Thread

1. jurf · 1790523564 · focus · HN ↗

   To be the devil’s advocate here, I think Vim needs less backwards compatibility, not more. In the sanctifying of “muscle memory” it completely stopped innovation, to the point of slowly drifting to obscurity.

   Of the over a hundred students I taught when I helped out in uni, basically no one wanted to learn it, despite my enthusiasm.

   And I sympathise. As I get older, I slowly grow more and more distaste for software that does not respect my time enough to give me properly-crafted defaults. Vim, in the age of modern editors, cannot compete. Not without 20 plugins with conflicting shortcuts and its self-imposed cliff of a learning curve.

   And I’m saying this from a place of love; I’ve been using Vim (at least as a VSCode extension) every day for the last 10 years. But it never really grew up to the promise that the “Vim Creep” essay [1] gave me.

   [1]: <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20190227031109&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.norfolkwinters.com&#x2F;vim-creep&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;web.archive.org&#x2F;web&#x2F;20190227031109&#x2F;https:&#x2F;&#x2F;www.norfo...

   :wq

   1. 0xbadcafebee · 1790527146 · focus · HN ↗

      The simpler and less contentious way to adopt innovations is to make a new tool with the innovation. For example, you might like <a href="https:&#x2F;&#x2F;helix-editor.com&#x2F;" rel="nofollow">https:&#x2F;&#x2F;helix-editor.com&#x2F;

      1. jurf · 1790528224 · focus · HN ↗

         Oh my, I will, thank you.

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