Comment by FractalHQ | Hacker News Reader

Comment by FractalHQ | Hacker News Reader

Parent Full thread

I’m the same way- my MacBook trackpad is closer to my fingers than the escape key! Not to mention, in VSCode I can do anything with the command palette with cmd+P without the need for separate modes and without the need to memorize a million shortcuts.

If I know the first letter or two of the command, then it’s only 3 keystrokes away. For example, “Evaluate Math Expression” is “cmd+shift+p”+”ev”+”enter”. The command palette also provides great additional explorability with the fuzzy searchable menu + descriptions.

This is a far superior workflow because I have access to every possible command in the editor / installed extensions (very easily mapped to my own shortcuts of I want) without the need to memorize anything. I can even reverse-search commands by typing the shortcut and it will tell me the commands bound to that shortcut.

I could be missing something, but Vim and family feels like a huge step backwards in workflow for me.

It is really great that your workflow works for you, and you enjoy working that way! It seems like you've spent time getting used to this workflow, and now get to reap the benefits.

Be careful though, just because you are used to doing something in a specific way, doesn't mean that your way of doing it is superior!

This comment comes off as extremely patronizing. All they were saying is that vim is a step backwards in workflow, for them.

They are saying that their workflow is superior to the Vim workflow, which is what I was referring to. Didn’t mean to come off as patronizing

> They are saying that their workflow is superior to the Vim workflow

Yes, for our specific tastes. We're well aware that people have different tastes and might prefer Vim's or Helix's workflow; you can spare us the lecture.

> If I know the first letter or two of the command, then it’s only 3 keystrokes away. For example, “Evaluate Math Expression” is “cmd+shift+p”+”ev”+”enter”. The command palette also provides great additional explorability with the fuzzy searchable menu + descriptions.

Similar deal for me in Emacs, especially with things like ivy or helm. Pretty much anything more complex than an existing keystroke is a simple M(eta)-x and a couple letters (and spaces for wildcards). My setup even extends that to search results, opening files, you name it.

Something like Vim or Helix could probably get most of the way there by defaulting to "insert" mode and having some keystroke like Esc or M-x to temporarily switch into a "command" mode.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com