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Comment by terhechte | Hacker News Reader

The one thing I always miss on iPad editors is VIM Binding support: Especially on the iPad, where making selections with your finger is a pain, it is so relieving to be able to do a shift-b, 5j to select a piece of code, copy it and paste it somewhere else.

On normal computers, the existence of a trackpad or mouse makes navigating code possible. But on the iPad, I see a huge need for the kind of editing that VIM (or Emacs) enabled where you don't need to move your fingers from the keyboard to navigate. Sadly, the only way to have that on the iPad, right now, is running VIM in iSSH (needs server connection) or the ported VIM which doesn't run correctly on my iPad 3.

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I have this vision of a custom Vim keyboard for the iPad where every key is labelled according to its function. Hence, in normal mode, 'd' would be labelled 'del' and 't' would be 'goto'. Then press 'd' once, and 'd' is labelled 'line' and 't' is labelled 'upto'. In insert mode, it would display characters, of course.

A keyboard like this (for Vim or otherwise) could seriously change the game for text editing.

Have a special 'keyboard' for entering snippets. Have one for navigation. Have one for actions. Combine them like you combine Vim motions/actions.

Now that is something I look forward to. Maybe that Logitech keyboard with little screens on each character was indeed a glimpse into a better future.

Except you're not supposed to be looking at the keyboard when typing. But yes, that does sound like a fantastic learning method.

And I think you mean the "Optimus" keyboards -

(http://www.artlebedev.com/everything/optimus/)

kickstarter?

I'm not American.

I see a huge need for the kind of editing that VIM (or Emacs) enabled

I'm gonna guess that people using VIM/Emacs is so small a part of the market that apple told us to go pound sand.

Hell, even running emacs across iSSH to a linux server is completely screwed up: Bluetooth keyboards put out multiple key sequences through the iPad.

Please correct me if my info is outdated. Pretty-please. Esp because I would love emacs on the iPad/bluetooth keyboard even if through ssh.

iSSH & VIM should be pretty sound. I don't know about Emacs, there may be more difficulties since it Vim doesn't use the command and meta keys so much. This guy does all his coding from Vim in iSSH:

http://yieldthought.com/post/12239282034/swapped-my-macbook-...

I understand your point about the small market, but if the target audience is developers, then I think that VIM or Emacs compatible keybindings (if only a small subset for movement and selection) are an attractive feature. On the Mac, SublimeText and AppCode, both beloved editors, feature Vim Bindings. And even some of the Cloud Editors (like Ace or Cloud9) have Vim bindings.

I hope it's just a matter of time until the first iPad editor with bindings comes out - and I'll buy right away :)

As someone who uses both iPads and vim a lot, I'd disagree with this.

The iPad screen should be ideal for making selections with your fingers directly because the keyboard and the code are so close together.

It currently doesn't feel ideal, I agree, because text boxes are designed to prevent you shooting yourself in the foot when you touch the screen by accident. A power-user tool could remove a lot of the safety and slowness from making selections.

Yeah, I think people keep expecting the iPad to work like a keyboard-monitor personal computer, when it's a totally different workstation, with its very particular all-in-one input device.

Vi(m) was designed too wire your brain to a cursor via a keyboard. Patching the iPad and Vim, Emacs, etc to work on a touch screen feels like missing the point. Kudos to the people behind Swipe and LightTable, who are looking for the next interface paradigm instead.

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