Related
Implicit in that question is that if you enjoy editing .vimrc files by hand and have posted it on the net to brag about your vim-fu, then you and I don't live on the same planet. Also, I'm furiously resenting your petty sense of superiority and am busy making really unfair generalizations about the number of times you've watched Cowboy Bebop.
But the rest of you guys are the bee's knees, and I'm reasonably certain are above average in both intelligence and good looks.
Where was I. I was thinking that if I'm willing to forego everything but just the basic to intermediate configuration options for vim, then there ought to be a pretty simple little clicky draggy web app or some such that could make me a functioning .vimrc. And it might even explain to me in English what those options were doing when I set them. Like a checkbox that says "Would you like your search results to be highlighted?"
Anything out there that gets close? I'm not in vim often enough that I need the be-all end-all vim rig, but I'd like to twiddle a few things.
Converting my comment into an answer:
vimrc.gustavodutra.com/generate
vimrcgenerator.appspot.com
Both really basic, but still, the concept is there, and they are working
First of all, I love the first two paragraphs :)
Unfortunately, the closest you can get is go to the edit menu, and select "Options Window". From there you can see what is available in categories, but unfortunately, you are still going to have to add this stuff to your vimrc by hand.
The thing with vim is an insane learning curve before you start reaping any real benefits. If that isn't really your cup of tea, I would suggest using another editor. Personally, I didn't start really tackling it until it became the primary tool that I use all day. At that point, the learning curve is worth it, where earlier it really wasn't, and I used nano for command line editing, and gedit for gui editing.
I actually like your idea of a webapp vimrc generator (I may actually do it myself after I wrap up my current side project), but to my knowledge, there isn't any existing ones.
The really funny thing is I hate pretty much all anime EXCEPT for cowboy bebop :)
The best I can suggest is steal a .vimrc from a friend, and ask what each line does. Your friend will have to go through all the docs again (a useful exercise anyway) because your friend's .vimrc was cobbled together over the last ten years and copied through who knows how many new machines and installs. Certainly some of it won't be useful, but the rest represents deeply-ingrained finger-knowledge that your friend has spent a significant chunk of his or her life learning. And couldn't unlearn if he or she had to.
In the end you'll have a reasonable starting point that you can easily grow into something that will suit you well.
I recently started picking up vi, going through some tutorials and trying to get used to it. But I still have some questions about it.
It seems to be nice for small one file changes, but as soon as I start to try doing bigger things it seems to be lacking. For example I'm used to have code formatting, import organizing, simple overview over all packages and other things that an IDE gives me. I saw some tutorials on how to use vi as an IDE, but it felt awkward at best.
Now I'm just wondering, what are the typical use cases for vi? Is it typically used to edit small files, or can it be used for larger projects? And if you use it in larger projects, how do you make it work? Or would it be a lot easier to use an IDE with vi keybindings?
People use non-IDE editors like Vi(m) for coding due to the following reasons,
They are non-distractive, allows you to concentrate on the job.
They do not clutter you screen area, offers you more code space
They are faster
They have better/faster/cooler text manipulation at the stroke of the finger
You happen to move your hands out of the keyboard less to hold the mouse, drag it here and there and click.
They also have the flexibility to support other tools like debugger, document viewer, etc.
They also have ways to get things like code folding, etc.
For a normal programmer whose ideal work cycle is sit, write code, test, debug, more code, test debug.. Vi offers a simplistic yet powerful environment to get the work done faster and more efficiently.
For someone who had years of using some IDE, it might be like using some prehistoric tool, but once they have been through the initial days, then there is no looking back. They'd feel like there is no better thing.
Why, oh WHY, do those #?#! nutheads use vi?
I've haven't done anything that you'd call a big project in python (only little test scripts), but I use Vim exclusively for writing large embedded C applications and I have never really felt the need for an IDE.
Vim is fast to start up, extremely fast to use and (with a bit of customisation) can do most things that an IDE can do. It'll do code completion, code auto-indentation and reformatting and it is very good at refactoring. The project plugin http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=69 makes it very easy to manage projects with lots of files and the taglist plugin http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=273 is great for browsing source code. It also allows you to have the C code open side-by-side with python code, assembly code and latex documentation without having to use a different tool for each.
Overall though, I think there is one really valuable thing that Vim gives you that very few other editors do and I would find it very hard to lose that: I can have a window split into three parts like this:
Each of the subwindows can either show a separate file or (as in the screenshot) a separate part of the file. I imagine emacs can do this (although I could be wrong), but I doubt many IDEs can. This can be invaluable for refactoring and for referring to other parts of the file.
I've used VI(M) and Emacs as my primary editors for years... I've tried switching to IDEs but find they can't get out of my way enough. I always end up back in VI(M) or Emacs after a while. One major reason is that I find my hands need to leave the keyboard too much in IDEs as they require the mouse too often... And I'm too lazy to setup my own shortcuts for everything.
Here's why I use it.
it's fast to start up
it's available across multiple platforms and is on all Unix machines
it's fast to use (keystrokes for common operations, operations based around words/paragraphs etc.)
However, I use IDEs for large scale development work, since I can't believe they can be beaten for productivity, given their code-awareness and refactoring capability. I use Eclipse, but I plug a VI editor emulator into it. See this answer for more details.
I saw some tutorials on how to use VI as an IDE, but it felt awkward at best.
There's one thing to do at the very beginning: throw your sense of aesthetics overboard. You will never get the same kind of graphical experience in VIM as you do in a decent IDE.
That said, VIM actually does offer many of the features of a full-blown IDE and has a lot of advantages besides. I use VIM for almost all of my developing work and all of my text documents (using Vim-LaTeX) – even though I've actually paid money for Apple’s office suite, iWorks.
There's one point that's still nagging me, though: I can't get IntelliSense to work. For me, that's a huge problem, especially when using languages such as VB, C# or Java, for which excellent IDE support exists.
