI(M) I used
notepad++ and later textmate

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
Manipulating text is the most fundamental skill a
programmer should have.
The better you are at it the faster you can
translate ideas and concepts into working code.

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
VI(M) has a special
place among all
other editors

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d VI(M) has a special place among all other editors

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d VI(M) has a special place among all other editors

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
What I hope you take away from this
> History of the first flamewar (emacs vs. vi)
> Understand the differences between emacs and vim
> And how to turn vim + shell into a workable IDE

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
'Those who do not learn history are doomed to repeat it.'

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
DEMO like it‘s 01.01.1970

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
ed‘s ideas and limitation?
> Two distinct modes insert and command/normal
> No arrowkeys and no backspace
> Pain in the a$$ to work with
> No idea where the cursor is or what the document looks like

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
A little History of Editors
ed sed
ex vi
emacs
1976
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editor_war
1991
vim
1970

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
Operators and Motions are the building blocks
of text manipulation language in VIM
opertator:count:motion
d - delete
y - copy
c - change
/ - search
w - word
f - find

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
The fundamental difference is how you execute
commands against text
In Emacs every command can be bound any keystroke –
e.g. `deleteWordUnderCursor()` can be CTRL+Shift+Y
In VI every keystroke is a command that can be
composed with other commands – e.g. `diw`
BTW: this resembles the UNIX philosophy more closely

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
DEMO like it‘s 01.01.1990 – sort of

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
You can turn VIM into an IDE with tmux and
some essential plugins

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d You can turn VIM into an IDE with tmux and some essential plugins
Don't put anything in your .vimrc you don't understand!
https://dougblack.io/words/a-good-vimrc.html

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d You can turn VIM into an IDE with tmux and some essential plugins
Don‘t be like me

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d You can turn VIM into an IDE with tmux and some essential plugins
https://github.com/Shougo/dein.vim

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d You can turn VIM into an IDE with tmux and some essential plugins
https://github.com/ctrlpvim/ctrlp.vim
https://github.com/scrooloose/nerdtree

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d You can turn VIM into an IDE with tmux and some essential plugins
https://github.com/tmux/tmux

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
You wont succeed if you don‘t practice – but
don‘t be to hard on your self.
VI is not difficult it‘s just uncommon because we
are so used to the ideas of emacs
Start slow and ease into it - when using the shell to
change code use VI from time to time.
Don‘t go crazy with plugins.

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
Thanks
ʕ •ᴥ•ʔ

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
Questions?

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@ k a i _ r i c h a r d
Slides and Links
Twitter: @kai_richard
Github: https://github.com/kairichard/
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kairichard/