Saying everyone should use vi is like saying everyone should learn sleight of hand.
Sure, sleight of hand, done proficiently, is pretty damned impressive.
Yet mastery of legerdemain is not necessary to perform everyday manual tasks. Being able to perform tricks might make you great fun at parties, but they're only tricks.
I might not be able to convincingly pull a coin from your ear, but I get by in the world perfectly well without such conjuration.
@beadsland Everyone who codes or sysadmins certainly should learn to use vi. If you edit text at all, not just write a stream of consciousness, it's more efficient. There's other editors better for some tasks, but vi's always useful.
It's not a magic trick, just… manual transmission is more powerful than automatic, and everyone ought to learn to drive stick even if they mostly cruise-control a SUV.
#vi #vim
@beadsland Are you coding in just Notepad, then? That becomes a Green Eggs & Ham situation, then. Try it, SamIAm.
@mdhughes If I'm on windows and can't be bothered to go to cygwin to poke at a file, yes. Haven't progressed beyond Windows 7, have I.
Otherwise, when working in linux, nano is more than sufficient, at least until a project is complex enough to merit a proper IDE.
I open the editor, I want it to behave like an editor -- not like a command interpreter that happens to allow you to enter text.
I did use ed back in the day, deving an LPMUD only accessible over dialup. It was antiquarian tourism.
@mdhughes Sys admins, yes, at least if they have to work on arbitrary servers where vi may be the only thing going.
But programming, no. I don't want or need any modes between me and my keyboard. I don't want or need a program overloading individual keys with commands. Additional power is surplus to my needs.
I grew up watching members of my community shackled to automobiles because society had decided everyone should drive. I choose now to live in a city where cars are simply unnecessary.