So, the learning curve for VIM is steep but once you've passed a certain point it's everything but awkward. In fact, compared to VIM's editing experience, you will find that it's the IDEs that suddenly feel awkward because while they're good at bookkeeping stuff, they suck at editing.
I frequently work on a remote system, programming for a cluster, or editing config files on a headless box. All of these could be done with a file transfer, a regular IDE, and another file transfer, but it is so much faster to just use VIM through SSH.
You can find it (or easily install it) almost anywhere - Runs on all systems that can implement the standard C library, including UNIX, Linux, DOS, Windows, Mac, BeOS, and POSIX-compliant systems.
The ability to log into a remote server and confidently edit a config file is priceless.
Vim is not very good at code awareness. What it is good at is text manipulation. It provides you with the tools for you to edit text, not to edit for you. If you just do "small" edits and don't read up on the occasional "vim commands you wish you knew" you'll never understand the power provided.
code formatting
Formatting is done with =. You can also point equalprg to an external program to do the formatting for you.
import organizing
Vim won't be able to remove unused imports but if you select the import lines
:'<,'>sort
simple overview over all packages
:vs .
This will open a vertical window containing the current working directory :)
In conclusion, vim can't replace your IDE but it will let you edit your text.
As usuall: Choose your tool depending on the work you have to do! ;-) I'm using Vim and Visual Studio. You don't have to choose only one.
If you need an IDE, use an IDE. Vim is made for text manipulation.
It supports any languages. Try to edit a Ruby script with Visual Studio.
Performance on large files is much better than for most IDEs. Try to analyze a logfile having 100k lines and more using your IDE.
It runs on many plattforms and you can use it via a remote console, if you have to edit files on a server.
...
IDEs are specialized tools, which are good for problems they are made for. Vim is an incredible flexible and powerfull generall purpose tool.
This is obviously a hot topic so I'm going to give a list of reasons why I prefer IDE editor for coding.
1) I prefer to be able to fold sections of my code (I don't know whether Vi(m) can) without having to remember the command to do so or type it.
2) I prefer one click compile button/command as opposed to having to remember my compile command and it's library of options
3) I prefer the easier highlight copy paste operations without having to........ aah sod it!!
Well by now you get the picture. I'm not knocking Vi(m) I just think having your the elements and functionality of your coding environment visually represented makes for a clearer head and encourages exploration of options you may not know exists.
I much prefer vim over vi and prefer not to lump them together. Vim provides some features that are really handy and not always immediately obvious. Already mentioned was screen splitting. Also you may want to checkout ctags or exctags. These allow you to jump around the code base from within vim. I can place the cursor over a called method, jump to the definition, jump to a definition within that method, etc. Very powerful for tracing down bugs. Cscope is another similar program.
Vim will also allow you to run arbitrary shell commands within the environment and has powerful search and replacement features.
So an IDE will provide most of those, what will vim provide over a traditional GUI based IDE? That's easy, it runs on the CLI.
This allows me to login to my dev box, run screen (definitely something to checkout for the unfamiliar: http://www.gnu.org/software/screen/) and run multiple vim sessions within my screen session on my dev box. Now when I leave work for the day, I can leave my work session just as I left it, even while running builds. When I come into work the next day I can connect from my environment as if I never left.
Another reason to like vim or vi in particular, is that it can be found on virtually any Unix environment.
I am a quite happy user of Eclipse (I mostly develop in PHP and Python), however I found the answers to "What specific productivity gains does Vim/Emacs provide over GUI text editors?" interesting enough to make me wish to try out Vim or Emacs as well and see if they would turn out to be a better solution for me.
I have the general feeling that Vim and Emacs are not the kind of editor you learn by "playing with it" though. I have the impression you must dedicate some time and effort to "study" them a bit, before you can benefit from their power.
So, I have two questions for the community:
In the linked thread responders have essentially answered by commenting on Vim (often mentioning: "I'm sure Emacs has the same"). Google trends seems to indicate Vim is the mostly adopted between the two, however my first question is: knowing that I have no prior experience whatsoever on any of the two, and that I use and develop (mostly PHP and Python) on GNU/Linux systems (Ubuntu, Arch Linux), is there any of the two which would represent a better option to start with? (To be clear: my question is not about the quality of the editors but it is about what it is strategically better to learn in my situation).
What advice would you give me on how to learn using it/them? I know this is a broad question, but it is deliberately so. Have a look at this answer (unrelated topic) for an idea of the kind of information / style of answer I am looking for [but do not feel obliged to answer that way... any contribution will be welcome, in any form!]
EDIT (on picking the "accepted answer")
I picked one answer as the accepted one just now, but I would like to say "thank you" to all those who shared their experience and advice: almost all of it has being useful to me in some way. The thread has definitively exceeded my expectations! Thank you! :)
I would advise that checking out both is worth the time because of various reasons already covered by other answers or "Emacs vs vim vs XY" threads.
Still if you would have to pick one of them I'd go with vim because of one thing:
Availability
Vi(m) has the advantage that it is installed (not only available) by default on almost any *nix system. So no matter whether it is your system or someone else's or whether you are allowed to make changes to it or not, your favorite text editor and friend is there waiting for you.
Once you know vi(m) it feels awesome in those situations where you ssh into a machine and need to do something with text (navigating through a file, editing, whatever). You are going to feel like a King. I remember several times when I almost freaked out because nano or pico were not installed and I had to use "this ugly beast vi" which made unpredictable things when I started typing (because I wasn't in insert mode and didn't even know what that was) and when I was happy to have googled that ":wq!" gets me back out of hell. Now I can look back and smile about it.
I have the general feeling that vim
and emacs are not the kind of editor
you learn by "playing with it" though
Vim and Emacs are certainly editors that you "learn by doing".
