For scrolling down a couple of pages, copying 3 lines of code, moving back up, pasting, and then changing a couple of characters, I actually believe I am faster with a mouse than keyboard, after quite a bit of trying to master vim.
1 year ago I was teaching a class and had to give up vim. It was too quick for people to follow.
I'm in my fourth week of vim after using Netbeans for years. I'm still waiting for these magical performance improvements. I think that good, consistent keyboard shortcuts are useful but completely ignoring the existence of modern GUIs and the mouse is just stubborn.
When I work with the mouse, I use my right hand (on the mouse) to select and my left hand (on the keyboard) to cut, copy and paste.
A more reasonable example than using Ctrl-P to Print is Ctrl-S to Save, I think. It's so much easier to hit Ctrl-S when you already have your left hand on the keyboard than using the mouse, and frankly I see no reason to ever remove my left hand from the keyboard.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acme_(text_editor)
Usage for cut/paste: http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=2658527
"For scrolling down a couple of pages,"
CTRL-B and j several times (vs. scrollbar/scroll wheel)
"copying 3 lines of code,"
3yy (vs. select block, right-click -> 'Copy')
"moving back up,"
'' (vs. scrolling)
"pasting,"
p (vs. right-click > 'Paste')
"and then changing a couple of characters,"
(depends on the text)
"I actually believe I am faster with a mouse than keyboard, after quite a bit of trying to master vim."
I would humbly suggest the sum of the parts is greater than the whole, especially the use of marks and (unmentioned here) macros or the '.' repeat command.
Yeah, but then you're stuck counting lines. Whereas with a mouse, you just click and drag exactly what you want.
"p (vs. right-click > 'Paste')"
This is more difficult if you've copied whole lines but want to paste inside a line or replace text with your paste.
I love me some vim, but I do think it's easy to think we're faster than we are. I wonder if I recorded myself and then watched it if I'd think I was as fast as I feel that I am.
:set relativenumber
> This is more difficult if you've copied whole lines but want to paste inside a line
I agree, but the case where I want to copy multiple lines and have the first line start in the middle of a line is very rare in the languages I use.
> or replace text with your paste
That's what Visual mode is for. Personally, I find pressing Shift-V then j a few times is usually easier for line selection than acquiring the left line-selection margin or finding the end of the text.
In these cases I wouldn't say it's faster as much as I would consistent and easier. I do find myself having to clean up slight mistakes more often with mousing than I do vim commands.
point-click-drag, CMD-X, scroll, point-click, CMD-V
Or for replacing a word at an arbitrary location with other text: scroll, point-double-click, type.
Eschewing a tool for "purity's" sake is not a virtue.