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Comment by gt2 | Hacker News Reader

Long time vim lover here as well, but I guess I hear often that for a lot of folks, input isn't the bottleneck.

I've been using vim for about 7 years and for me it's not so much about the efficiency as it is the pleasure of commanding (programming!) a powerful, wellmade tool.

And once the commands become second nature, you almost feel “at one” with the file you’re editing. I feel the fluidity that vim offers me lets me dedicate more cycles to the problem at hand.

This is the same for me, I very recently got over the hump, and finally am a proficient Vim-er! I never cared as much about the efficiency.

Not talked about enough, is the fact that Vim is simply fun. I simply enjoy typing with it. You’re right, it really is a pleasure, and it makes you think about programming differently.

It stimulates a part of my brain regular editors never did. It’s exciting to think about the best way to perform a series of actions, or learn a new command. Or brew up a quick macro to do something wild, no other editor could dream of!

I don't see it as a bottleneck, but focus. Not searching for the mouse or something or stretching fingers to Edit with Meta Alt Control and Shift etc. but fingers where they feel comfortable efficiently browsing the files.

Yes I hear that as well. IMHO most of the time is thinking but when I want to move stuff from my brain to my screen I prefer maximum bandwidth and not having to consciously think about it. To each their own I guess.

Totally. I also find that using it, I'm more willing to externalize my thought process, put code on the screen to reason about it and quickly scrap or modify it if it doesn't work.

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