Of course the question cries for including these highly scientific text editor learning curve graphs =)
Vim might be a bit harder in the beginning because its modal editing can feel quite unfamiliar at first. I think motivation is the key here. The article "Why, oh WHY, do those #?#! nutheads use vi?" explains the advantages quite well I think. In my opinion it really is worth to give it a try even while the learning curve might be steeper than with other editors and it sounds like you bring the necessary motivation.
Back to learning by doing.
Something I wish I would have done the first time:
Check out Vimtutor. It is an interactive tutorial which demonstrates the power of vim by showcasing it's basic commands and how they can be composed. Just type vimtutor in your terminal.
This helped me to really "get it" after trying to learn editing with vim several times in the past. The tutorial eases the learning curve dramatically as it explains the commands and makes you actually perform them so they become a habit. It really makes a difference compared to being frustrated because of feeling handicapped. Using vimtutor you also will see what the benefits of modal editing are and instead of fighting or ignoring it you are going to embrace it because you have experienced the advantages at first hand. I guess it would be pretty difficult to learn that all by oneself. So these 30 minutes are quite worth it.
I have the general feeling that vim and emacs are not the kind of editor you learn by "playing with it" though.
My experience with emacs is actually quite the opposite. I tried going through the tutorial, but it didn't seem to help much. The way I ultimately ended up learning is with a reference card and just forced myself to use emacs on my code until I got it correct*. Then again, I do also have a screw loose. Your milage may vary. Offer void where prohibited. You get the idea.
One other piece of advice I recall reading somewhere is to try writing down a list of about 10 commands you want to learn and keep it by you while coding. Once you've mastered those commands, make another list of 10 more. Keep doing this until you've got a big enough chunk of the editor committed to memory.
*Note that the linked reference card is out-of-date. If you google, you can get a more up-to-date reference card.
knowing that I have no prior
experience whatsoever on any of the
two, and that I use and develop
(mostly PHP and Python) on GNU/linux
systems (ubuntu, archlinux), is there
any of the two which would represent a
better option to start with?
I'm an emacs guy, so my opinion should be obvious. That said, you're likely best trying out the one that more people you know seem to use. Having someone who's experienced with emacs (and I'd assume vim) is a great help.
If you don't know anyone who uses either one, choose whichever one you feel is the prettiest or has the coolest name. You won't know enough to know which one you'll like, so you might as well choose arbitrarily.
For vim try vimtutor
I came to Vim when I started using Linux after years of Windows development, and had to do a lot of work on remote systems via ssh. For the first couple of weeks hated it. After that I could not live without it.
Probably the best way to start is to use Vim in easy mode ([g]vim -y), most installations have a shortcut called evim. This runs vim in a mode that is in insert mode by default and remaps keys to the usual Windows ones (ctrl-S to save, ctrl-X to cut etc). You can then use it like a regular Windowsy editor but still access the power of Vim.
There is also Cream which is Vim + a bunch of scripts to make it behave even more like a Windows editor.
I started out using evim and Cream, but found I gradually transitioned to using 100% vim.
Also if you use gvim then most of the functionality is also available through the menus and you can see the keystrokes for the same functionality.
Also read the docs - there are extensive help files available on every aspect. I still browse them from time to time and find something new.
Using VIM, I find the following quick reference card very helpful, especially for the stuff I don't do everyday:
VIM QuickReference
For emacs, you should read the GNU Emacs Manual. Don't try to do everything all at once.
Start with the basic stuff, and then move on to the more powerful features once you're comfortable with the easier stuff.
Some time ago I decided to learn vim beside Eclipse as well because of its powerful textual editing, search and navigation features. But - at the same time - I liked the project handling, code completion, refactoring and debugging features of Eclipse and I did not want to lose them.
Nowadays I use an Eclipse plugin called vrapper which provides me nearly all basic features of vim inside Eclipse without losing any Eclipse functionality. Of course it is not a full-featured vim but it gave me the productivity gain I 'expected' (motions, the dot operator, registers and marks). Also, this plugin can be considered the 'trial' version of vim where you can learn all basic and some advanced stuff within your 'best-known' environment.
There is another interesting approach called eclim. Eclim integrates Eclipse with vim from the vim side so you can use many features from Eclipse within vim.
For learning the basics of vim, this graphical cheatsheet helped me a lot.
I would go for Emacs.
Explicit command name will makes your task easier.
I switched to emacs after I had years of experience with vi and never looked back.
Go with tutorial first.
Hang out at #emacs in irc and people are happy to help you in real time, for whatever more you need.
My advice for learning emacs is to understand that everything is done by a command (written in elisp) that is connected (bound) to the key strokes that you make. The power of emacs comes from being able to write new commands and use commands that are not bound to keys (there are too many commands to bind each one to a command.) as well, of course, read and modify commands that are already in emacs.
Next learn how to use the Help key and how to make a key binding list, then how to search for relevant commands (apropos) and see if they are bound already.
Be ready to take learning diversions into the emacs manual (Help, Read manual, Emacs manual).
One argument in favor of Vim if you know Python is that you can write Vim scripts in Python. See :h python. Emacs requires you to learn elisp.
I find myself gravitating toward Vim for scripting languages like Ruby/Perl/Python/PHP, and for Emacs for languages that are more interactive (Lisp, essentially). If you develop your Python code using an interactive Python shell a lot, Emacs might be good, because you can embed a Python shell right into Emacs. If you write code and run it from commandline a lot, Vim can handle that easily enough via :make or :!.
I really recommend you learn both and pick whichever you like better. They are both worth knowing.
Wow, vi/vim vs emacs, what a temptation...
From a vi-user's perspective...
Always Therevi is on about every unix system ever released, in the default install, and available for Win
May save you from RSIvi uses home-row keys for just about everything, modifiers like control and meta are used only for rarely invoked functions and even shift-key use is moderate. This was probably all just a lucky accident, but don't laugh at RSI. It can happen to anyone, it's seriously painful, it's potentially career-ending, and it's hard to treat.
