Re: why is it so difficult to start using vim (may be just for me).

On Wed, 26 Sep 2012 11:47:30 +0200, Deepak adhikari said:
> I am trying to use this editor, searched stackoverflow.com (didn't ask
> though) went to vim.org but very complex operations are explained and
> found difficult to grasp.
>
> just trying to know some basic commands like how to start, exit,
> save/writeout , delete some specific lines. Remove BOM form the utf-8
> file(going to the beginning and deleting this bit)
>
> I seem to not find the basic structure of the commands
>
> I could see
>
> "vim [commands] file ..
>
>
> now in commands I am confused, what if I want to merge two commands
> together.
>
> Lacking the information on how to load a file in buffer, as it talks
> a lot about it.
> How does it generally operates merging commands, writing out,
> deleting, combining these commands ,
> searching some texts from a file.
>
> yesterday I wanted to use vim, and tried to learn it.
>
> basically what I exactly wanted is>>
>
> remove BOM from utf-8 encoded file, remove 2nd line of the text file
> which was imported from windows machine.
>
>
> thought it must be simple to use with such a famous/powerful editor
> but I am lost in the complexity of its features .... talks about vim,
> Ex, vi, command line, visual, so many things to see just to get
> something done.
>
> I would like to know if there are any start up guides, for users who
> came from nano or some other editors ...
> I am not used to editing texts from command line, but now is needed so
> wanted to learn.
>
> hope some of you will not mind to reply me in more simplified
> manner .. with some examples ... and in detail ... from starting it
> to saving it, and exit (of course)
> I hope it is not too much to ask.
>
> --
> Deepak Adhikari

Hi Deepak,

Reading your email, it sounds like you tried to study and understand
some documentation of Vim. That won't work because you learn Vim as
muscle memory in your fingers, not as understanding in your head. And
it takes time to gain such muscle memory. You need to actually USE Vim
to learn it. Several people recommended Vimtutor. I concur, although I
would recommend just learning the basics at first, and saving the
exotic stuff for later.

I should point out that Vim isn't for everyone. The main benefit of Vim
is fast, touch-typist friendly editing. If you don't need speed, use
Emacs for ultimate power or an IDE for function completion and the like.

I don't think you'll find a Vim or vi user who disagrees with you that
Vim (or vi) is difficult at first. I also think those same users will
tell you they're extremely glad they stuck with it, and wouldn't give
up Vim (or vi) for anything.

So, besides doing vimtutor, what I'd recommend is that you start with a
very small subset of Vim:

* Save (write)
* Quit
* Go left one char
* Go right one char
* Go up one line
* Go down one line
* Go to top of file
* Go to bottom of file
* Insert after
* Insert before
* Open line above
* Open line below
* Search
* Replace
* Delete line
* Delete to end of line
* Delete char under cursor

If you learn those, as muscle memory with your fingers, Vim will be a
little more powerful than Notepad, but faster. From there, learn one
more command every day, and pretty soon you'll be a ninja.

SteveT

Steve Litt * http://www.troubleshooters.com/
* http://twitter.com/stevelitt
Troubleshooting Training * Human Performance

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