ode to vi

i recently had to do a small rails project. so i did what i usually do in these cases – fired up the easiest IDE that runs anywhere – vim.

now let me reminisce a bit – i’ve been using vi on and off ever since i got my hands on linux in 1997, and i have not learned much beyond the basics over the years. it works the same way on half a dozen unixes i’ve used it on, as well as on cygwin and macs; even dreaded beasts like mks toolkit provide it. it is an indispensable cross-platform tool.

it does not require much horsepower, and it fits well with the back-to-command-line ideology of rails.

if all you are using it for is editing occasional file or two, it does everything you need out of the box. throw in basic syntax highlighting, auto-indenting, split windows, buffers – and you have enough to survive.

oh, did i mention the macho factor? it takes some effort to tame the menu-less monster of an interface with a barrage of keystrokes that appear as magic incantation to others.

vi has a peculiar physical effect – i often surprise myself when i remember certain editing commands, but at the same time i am utterly unable to remember them when standing behind someone, advising them what to type – my fingers twitch, but my higher brain functions are not firing.

curiously, this reminds me too much of some of the mainframe folks i’ve seen, or even an occasional SAP jockey. consider it a compliment – there is a lot of power in short mnemonic commands compared to drill-down menus. yes, every powerful system must have a command line, but it must degrade gracefully. with vi the discoverability of interface is pretty much non-existent, and the learning curve is steep.

my current theory is that the muscle memory vi creates leads to a particular form of addiction which explains its appeal (and perhaps the religious zeal).

when i work in a context of a project, where i constantly need to bounce around different files, vim UI starts to break down: built-in buffers support is inadequate. the editor needs to have a concept of a project i am currently working on, and, ideally, the framework i use.

i know that the usual answer is customize, customize, customize – and in this respect it follows very much a linux tradition – if you are 15yrs old, and have tons of time, and only one machine, you can spend days crafting that perfect setup that is just right. having done that a number of times, i have learned that it is just not worth my time – I switch computers often, work on client sites, bounce between different teams, so i want stuff that is reasonably workable out of the box.

i can take it easy and install some basic plugins – fuzzy finder to give me files i want fast, nerd tree for filesystem navigation, rails for rails integration, tComment for toggling comments on blocks of text.

but now i need to manage them across several machines, and perhaps i do not want to spoil my vi muscle memory that can cripple my vi-fu on that hp-ux 11.11 when i come across it (yeah right).

so perhaps i will draw the line and use some other ide for project work, leaving vi for simpler stuff.

to add some substance to this post, a few significant lines from my .vimrc:

syntax enable
filetype on
filetype plugin on

set tabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set expandtab

autocmd FileType ruby set shiftwidth=2|set tabstop=2|set expandtab

set number
set ai
set si

and some of the commands i use often (besides the usual navigation/editing/searching ones that are in my muscles, but refuse to be articulated):

• :e! to reload the file i am currently editing
• :retab i really hate those tabs

• :ls to look at open buffers (the listing is a pain to read, trying to remember what those little symbols mean and matching numbers to file names)
• :e filename to open a file in a new buffer
• :bd to close the current buffer
• :e# to bounce between two last buffers (how can i cycle between all the buffers ala alt+tab?)

• ctrl+w followed by s or p to start splitting windows, then bounce around them with double ctrl+w or ctrl+w and arrows
• ctrl+w followed by <number>+ or <number>- to shrink or grow the split windows
• ctrl+w followed by q to close current window

• zz to center screen on current line, accompanied by zt op and zb ottom
• % to jump to matching brace

• o and O to insert the line and switch to editing mode
• I to insert at the beginning of the line (that i always forget, unlike its companion A)

• m + letter to place a named mark, ' + letter to jump to the beginning of the line, ` + letter to exact position of the mark

• >> and << are much easier for indenting, as opposed to my muscle-memorized number + > + enter

• shift+v or v to do visual selection
• once you visually selected stuff, you fold it with zf

finally, i find the whole :tabnew business utterly useless and insulting.

what i do miss in addition to project structure navigation, is easily looking up/jumping between methods, code block folding that follows language semantics, and decent tabs.

jamis buck blog entries on the subject were really informative and inspiring (especially the comments).