Starts up instantly.In the past, this was a huge advantage over emacs. Emacs users had to start up just once, and navigate everywhere within emacs. Today it starts faster, but in vi, it's perfectly reasonable to quit out of it entirely on every compile or test cycle.
Has an awesome line-mode The line mode in vi is backwards compatible to the original Unix ed(1) program, an editor that had only a line mode. That is, vi's regular-expression-substitution-engine-/-line-editor was once an editor all by itself.
Easily scriptableGot something you want to do to every .whatever file in your project? It's easy to write a declarative script that will edit a sequence of files. No need for imperative or procedural programming.
Easily extensibleVim, at least, can be extended in Python.
First of all, be humble.
As long as you remain aware that they are very powerful tools you'll be ok. If you are finding a task very difficult, and you are thinking 'it's just me that sucks not the editor', you're in the right mind to learn and improve.
Bram's 7 habits are a good tenets to go by
http://www.moolenaar.net/habits.html
Also I highly recommend having a go at writing a plugin. It doesn't matter what it does. It gives you the impetus to dive deep into the manuals.
Maybe, a good way is to learn vim/emacs while using eclipse. Try vimplugin or emacsplus plugins for eclipse.
This should really just be a comment, but against which answer ...
With Vim I'd suggest using the GUI version for a start, just dive in, the built-in help is excellent (:h and the screen splits adding a panel with comprehensive "hyperlinked" help pages). With vim the only potentially dangerous operation is a write, everything else you do is recoverable per command or edit (undo & redo).
The power acquired easily incentivises the learning.
Here's the way you learn: Start typing. When you hit a point where you want to do something other than typing, look up how you do that. Repeat. It helps to start with a few basics, say 7 fundamental commands. Other than that, when you run into wanting to do some operation, look it up and use it.
This great Tutorial was a big help for me for my first steps in Vim. It is a gently introduction and explain at the same time the philosophy of vim in a pleasant way:
aByteOfVim
The way I learned emacs was mostly by doing both of the following:
All the GUI menus show you the key-bindings you can use to execute the same command as that menu item. Pay attention to the bindings for the menu items you select a lot, and try them out manually next time you get a chance.
ctrl-h ctrl-h (think "Help! Help!") brings up a buffer that shows the various types of help available. If you then hit the "b" key (the buffer calls it "describe-bindings"), you will get a list of all the key bindings that are available in the buffer you are working on. Just peruse that every now and then with an eye for commands that look useful. Try them out when you get a chance.
As for vi, I learned it in the days before vim, so I pretty much had to use man vi to figure it out. Most of us emacs users will tell you that all the vi you need to know is :q! ("quit, and I really mean it"). :-)
But in truth if you are a Unix user you need to learn at least enough vi to do simple edits to config files and save them. You never know exactly what (if anything) you will get when you try to start emacs on a strange system Unix system, but vi is always there.
Nearly everything you see or interact with in Emacs can tell you about itself -- you just need to know how to ask it.
To learn Emacs, learn about the current Emacs context: what the values of things are, what the relations between them are, how they are denoted, how you can change them or otherwise interact with them.
The most important thing to learn is that Emacs is Emacs Lisp -- it is a Lisp ecosystem. Learning Emacs means also learning Emacs Lisp -- the more you know, the better. Lisp is the most flexible and most powerful way in which Emacs realizes itself as "the self-documenting, extensible editor".
Icicles can help you learn Emacs and Emacs Lisp. It helps you ask Emacs about itself. This page gives an overview of the ways it does that: Emacs Newbie with Icicles.
Don't get caught up in the vi(m) versus emacs religious war. They are both great editors. I originally started with VI (real VI not VIM) and later started using Emacs. These days, I tend to use both, but emacs more because emacs has some features I need which are not in vim.
The real challenge and what you should be aiming for is how to be as efficient, quick and accurate as possible with your editor of choice. Both VI and Emacs have a lot to offer in this respect. However, much of it boils down to two main habits you need to develop
Don't use the mouse. Both editors were created when mice were not the plague they are now. When it comes to editing, cutting, pasting, highlighting etc, both editors offer keyboard equivalents. Use them and keep your fingers on the keyboard. You will be surprised how much faster you will become
Avoid the arrow keys. This is for a similar reason. The arrow keys tend to make you move your hands off the main keyboard. In the end, this also slows you down and makes you less efficient. Both editors provide far more convenient functions which are faster.
These are the two main things to focus on when learning either of these editors. There is lots more, but to start with, just start with focusing on using the main keyboard.
After you have got that down pat, then begin to think about how you can tweak your environment to suit your needs. By this time, you will be familiar with the power of the editor you have chosen and will probably have some ideas. Both of these editors are very configurable. I find emacs is the most configurable, but you can easily get lost iin writing elisp to configure things and before you know it, your an elisp programmer who does a bit of PHP and Python. To some extent, the same can happen with VIM, but to a lesser degree. However, note that the defaults have usually been set by people with lots of experience and who probably know something you don't. Avoid making the mistake of trying to modify either editor to be what your use to. Learn how it works with minimal config first and then change once you have an idea of why it was done some way - know the rules before breaking them.
If your serious about programming, your editor will be your most important tool. Other important tools are your screen, your chair and your keyboard. The rest is incidental.
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As a programmer I spend a lot of hours at the keyboard and I've been doing it for the last 12 years, more or less. If there's something I've never gotten used to during all this time, it's these annoying and almost unconscious constant micro-interruptions I experience while coding, due to some of the most common code editing tasks. Things like a simple copy & paste from a different line (or even the same line), or moving 1 or 2 lines up or down from the current position require too much typing or involve the use of the arrow keys ...and it gets worse when I want to move further - I end up using the mouse. Now imagine this same scenario but on a laptop.
