I'm Returning to Vim

About six months ago, I left Vim behind. My goal then was to have an easier IDE type experience while I learned Python without having to bury myself in a ton of plugins. I also found myself having a hard time transitioning my Neovim into Lua. I was, also at the time, using a DE and a GUI made more sense for me.

My experiences with GUI text editors since then are far and wide. I used Kate first (and for the longest), but in traditional Matt fashion, I also tried out VS Code, Geany, gedit, and several others. Kate was the app that I came back to most often and even now, it’s the one that I’m the most comfortable with. At each stop, the one thing that remained the same is that I always enabled Vim mode or installed a vim plugin. I always wanted my vim motions to be there, and if they weren’t there, I soon left to find a different editor.

Vim, you could say, has rented space in my head, free of charge. And for good reason, of course. Vim is awesome. It’s very powerful, completely extendable, and it isn’t Emacs. Win. Win. Win.

To be honest, there were times during my affair with GUI text editors, that I didn’t even have a vim config on my computer. When ever I did do any vim text editing, it was with stock vim, and goodness, that was an odd experience. But recently, I have been watching some vim YouTubers, as you do, and have found myself interested in moving back to vim if only so I too can be a cool person once again.

So, I went searching for my old Neovim configuration, got it all set up and opened my Hyprland configuration file. I was blown away at how much I had missed vim. Sure, all those GUI apps had vim motions, but it is not the same. Vim just works better and more efficiently than any of those ever could. Add on top of that, Vim is much more customizable, or at least, customizable in different ways. The world of Vim plugins is one that I had no clue I’d miss so much. There’s even an obsidian plugin out there that allows you to seamlessly integrate Vim-written notes into your Obsidian vault.

My re-entry into Vim was one of a happy homecoming. I hadn’t realized how much I had missed everything about Vim until I came back to it. Better search, Vim motions that actually work, easier keybind management, and so much more. I remember now why I loved Vim so damn much, and why I spent a lot of time telling others to use Vim.

I’m writing this blog post in Vim. It feels awesome to do so. Maybe it’s just that I missed feeling like a nerd, but more, I think it’s that I really enjoy the way Vim looks, feels and functions, more so than any other text editor. When you use vim, you build it up to basically become your own creation. Everyone’s configuration is different, everyone uses different plugins and keybindings. It’s the Arch Linux of text editors, you build it up yourself. Like my last blog post where I talk about how I missed the freedom that comes with using a Window Manager, this feels the same way. I feel free again. The difference is that I felt constrained when I used Gnome or KDE, whereas I never really felt that way in the GUI text editors, or to say it more accurately, I didn’t notice that I felt that way. Not until, that is, I used Vim again.

So, I’m returning to Vim. Or more, I have returned. And I feel good about it. I’ve spent some time updating my config, that was fun, and I have actually delved into some scripting, something that I seem to have avoided for the last few months. Vim makes me feel like a nerd again, and while that may seem like a silly thing to say, it is very true.

Hope everyone has a good week.

Matt

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