499
submitted 1 day ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]
top 50 comments
sorted by: hot top new old
[-] [email protected] 80 points 1 day ago

I don't know why there's so much hate for Vim. It's simple- just use it as your default text editor since you first started using computers, and keep using it forever, and problem solved!

[-] [email protected] 63 points 1 day ago

Setup for the overused joke - I've been using vim since I first started using a computer, I just can't quit.

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

:set nocompat

Why VIM decided to make itself run just like VI (by default) is beyond me. Isn’t the long name “VI Improved”?

[-] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago

Vims defaults are quite crap overall. It is why everyone needs 100s of lines of configs and many plugins to turn it into something decent. Well worth the setup but it could go a long way to making things nicer to use out the box.

[-] [email protected] 31 points 1 day ago

I switched from vi to vim in 1994 and found it immediately obvious how to quit — it was just like vi!

I guess I'll never understand these memes.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 21 hours ago

An old Buffalo NAS box made me learn vi. Because that's all it had.

Yes, this comic speaks to me.

[-] [email protected] 20 points 1 day ago

I've recently started administering windows headless. PowerShell over SSH.

Don't have this problem on windows server!

It doesn't even have a terminal text editor

I have to install nano or use powershell commands through hoops of fire just to edit a line in a file.

Or download the file via scp, edit and reupload.

Pure Insanity.

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago
[-] [email protected] 3 points 14 hours ago

Ok that's really cool. It looks like it's really new? Like 3 months old?

load more comments (4 replies)
load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 30 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

Personally, I have seen so many memes about exiting vim that by the time I got to use it for the first time, exiting it was a no-brainer.

For any newbies out there, the command is

:wq
[-] [email protected] 1 points 14 hours ago

I'm going to stick with my current process of accidentally opening vim, typing semi-random things that feel like they should work for a minute and then eventually looking up how to quit on my phone.

[-] [email protected] 4 points 19 hours ago

:x is also an alternative to save and quit.

Equally valid for the facial expression you'd make upon finding that out.

[-] [email protected] 26 points 1 day ago

Just to add: possible need to tap esc first, as your random flailing probably put you in insert mode, or something more exotic.

And only add w if you want to save the file. :q! If you don't

[-] [email protected] 7 points 1 day ago

! If you edited the buffer at all. 👍

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago

With random flailing, most likely

[-] [email protected] 15 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

😳

:w = write; or overwrite if the file already exists.

Please don’t give blanket destructive advice.

load more comments (2 replies)
[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

also worth noting you open vim the first time, you get a huge ass splash screen telling you how to exit

load more comments (1 replies)
[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

And if you panicked before and fucked up the opened file while hammering on the keyboard:

:q!
load more comments (2 replies)
[-] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago

Go beyond the lazy memes and see for yourself why it has such a loyal cult!

https://openvim.com/

[-] [email protected] 11 points 1 day ago

The loyal cult is the result of Stockholm syndrome.

[-] [email protected] 16 points 1 day ago

Stockholm syndrome came from a bs flawed study so shrugs

[-] [email protected] 14 points 1 day ago

That's exactly what a Stockholm syndrome victim would say!

[-] [email protected] 6 points 1 day ago

Of course. We just can't quit

[-] [email protected] 8 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

I use VS Code mainly and I always want to go to the end of a line and beginning. On Mac it's like CTRL+E and CTRL+A respectively. On Windows, I was like, I guess I could do Windows Key and arrows but it felt off. Installing Vim bindings on VS Code just fixed this all for me. I love it.

[edit] for non-VIM users, you can skip words and go-to braces (and delete what's in them) and highlight within quotes very easily ... for function search, the built-in VS Code is really good too. I also have Harpoon installed to hop between files. If it doesn't appeal to you, then that's cool too! Whatever keeps you in there. [/edit]

I've tried setting up my own vim stuff and I always bail out because I can't figure something out. I feel like I need to really sit with it and I'd have the perfect set up for me.

Lastly, I've installed vim for zsh and it's the best. I can hop all around my terminal and highlight and remove things. It's so beautiful.

load more comments (2 replies)
load more comments (18 replies)
[-] [email protected] 1 points 21 hours ago

Vim is pretty amazing. Almost everywhere now too.

[-] [email protected] 1 points 2 hours ago* (last edited 2 hours ago)

Honestly if there was an award for keybindings for style in terms of the way something like the MLA style guide would describe "good style" in the context of english, Vim would easily win it. It is one of the oldest, most coherent, extendable, fast, joyful and resilient conceptions of how to manipulate text with a keyboard ever created and it is awesome how it is such a compelling idea that it no longer exists as a literal codebase at this point, but rather a style and philosophy of keybindings.

It is shockingly beautiful even if you find it annoying to use in practice (I get it).

For example, the Qutebrowser is just awesome, I don't care if you don't like vim you can't argue with the power, ease of use and minimal UI the system requires in exchange for all the control you could want for navigating web pages without needing a mouse.

The utility of vim keybindings in my opinion extends further into a lot of unexplored accessibility benefits because any vim style input scheme to a program is going to be by definition a nice limited set of inputs someone can custom map to their accessibility hardware or software to have full control over a software and they won't have to worry about needing a mouse at super annoying parts because they know that is against The Core Commandments Of Vim.

When making a custom or 3rd party controller to a software, there is always the problem of how many control inputs are you going to need, some softwares go nuts with unnecessary keybindings for silly things that becomes a nightmare to try to map a custom hardware/software controller to. Vim keybindings on the other hand well... it is the keyboard proper and that is it, boom done....

[-] [email protected] 9 points 1 day ago

You have heard of :wq, but have you heard of ZZ

load more comments (3 replies)
[-] [email protected] 3 points 1 day ago
[-] [email protected] 1 points 21 hours ago

Recently I decided to try ed for real and used it exclusively for a coding project. There is a certain joy in the simplicity, but ultimately I found myself printing lines and searching files more than I liked. And rewriting long lines instead of getting the substitutions wrong again.

load more comments
view more: next ›
this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2025
499 points (97.5% liked)

Programmer Humor

23995 readers
1222 users here now

Welcome to Programmer Humor!

This is a place where you can post jokes, memes, humor, etc. related to programming!

For sharing awful code theres also Programming Horror.

Rules

founded 2 years ago
MODERATORS