I've always considered learning VIM but the amount of time needed to master it has always made me want to step back.
I'd like to hear from people who have learnt it and if it ends up being one of those things you cannot live without.
At work, I use VS2008, C# and R#, which together make editing code a lot faster and easier than ever, but even so I think I could enjoy not having to use the mouse at all.
And not even the arrow keys.
I've been using vi and vim also for some 20 years, and I'm still learning new things.
David Rayner's Best of Vim Tips site is an excellent list, though it's probably more useful once you have some familiarity with vim.
I also want to mention the ViEmu site which has some great info on vi/vim tips and especially the article Why, oh WHY, do those nutheads use vi? (archived version)
Could I live without it? Easily.
Is it useful? Yes.
Reasons for Learning
vi is guaranteed to exist on all Unix systems and exists on most Linux ones as well. That kind of broad coverage makes learning it worth it.
It's much quicker to use vi for a sudo edit:
$ sudo vi
Also, GMail uses vi-ish commands for selecting & moving emails around!
You don't have to be a master.
Just learn
The basics:
How to switch from command mode to insert mode i
How to switch from insert mode to command mode Esc
How to navigate up a line in command mode k
How to navigate down a line in command mode j
How to navigate left a character in command mode h
How to navigate right a character l
How to save a file :wEnter (write)
How to exit without saving (in command mode) :q!Enter
How to Undo u
How to Redo Ctrl+r
You can combine writing and quitting (in command mode): :wqEnter
From there the rest will just make you faster.
Running through vimtutor only took me 30 minutes, which was enough to get familiar with vim. It was worth every second of it.
If you're a programmer who edits a lot of text, then it's important to learn an A Serious Text Editor. Which Serious Text Editor you learn is not terribly important and is largely dependent on the types of environments you expect to be editing in.
The reason is that these editors are highly optimized to perform the kinds of tasks that you will be doing a lot. For example, consider adding the same bit of text to the end of every line. This is trivial in A Serious Text Editor, but ridiculously cumbersome otherwise.
Usually vim's killer features are considered: A) that it's available on pretty much every Unix you'll ever encounter and B) your fingers very rarely have to leave the home row, which means you'll be able to edit text very, very quickly. It's also usually very fast and lightweight even when editing huge files.
There are plenty of alternatives, however. Emacs is the most common example, of course, and it's much more than just an advanced text editor if you really dig into it. I'm personally a very happy TextMate user now after years of using vim/gvim.
The trick to switching to any of these is to force yourself to use them the way they were intended. For example, in vim, if you're manually performing every step in a multi-step process or if you're using the arrow keys or the mouse then there's probably a better way to do it. Stop what you're doing and look it up.
If you do nothing else, learn the basic navigation controls for both vim and Emacs since they pop up all over the place. For example, you can use Emacs-style controls in any text input field in Mac OS, in most Unix shells, in Eclipse, etc. You can use vim-style controls in the less(1) command, on Slashdot, on gmail, etc.
Have fun!
It's definitely worth the effort.
There's one obvious reason that anyone who uses Vi(m) will tell you, and two others that people never seem to mention.
Here's the obvious one:
vi is at once ubiquitous and incredibly powerful, and by learning it once, you gain the ability to exercise that power on pretty much any computer that has a keyboard.
And these are the lesser known reasons to learn Vim:
It's not half as much effort as you think it's going to be. Run through the Vim tutor once (vimtutor at a shell, or in Windows run it from the Vim folder in the Start Menu), and you'll already be well on your way to competence, and it's all downhill from there. I was up to the level where I could use Vim at work without taking any noticeable productivity hit within less than a week's worth of lunchtimes.
It's fun! Editing text is like a game to me now. I actively enjoy it--which is pretty ridiculous, when you think about it.
There's also two good reasons not to learn Vim:
It's addictive, and you'll find yourself wishing you could use Vim commands in all your computing, and cursing whenever you can't. Fortunately, at least for some situations, there's ways to get around this.
Again, it's addictive, and although you won't lose any productivity from actually using Vim, you will waste hours searching for good tips to make your Vim experience even better, and reading the Vim tag on Stack Overflow.
It's definitely worth learning either vim or emacs. It's also worth learning to touch-type. In both cases the reasons are the same: your thinking is no longer interrupted by the mechanical process of getting your code onto the screen.
As to how to start, just dive in and start using vim for everything.
P.S. The emacs-vs-vi debate is endless. I've been using emacs for 26 years. If I started again today I'd learn vim because (a) it's gotten better and (b) there are many fewer modifier keys (Ctl-Alt-V, anyone) and vim users seem to get much less typing injury.
You can get good functionality out of vim by learning the meanings of only 16 keys: ijkdbw9:q!%s/nNEsc. You can do the bare bones with just i:wqEsc.
The first two keys you need to know are: Esc takes you to command mode (the mode you start in), and i takes you to insert mode (normal typing).
To save you need to
get out of typing mode (Esc)
type a colon :
type lowercase w then Enter
To save-and-quit you need to
get out of typing mode (Esc)
type a colon :
type lowercase wq then Enter
To not-save-and-force-quit you need to
get out of typing mode (Esc)
type a colon :
type lowercase q! then Enter
To learn more you can run vimtutor at the command line. It's a medium-length, well-structured lesson.
Beyond i and Esc: you can replicate or surpass some MS Word functionality with only jkwbd3:%s/nN.
b takes you back a word (Ctrl+←)
w takes you forward a word (Ctrl+→)
9w takes you forward nine words
db deletes the preceding word (Ctrl+Backspace)
d3b deletes three preceding words
9j moves down 9 lines
/ ornithopter Enter takes you to the next instance of the word "ornithopter", then n and N to the next and previous occurrence of "ornithopter" respectively.
