For years Sublime Text has been my text editor of choice, I’ve switched here and there but I always found that Sublime had the quickest load time and was simple at it’s core with added complexity provided within packet control.

Frequently I’ve come across Vim whenever I delve into the idea of switching, and upon further investigation Vim is a more familiar than I thought it was. Often times I’ve searched for one of the most asked questions on stack overflow when writing commits, “how do I exit vim"? Fast forward a few months and now I can’t imagine going back to using another editor.

after plenty of configuration, i’ve got a nice lookin vim

the homework

There’s a steep learning curve but the main idea of editing in Vim really resonated with me, keep your hands on the keyboard. There are no mouse controls here you have to learn how to make your way around the screen with only the keyboard. At first this is a pretty daunting task, it feels clunky and not as effective as using a mouse. After going through all of the lessons in vimtutor and reading a few tutorials I found online, I felt confident enough to start using it for projects (with a cheatsheet on hand of course).

it's everywhere i am

One of the driving factors to switching was how easy it is to keep Vim configured no matter where I am. Any time I switch computers, or even if I'm on my iPad (using an app to connect to my VPS via SSH), I have access to Vim configured exactly the same way by use of a .vimrc file that's version controlled via git.

connected to my vps and using NERDtree plugin to visualize the directory structure

This was key for me considering every time I move to another computer, or get access to a new computer for work, I don't have to go through the process of updating my Sublime config, including themes, etc (though I know you can also sync Sublimes config file via git, Vim has the advantage here since it's basically already installed on every computer).

There are a lot of deeper elements involved such as handling buffers and tabs, customizing how you search a document, and then eventually including tmux into the equation to further streamline workflow. On top of that there are things you never thought about in your day to day editor that you'll need to configure, like line numbers, tab spacing, and further navigation. Once you leap over those hurdles though you'll never look back. The time invested is worth it.

...and yes, I use a light theme 😂.