PCpcvonz·Mar 29, 2022
> I’m finding myself doubting the amount of time I’m dedicating to configuring/practicing vim
If it's not fun, then it's probably not worth it. It really depends on what VIM can do to improve your current workflow. So, you may need to drop the VSCode mindset while you start using VIM.
> but now that I’m trying to navigate medium/large projects,
I actually have trouble navigating large projects in VSCode. The buffer, tab, window model that Vim uses makes more sense to me (but it's unique to VIM afaik, so it may be jarring at first). Combine that with a fuzzy finder[1] and it allows:
- rip-grep to search for files with text / file names
- Searching through currently currently opened buffers
Whenever I have to use VSCode (mainly for the live share feature, I find myself pretty lost with VSCode's tab based interface (I usually end up with l
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ike 20 tabs cluttering my workspace, and tabs are local to a split, which is jarring for me).
> the vim endgame looks like
It never _really_ ends. Some VIM features that I miss when I use another editor are:
- Really nice integration with terminal commands. One thing that I do very often is copy the name of the current file: `!echo % | xclip -sel clip` so I can use the filename as an argument in a terminal split (running tests for example)
- Filters (`:help !`) so I can pass parts of a file in to a program that accepts standard input. Example: `'<,'>!jq` to prettify bits of JSON.
- Global commands and macros. VSCode vim supports them, but I've noticed that they can run pretty slowly.
- The buffer, tab, window, model (probably the biggest one I miss when I start using VSCode)
For LSP support, I've tried to migrate to neovim's native LSP tools, but I still find COC to be a lot more intuitive. You should feel right at home with it since a lot of the plugins are similar to their VSCode counterpart.
If you'd like a really general and guided tour of VIM, I'd recommend picking up Practial Vim[2] It really helped me understand the workflow a bit more. Approaching VIM with the mindset of another editor wont give you all the benefits of using VIM. Though, if the workflow doesn't click, then that's not a big deal. You can always go back to VSCode.
[1] https://github.com/Shougo/denite.nvim (many people use Telescope: https://github.com/nvim-telescope/telescope.nvim)
[2] https://www.amazon.com/Practical-Vim-Thought-Pragmatic-Progr...