:%s/confounded/dangfangled/ Enter substitutes every "confounded" with "dangfangled" (like find and replace all in MS Word)
Any of those should be run in "command" mode (Esc), not insert mode (i).
I recently switched to VIM, and I think it's worth it. If you need to "just get something done", you can always stay in insert mode, where vim is (mostly) like a normal text editor.
I've noticed that things that didn't use to bother me, like reaching for the arrow keys, now feel wrong and too much effort. It's definitely decreased my hand motion and usage of the mouse, which is good for both ergonomics and productivity
It depends what you want to do with VIM. It doesn't make sense to learn it only because many people cannot live without it.
When I was working a lot on UNIX environments, I couldn't live without it. Even when VIM was not installed on a UNIX machine, I could at least use vi. You could always count on it -- even if the machine is not yours (that from the customer).
Now I program in C# and mostly work on windows environment. I have installed VIM on my PC ... and I don't need it.
Evaluate if you really need VIM and if it supports you in your "flow of work". Try it out. Play with it. If you think you need it, stick to it ... the learning curve is very steep.
I learnt vi because I had to.
My crazy teacher forced us to learn to program in C using a terminal to an AIX system.
It was a real pain, but worth it.
Today, I only use vi for quick edits or small programs.
When I have to go for a project, I rather use and IDE. In my case IntelliJ idea is very good at the task, because I can code for hours without grabbing the mouse.
I don't know how much shortcuts does VS2008 has, but if they are as discoverable as Eclipse, I think you are in trouble go for vi.
If you DON'T edit code outside the IDE and your IDE has good shortcuts, you better learn those, and then, go and learn vi anyway.
:)
I've used vi/vim for 25+ years. If you already know some command-line editor, then maybe you don't need to learn vi/vim. But if you don't know any other command-line editors very well, it's worth learning it. It's pretty easy to be productive in vi/vim with little effort.
I use VIM pretty much exclusively now.
I used to use Vim for editing and VS Editor for debugging. This probably seems a bit crazy, but I found the Vi paradigm (macros, home key based editing etc) such a boost to my productivity, that editing in VS was paintful.
Thanks to Viemu, I don't even have to do the switching any more. It is not the perfect solution yet (code completion is sometimes not as elegant as in native vim and the macro recording isn't perfect), but it is much better than switching back and forth constantly.
The learning curve for Vim is probably exaggerated. I think once you get into it, it is pretty intuitive.
My job forced me to pick up vim and it has quickly become second nature. Now my complaints are about IDE's that do not have vim emulation or plugins. I do notice that the esc key has become my enemy outside of vim.
I did find several emulators for vi within Visual Studio:
http://code.google.com/p/vim-visual-studio/
Firstly good vi(m) knowledge will save you the time you have to hustle to do emergency editing of config files on a server under seige. It can hold up on a laggy ssh connection.
Admin stuff aside vim's input method will be your best defence against carpal tunnel if you use it effectively with an ergonomic keyboard.
The best way to see the point of vim is to start a casual project at home, unplug your mouse and tape over your arrow keys.
And read the help
Two advantages of vi/vim:
it is very light-weight
it is installed on almost every *NIX system
I am maintaining a very big linux project on the remote computer. There is no choise to use Eclipse or similar GTK based IDE. I've been working there for 3 years.
And I set my vim just for this project. And still tweaking.
Now I can do any thing from the Vim: source control, sql, debug, compile, browsing - really fast browsing over 1Gb source code.
Visual Studio or Eclipse couldn't handle all of this. And If I had a choice I would'n change Vim to other editor or IDE.
I learned Vim. It wasn't too much effort. Now I absolutely love ci" ci( cw V:s/from/to/g
I'd say vim is definitely worth learning. I picked it up last summer, and it is now my editor of choice for just about everything (java is a stretch, but doable when I don't need extensive analysis support). As everyone has already affirmed, it is a wonderfully efficient tool.
For what it's worth, I only learned a fairly small subset of vim's features (which took a day or two) from a graphical tutorial, and a few odds and ends from here (long read), and the search and replace functionality, and I was hooked. I've learned things since then, but at my leisure. I'd say the learning curve flattens out at this point, but then, I was using it pretty heavily and was surrounded by others who were, too.
I'm in the same situation as you, and as a beginner to Vim I originally found it a little daunting - the learning curve seems steep.
From what I've learned in just a few hours I'm already feeling like I won't be able to live without it.
Here are a few links that I've found for useful Vim screencasts to show you what it's capable of.
A good bit of advice that Bram Moolenaar (benevolent dictator of Vim) gave in that last link is that it would be inefficient to try to learn every single command and function, just figure out what it is that you're doing that isn't working very well, look for a way to make it more efficient and then make it a habit.
Yes, definately take the time to learn at least a bit of 'vi' and 'vim'. It travels very well.
You'll never be stuck when you are faced with a customer Unix/Linux/Mac system that you don't have install capabilities for. Even on Windows (if you do have install capabilities) 'Vim' is free and easy to install. (As opposed to investing your learning curve purely in something like UltraEdit, which although an excellent editor might not be available for you all the time...).
Learning vi can set you up for learning other tools like 'sed', and regex in general: stuff that is generally transferable.
Plus if you want to be a proper geek, you just simply need to know 'vi/m' or you'll look like a faker ;-)
I think it's definitely worth the time and effort to learn vim. To me, it makes typing and navigating around text so efficient, it's hard to imagine going back to emacs or ctrl/shift/alt/meta key combos.
Don't get intimidated by all the fancy features of vim. Once you've used it enough, you'll figure out which commands you use the most, and you'll figure out which things you can forget about.
The amazing ubiquity of Vim, and the even more amazing ubiquity of Vi-clones in general, on Unix systems alone is enough to make it worth learning.
