VIM can be a little difficult for beginners and usually they give up, move on and go back to some weaker text
editor and ignore the fact that they would become much more efficient with VIM.
The problem I see most people having is getting their heads around modes and the commands. VIM has 3 modes, 2 of which are important
to you right now: the normal mode and the insert mode. The insert mode is what you can relate to how every other text editing
and processing application uses by default.
For example you type in a j and a j goes into the buffer (or on the screen,
or also know as what you see is what you get), you press an a and it goes on the screen, or you press a / and it goes in–
you get the picture.
However VIM also has this mode called the normal mode, in which you press the j and you
go down, you press the a and it goes into insert mode after the current character and / does a quick search.
It’s a bit difficult to simply read and understand it, so there has been a handy program that gives great instruction
on how to use VIM.
I recommend people of all skill level of VIM to check it out because it is a really great
learning tool. It’s called the VIM Tutor.
To use VIM Tutor you don’t even have to install it, you already have it. Just open Terminal.app and type in
the command: vimtutor
The program will start and now you’re also using VIM. For the first little while it may be a little difficult
but after some time and practice you’ll find that you’ll become very efficient and won’t like typing in another
application at all.
After you’ve practiced with Vim Tutor you’ll probably want to move up and begin to use it more often, on the Mac we have the great port MacVim. And for further use of (Mac)Vim check out how to use it ubiquitously in cocoa applications.
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