Re: App to help with Deliberate Practice / Mavis Beacon Teaches Vim?

Thanks for your insights, Tony. I think these will be particularly
useful to an intermediate Vim user, although diving in to these
resources as a beginner certainly won't hurt.

I think what I'm looking for is something like vimtutor, but just
slanted a little more toward developing muscle-memory. I want a solid
base of knowing that "w" goes to the next word, and that "h" means
left and "l" means right, for example. I know this sort of thing is
probably ridiculously easy for you, but that's where I'm at.

Thanks,
Duane

On Apr 7, 11:41 pm, Tony Mechelynck <antoine.mechely...@gmail.com>
wrote:
> On 08/04/10 04:44, Duane Johnson wrote:
>
>
>
> > Hi All,
>
> > When I learned to touch type in high school, we used an application
> > similar to "Mavis Beacon Teaches Typing" that drilled character
> > sequences into my muscle memory.  I think there was a real advantage
> > to this approach over simply stumbling through the process of learning
> > to type.  The application chose intentionally difficult sequences and
> > required that I practice those ones over and over again.  The result
> > was that I could touch type the unusual sequences at nearly the same
> > rate as regular sequences, and my overall achievement in touch typing
> > was quite remarkable.  (I have since lost my edge, as I now only type
> > at about 85 WPM).
>
> > This approach to learning seems very similar to what modern psychology
> > has identified as the way in which people become experts: Deliberate
> > Practice [1].  The idea is that expertise is not accidental and comes
> > through a designed learning process [2].  Some of the important
> > elements include:
>
> > 1. Identifying specific elements that need to be improved and then
> > working intently on them.
> > 2. A great deal of repetition.
> > 3. Feedback.
>
> > I am fairly new to Vim and am interested in taking a disciplined
> > approach to learning how to navigate and modify code using its
> > powerful stateful approach to text editing.  In particular, I want to
> > eventually learn how to refactor code without thinking too much about
> > what keys I'm pressing.
>
> > Are there any "Mavis Beacon Teaches Vim" type programs or plugins out
> > there that would help me accomplish this?
>
> > Thank you,
> > Duane Johnson
>
> > [1] (PDF)http://projects.ict.usc.edu/itw/gel/EricssonDeliberatePracticePR93.pdf
> > [2]http://www.openeducation.net/2008/11/02/deliberate-practice-%E2%80%93...
>
> Well, my take on this question is that the one and only skill that needs
> to be mastered letter-perfect by every person who wants to become really
> efficient _by means of_ Vim is to learn how to use the help, including
> helptag completion, the various ways to call it (Ctrl-D for "list all
> matches" and I recommend also 'wildmenu'), and the :helpgrep command.
>
> See:
>         :help
>         :help :help
>         :help {subject}
>         :help :helpgrep
>                 (and, for :helpgrep, the following come handy:
>                 :map     <F2>      :cnext<CR>
>                 :map     <S-F2>    :cprev<CR>
>                 :map     <F3>      :cnfile<CR>
>                 :map     <S-F3>    :cpfile<CR>
>                 :map     <F4>      :clast<CR>
>                 :map     <S-F4>    :cfirst<CR>
>                 -- look them up.)
>         :help index
>         :help doc-file-list
>         :help 'wildmode'
>         :help 'wildmenu'
>         :help 'wildoptions'
>         :help cmdline-completion
>
> An accessory task, which I wouldn't call a skill, is to read every post
> on one or more of the Vim lists: vim_use in all cases, vim_multibyte if
> you're interested in Unicode and/or non-Latin scripts, vim_mac if you're
> on a Mac computer, vim_dev if you're interested in compiling your own
> Vim, and/or in tracking and/or fixing bugs in Vim, and/or in developing
> new features. You don't need vim_announce if you get one (or more) of
> the others. It's by reading these lists that I learnt most of what I
> know about Vim; but using the help comes first.
>
> Everything else you can learn when and if needed, and you can't know in
> advance how often (if at all) you'll need it. What you need most often
> you'll learn by doing anyway, no need to deliberate-practice it.
>
> If you want to become an expert _about_ Vim, i.e. know all its ins and
> outs perfectly on the tips of your fingers, then you came too late: for
> that skill, you would have had to be borne Bram Moolenaar. ;-)
>
> Best regards,
> Tony.
> --
> Ask Not for whom the Bell Tolls, and You will Pay only the
> Station-to-Station rate.

--
You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist.
Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to.
For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php

To unsubscribe, reply using "remove me" as the subject.