Besides that, the whole Vi-style thinking is something that I really think has made me a bit more productive. For a person not used to modes such as the command mode and insert mode, it seems a bit excessive to have to enter a mode just to insert text. But, when one has been using Vim for a few months, and has learned quite a few tips and tricks, Vim seems to be an asset that seems to be worth it.
Of course, the Emacs crowd says the same thing regarding Emacs-style thinking, but I gave up on learning Emacs because Vim was simpler and did the job for me.
I learned to like vi after watching someone who was very skilled with it navigate around to make edits at an insanely fast clip. You really can code quickly with it. Another reason I like it is that sometimes I find that mousing around in an IDE really hurts my hands after a while and vi provides a nice change. As others have mentioned it's also almost always available on unix systems and works well even over lousy connections.
One thing that I haven't seen mentioned is that knowing vi has the added benefit of "geek cred" in some circles. I can think of at least a few people who chuckle when they see a new programmer fire up nedit to make some changes to a file.
Don't be scared off by the number of commands, I've not met anyone who used more than a couple dozen at most. I find it indispensable, because when I'm thinking about code I'm thinking about text, moving to thinking about mice just messes me up. The big tricks, I think, are to learn it a little at a time, and don't be hesitant to play around - the undo features is great for exploring its behaviors.
Also, if you get deeply into it, vim is scriptable. The possibilities are literally endless.
(Yes, all of this applies to emacs too...)
I was happy at my textpad and ecplise world until i had to start working with servers running under linux. Remote scripting and set up of config files was needed!
It was hard at the begining but now i can easily set up and tune up my servers.
You might want to learn vim because you might not be happy with the editors you're already using.
You might want to learn vim because many people say it is cool. Just look how many answers you've got to this question.
I will provide an additional reason for learning vim. It has a reputation for the quality and the completeness of its docs. So you will find most answers to your questions in its help system as soon as you will manage to stick the proper keywords in your help queries.
To learn vi(m) fast one must first understand the whole design.
Vim has a great set of cursor-movement commands, check a few (X is a character, # a digit):
j k enter arrows
0 $
w W b B
ctrolD crtolU
ctrolE ctrolY
H M L
fX FX tX TX , ;
%
gg G
n N
mX 'X ''
and many more it would be boring to enumerate. Many of these support a count before the command, like 4j to move 4 lines up.
Now, back to the design, you type a command like d for delete followed by a cursor movement and the command applies to the piece of text from the cursor position till the movement end. For example H moves to the top of the screen, dH deletes to the top of the screen and cH changes (replaces) to the top of the screen.
This design is quite powerful. It also reduces, or organizes, what you need to learn.
Definitively the first step is to learn a few cursor movement commands. Say,8 or 10 at first. Then you are almost done.
Learning something new is always worth the effort, IMHO. I suggest you print out a cheat sheet and force yourself to use it day-in and day-out.
Vim is definitely worth learning to partly summarize what has been stated previously here are the main reasons:
Vi/Vim can be found on most unix systems.
Vim allows you to easily code without taking your hands off the keyboard.
If you plan you configure anything in a unix based system likelihood is you going to be editing a fair few config files, therefore you'll want to learn a terminal based editor, of which vim is one of the best (sorry emacs).
Vim compiles/has precompiled binaries for almost every OS out there. No need to post "I need a textmate alternative for [insert OS]", you'll have Vim instead!
There are a lot of good plugins out there to add alot of functionality, such as in-editor cvs diffs, although some of these require a fair amount of tinkering.
Also on a side note if you find you like the Vim key bindings, there are also IDEs which include vim bindings in their editors for simple commands, for example Komodo Edit.
For help on learning Vim, try typing 'vimtutor' into your terminal and follow the instructions. There is also a book which is particularly good Hacking Vim
No. Learning vim is worth more than the effort.
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A good while ago, I read an article by the creator of viemu, clearing up a lot of the misconceptions about vi, as well as explaining why it's a good idea (and why it's been very popular for the last 30 years+). The same guy also has a great set of graphical cheat sheets that teach the basics a few bits at a time.
I'm convinced.
I've been convinced for the past 2 years in fact. But I still really haven't gotten around to force myself to learn vi as my primary editor, the learning curve is just too high. When I get down to work, acceptable but immediate productivity (using my current editor) has so far won over tremendous productivity farther down the line (using vi).
Does anybody have any good tips to help get past the learning curve? It can be straight out tips, some other tutorial or article, whatever.
Edit: Note that I'm aware of the vim/gVim, Cream and MacVim (etc.) variants of vi. I kept my question about vi to refer to the vi family as a whole. Thanks for all the great answers.
Update (April 2009)
I've been using Vim (more precisely, MacVim) in my day to day professional life since last December. I'm not going back :-)
Good luck to everyone in their Vim mastery.
First of all, you may want to pick up Vim; it has a vastly superior feature set along with everything vi has.
That said, it takes discipline to learn. If you have a job and can't afford the productivity hit (without getting fired), I'd suggest taking on a weekend project for the sole purpose of learning the editor. Keep its documentation open as you work, and be disciplined enough not to chicken out. As you learn more, become efficient and start relying on muscle memory, it won't be as hard to stick with it.
I've been using Vim for so long that I don't even think about what keys to press to search or navigate or save. And my hands never leave the keyboard. To use Vim is one of the best choices I've made in my programming career.
The first thing I'd do is lay a piece of paper or a book over your arrow keys and your ins/home/end/pgup/down keys. Those aren't needed in Vi.
Next I'd get used to hitting ctrl+[ whenever you're told to hit escape. It's much faster and you won't need to take your hands off the keyboard.
Then I'd watch my screencasts:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FcpQ7koECgk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c6WCm6z5msk
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BPDoI7gflxM
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J1_CfIb-3X4
Then, just practice practice practice.
edit
The reason for avoiding the arrow keys is that they slow you down. One of the largest benefits of Vim is the speed it allows you. The arrow keys also prevent you from really embracing the modal nature, which is very powerful when mastered.
