Learn Vim

I’ve been a vim user for about 6 months now, and use it everyday. Still, it would take a lifetime to become an expert. I’m content enough with my skill-level now to mark this completed.

The more I use vim, the more I absolutely LOVE it. It’s a perfect balance between the bare-bones editors (notepad, pico, nano) and the everything-and-the-kitchen-sink editors (Integrated Development Environments like Netbeans or RAD).

If I had known about all the helpful programming features, I would have used it sooner. First off, it has AutoComplete (a.k.a. “Intellisense”)! This feature can be used to automatically fill in correct keywords, such as valid method names. To use it, in insert mode, type ^xo (hold control, hit “x”, then hit “o” without letting off control).

Another awesome feature: tabbed windows (like what Firefox has). Just type  :tabe to start a new tab.

Vim also has spellcheck built in. To use, type  :set spell then on a misspelling, type z=

This one goes back to my Learn Ruby and write an application on Rails goals. I’d also like to be able to switch platforms easily when I’m writing code, and vim fits there.

Also, Textpad’s incessant buy me messages when you go to save a file is driving me nuts… software should be free.

I’m hoping vim has really easy search & replace with regular expressions, multi-file editing, syntax highlighting, and a shortcut to run code.

First step will be using :h and vimtutor, and possibly getting a book.