This post is a compact cheat‑sheet for the Vim motions and operators I lean on most when editing code.
In my opinion, the best way to fast-tracking your VIM skill set is to understand some principle concepts.
This post is about adding one long‑term efficiency skill to your toolkit: using Vim motions in your editor instead of living in mouse land.
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The motivation to write this article is to encourage you to add an efficiency skill to your skill set that will benefit you throughout your entire career as a developer. Let’s set a scene to get started.
Imagine a pleasant Sunday afternoon at home and you are trying to help someone in your family be more efficient by encouraging them to learn how to “copy & paste” with the keyboard.
Your protégé reciprocates with: “I don’t want to remember that “ctrl + v” pastes text, it makes no sense to press V for pasting, it’s too hard for my fingers, and why would I want to bother remembering that? Look, it’s easier to simply copy and paste from the menu with the mouse.”
Knowing what you know about working on computers; what’s going through your head as you hear that?
Right, I think the same thing when developers list their reasons for not wanting to learn VIM commands in their favourite IDE.