In the world of software development, speed and efficiency are paramount. One tool that has significantly improved my productivity is VIM, an editor that I use every day in every place where I write code. In this blog post, I’ll share with you my personal experiences and insights on how VIM can revolutionize your coding workflow.
The Beginning: VIM in the Terminal
My journey began with using VIM in the terminal. It was the best and easiest way for me to make fast notes and fix code without having to load a large project. This was particularly useful when working with Xcode, which could take up to 5 minutes just to start working on a project and open the file tree.
The Power of VIM: Manipulating Code
What amazed me about VIM was how easily I could manipulate code to achieve the functionality of a massive editor. Code refactoring became a breeze. In many of our projects, we use automatic formatters like swiftformat to make lint-required changes in the code. However, there were changes that we could not automate. That’s when I started using VIM to move and delete lines faster.
For example, using simple VIM commands, I could select text within quotation marks and remove or immediately paste some new data. I could remove code using “d” and repeat this as many times as needed by using numbers before this command.
There are so many more features in VIM that can make your life easier. For instance, the ‘gg‘ command takes you to the top of the file, and ‘G‘ transports you to the end. If you want to go to a specific line, you can use the line number followed by ‘G‘. For example, ‘10G‘ would take you to the 10th line of your file.
Another powerful command is the search function. Using ‘/‘, you can search for any word or phrase in your text. For instance, ‘/example‘ would take you to the next occurrence of ‘example’. You can then use ‘n‘ to go to the next occurrence and ‘N‘ to go to the previous one.
The ‘y‘ command is used for copying or yanking text. You can yank a word with ‘yw‘, a line with ‘yy‘, or a block of text by entering visual mode with ‘v‘, selecting the text, and then yanking with ‘y‘. Pasting is as easy as pressing ‘p‘.
These are just a few examples of how VIM can make your coding more efficient. The more you explore and experiment with VIM, the more you’ll uncover its power and potential.
This command would delete 2 words in VIM, showcasing the editor’s power and flexibility.
Conclusion: A Modern Tool for Modern Developers
For modern developers aiming for efficiency and speed, VIM offers a compelling solution. Its flexibility and ease of use make it an invaluable tool for any developer’s toolkit. Whether you’re making quick notes, fixing code, or refactoring a large project, VIM can make the process faster and easier.
Remember, the key to mastering VIM (or any tool) is practice and experimentation. Take the time to explore its features and capabilities, and it can become a game-changer in your development workflow.
Mikhail Safir 