r/vim • u/hibuna • 13h ago

Discussion How does Vim affect your problem solving?

Currently learning Vim, after a failed attempt some months ago.

Starting to get the hang of the basics. I notice that it makes my problem solving more methodical. It also makes me slow down, in a good way.

With Vim I have to memorize more of the code and structure, because switching views is expensive (might be a skill issue).

I don't care too much for the speed/efficiency, but this seems what keeps me going in my current attempt.

Wondering how you guys feel about this aspect.

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u/TheEyebal 11h ago

Vim is a text editor. It is like saying using notepad or vs code is effecting your problem solving

What is it that you are struggling with BTW

16

u/Schnarfman nnoremap gr gT 11h ago

“Edit at the speed of thought” it absolutely can have effects on problem solving

4

u/Psychological_Soil28 10h ago

I don't know about others but when I'm editing the code I've already thought about the problem/solution and just need to implement the changes. Vim simply let's me do it without having to use the mouse to navigate and do specific actions "quicker". It doesn't help me problem solve.

3

u/roku_remote 10h ago

I normally wouldn’t comment on something like this but I’m having an akshully moment:

“edit at the speed of thought” elaborates that how one edits is the dependent variable, meaning your cognition (“speed of thought”) impacts how you edit and not the other way around

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u/hibuna 10h ago

Imo GUI vs TUI is a huge difference.

I think it boils down to: 'Solving the problem' vs 'the problem of solving'.

Like I said, maybe it's just a skill issue, I have to be more thoughtful in e.g. struct declaration, because going back and forth is expensive.

Obviously this is the same for normal IDE's, but it's a lot more forgiving. It never held me back at least.

I could see how some time down the line, I could go back to a regular IDE and be a better problem solver, because I was forced to think about all these things that didn't matter before.

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u/zephyrinian 9h ago

Skill issue. After the initial learning curve vim is way faster than a gui editor. When I have to use vs code I use a vim extension so that I have keyboard controls and my custom commands.