How I Learned to Love Vim and Transit from VS Code to a Neovim Workflow for Coding in a Month

A Fast Transition to a Neovim-Based Text Editor is the way to go!Image created by the author.I have had a complex but interesting relationship with VIM for several years. It started off with pure curiosity. Curiosity motivated me to try VIM when I star…


This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Amy Li

A Fast Transition to a Neovim-Based Text Editor is the way to go!

Image created by the author.

I have had a complex but interesting relationship with VIM for several years. It started off with pure curiosity. Curiosity motivated me to try VIM when I started to learn to code, main-stream working flow from various coding tutorials discouraged me to be a terminal VIM user, but the real-world working environment continued to move me toward IDE like anybody else in a company, but the current working flow allowed me to have fun with coding as an indie developer.

I feel lucky to have a better relationship with VIM. Enjoy the productivity, focus, and happiness that VIM brings to me. So, I would love to share this cute story in this article.

Gave Up Using Vim

When I started to learn to code three years ago, I was quite curious about the use of VIM by some developers on the internet. So I tried some VIM commands on the terminal. Well, it’s cool when I can move my cursor to where I want without using the. I thought I could use the terminal with VIM commands for my future coding projects. But, the longer I learn to code and the more tutorials I follow, the less likely I want to use a terminal with VIM. Because most of the time, the tutor also relies on an IDE to work on a project. To follow along smoothly, I quickly adapt to this main-stream workflow. An IDE like VS Code automatically provides tons of powerful features without any pre-configuration. Especially, nearly every colleague in my previous two developer jobs is using IDE. So why bother using something different from others? And why bother learning VIM commands when I can use a mouse to move the cursor on the screen? With all of these comforts provided by IDE, I found myself at a comfortable place to learn to code and work as a developer.

I did try VIM commands inside VS Code with the help of the VIM plugin. But it turned out to be sluggish. Many times, for some reason, the code was freezing, which could only be fixed by disabling the VIM plugin from VS Code. Good! I thought there were enough reasons for me to give up using VIM. Many great developers don’t use VIM and they still do a great job. So, why bother VIM in my developer career?

Restarted My Workflow Using Vim

Writing TypeScript inside a React App using A Vim-based Text Editor. Photo by Amy Li

Three years ago, a YouTube video inspired me to learn to code without a computer science degree and I eventually become a developer. Around one month ago, I was inspired by another YouTuber, named Takuya Matsuyama in several ways. One of the inspirations is to create your own productive working flow for coding projects. Another one is working hard and carefully to build your own product with extreme attention. And this article would only talk about the first one — building a unique and efficient working flow as a programmer. Before when I was still working at a job, I was more likely to focus on finishing the task instead of figuring out the Vim commands and plugins. But now, I also become an indie developer, with no pressure from my job like I did before, I can freely allocate time for my projects. Still felt scared to work on a project completely with Vim inside a terminal, but I still gave it a try.

Here are the steps I followed with the help of Takuya’s tutorials:

As I happen to work with a similar tech stack as Takuya does. So it makes sense to practice Vim in coding projects that are familiar to me, which helps a lot to stay focused. So, in just two or three weeks, I learned to be confident in building a web application ONLY with a Vim-based text editor. Never bother with my old working flow relying on VS Code. It feels like a life changer.

What I Learned

Do Anything the Vim Way

The key to improving your Vim skill is simply not using anything else. It’s hard not to resort to your old habits especially when you’re under pressure to finish a task. But you can always practice Vim on your side projects. After multiple practices, you would develop an intuitive sense of using Vim efficiently. And eventually, it becomes second nature.

Be Yourself As a Unique Developer

Figuring out which plugins for your Vim-based text editor trains you to understand what you need, and to build a text editor uniquely suited to you and your workflow. We are not some other developers, but only us. We know what we want, and we know what impacts our productivity.

A fully-fledged IDE does make perfect sense in some situations when there are no matched plugins in the Vim ecosystem yet for some project’s purpose. But most of the time, you don’t need to worry about the missing plugins, but only need to figure out the best ones for your use.

Conclusion

Using Vim can absolutely speed up your coding process, and also build nice interaction between you and the text editor. The trust built in Vim levels up productivity.

Thanks for reading. In the future, I will share more about how I use VIM to build some cool projects.

Read Further


How I Learned to Love Vim and Transit from VS Code to a Neovim Workflow for Coding in a Month was originally published in Level Up Coding on Medium, where people are continuing the conversation by highlighting and responding to this story.


This content originally appeared on Level Up Coding - Medium and was authored by Amy Li


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Amy Li | Sciencx (2022-10-18T11:23:40+00:00) How I Learned to Love Vim and Transit from VS Code to a Neovim Workflow for Coding in a Month. Retrieved from https://www.scien.cx/2022/10/18/how-i-learned-to-love-vim-and-transit-from-vs-code-to-a-neovim-workflow-for-coding-in-a-month/

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" » How I Learned to Love Vim and Transit from VS Code to a Neovim Workflow for Coding in a Month." Amy Li | Sciencx - Tuesday October 18, 2022, https://www.scien.cx/2022/10/18/how-i-learned-to-love-vim-and-transit-from-vs-code-to-a-neovim-workflow-for-coding-in-a-month/
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" » How I Learned to Love Vim and Transit from VS Code to a Neovim Workflow for Coding in a Month." Amy Li | Sciencx - Accessed . https://www.scien.cx/2022/10/18/how-i-learned-to-love-vim-and-transit-from-vs-code-to-a-neovim-workflow-for-coding-in-a-month/
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" » How I Learned to Love Vim and Transit from VS Code to a Neovim Workflow for Coding in a Month." Amy Li | Sciencx [Online]. Available: https://www.scien.cx/2022/10/18/how-i-learned-to-love-vim-and-transit-from-vs-code-to-a-neovim-workflow-for-coding-in-a-month/. [Accessed: ]
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» How I Learned to Love Vim and Transit from VS Code to a Neovim Workflow for Coding in a Month | Amy Li | Sciencx | https://www.scien.cx/2022/10/18/how-i-learned-to-love-vim-and-transit-from-vs-code-to-a-neovim-workflow-for-coding-in-a-month/ |

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