Step 0: learn to touch type. Seriously - if your fingers don't know where the keys are then vim is going to be a pain. And even if you reject vim, touch typing will improve your programming (ask Steve Yegge ) by making the mind to monitor link friction free. There is a lot of software that can help you improve your typing.
Step 1: use vimtutor to get you started. It is in gvim (under
the help menu I think) or you can just type 'vimtutor' at the command
line. It will take 30-45 minutes of your time and then your fingers will
know the basics of vi/vim and you should be able to edit files without
wanting to hurl your keyboard out of the window.
Step 2: use vim everywhere. See this
question
for tips and links for using vim and vi key bindings at the command
line, from your web browser, for composing emails, in your IDE ... You
need to use vim to embed the key bindings in your muscle memory.
Step 3: learn more about vim. You will only have scratched the
surface with vimtutor. You can watch this
video or
read this article (both about
the "Seven habits of effective text editing". You can
read
about
tips
and
tricks
on
StackOverflow.
You can browse vimtips. Learn a
litle often would be my advice - there is so much out there that
sticking to bite-size chunks will be the best way to make the knowledge
stick.
Step 4: Profit :)
I've been a on-again, off-again user of vim throughout the years (doing the occasional sys admin job). I just recently started spending more time doing my programming work in it. I'd suggest starting with gvim too. It integrates well with most OS environments, and (even better), you can fall back to the mouse when you need to :).
To get going with vim, run through the vimtutor (bundled with gVim) once or twice (takes an hour or so). I can't overstate how helpful it was for me! Especially the first parts about the different ways to move through a document, and how edit actions are recorded with motion commands, etc, etc. After that, things will be MUCH clearer.
Then, start doing quick, minor edits with it (notepad-replacement stuff) 'till you are comfortable enough to do useful editing at a rapid clip. Then try doing your day-to-day work in it. You'll find yourself pining for the "repeat last action" command in other editors in no time!
You asked for good tips to help get past the learning curve on the vi text editor. Many of the previous answers suggest you use no other editors. I think that is good advice. Switching to vi from a more graphical editor requires a change in mindset. It requires thinking in terms of commands, rather than visual changes.
I used nothing but vi for many years and believe the only way you can be productive is to memorize the commands you regularly use. The way I did this was to make a short list of the most common keyboard commands. I grouped and color-coded these commands by function, i.e. Moving the Cursor, Editing, Searching, etc. I was careful to only include the most commonly used commands I did not know. The idea is to create a quick reference that is also an aid in memorization – not to replace the available help screens. Then I printed this list and taped it to the wall behind my monitor so I could see it easily. (The graphical cheat sheets you mentioned might work better for some, but are probably a better reference source than a memorization tool.)
Here's the key. As I became comfortable with one of the commands, I drew a line through it with a pencil. I could still see it if I needed it, but it was symbolic to me that I had mastered that command. That gave me confidence and motivation as I could see regular progress. Once I had most of them crossed off, I removed them and added some of the more rarely used commands. I continued this process until I was satisfied with my command of vi. I knew I had reached that point when I realized I had not crossed off any commands or even looked at the list in a long time.
A couple years ago I had need to work on a UNIX platform where vi was the only editor available. I bought a little pocket reference book on vi, but hardly used it. I ended up making lists and posting them on the wall as I did the first time I used vi. By the end of the first week, I was very comfortable even though it had been five years since I had used vi.
force yourself not. the path to mastery love is.
For me VI is a good emergency editor, but not something I want to use if there is any other alternative available. I realize this is not for everyone though, I'm not saying it's horrid or anything, I just personally prefer a discoverable UI.
But you really have to know VI if you do anything significant in Linux!
So just learn the basics:
i=insert mode
esc=leave insert mode
:wq=save and quit
:q!=don't save and quit
x=when not in insert mode, delete the character.
/=search
That will get you through any editing emergency. There is nothing you can't do with those few commands (and navigation of course). The rest you can "Tack on" as you need them.
Keep a reference or book available though--when you NEED to use VI, you probably won't be able to browse the web--but the man page may be somewhat useful.
You should start with vim (Vi IMproved) and especially its GUI - gVim. The GUI has menus and on Windows you can use the copy, cut and paste shortcuts, so you can replace Notepad immediately. And since the menus display the shortcuts (vim commands) you could learn a lot.
Another thing that you should do from the beginning is to configure vi for your needs. For example, you can transform vim into a Python IDE. By doing this, you'll have no excuse for using another editor, because vi will offer you everything you need.
Every time you're doing a complex editing task, keep wondering if there is a more efficient way to do it. Most times, when it's something that you can describe in simple terms (like "swap paragraphs of text" or "delete everything after the X character in commented lines"), it's something you can do in just a couple of keystrokes in vim.
There are some key features that are extremely useful, and you'll end using all the time. The ones I love the most are:
Block selection (Ctrl-V)
Macro recording (q)
Virtual editing (:set ve=all)
Regular expressions
Piping to external Unix programs
Key mappings
Autocompletion (C-p, C-x C-p, C-x C-f)
The operation+movement combination (this is amazingly powerful)
Ask other programmers what features they find most useful and adopt the ones that fit better your brain. Steal ideas from other people's .vimrcs (here's mine)
delete all other text editor apps.
Then you will have to learn it.
The simplest way to force yourself might be just to remove all the other editors from your machine. Get rid of temptation :)
I wrote a guide to efficient editing with Vim a while back. You may find it helpful.
I'd step back for a minute and ask yourself "why do I want to learn this editor? What makes me think it'll be faster or better than my current text editor?" Then learn those features that will make Vi(m) indispensable to you.
For instance, Vim's CTags integration is completely indispensable for me. I work with a very, very large codebase, and the ability to jump to a function or class definition in one keystroke (regardless of which file it's in) is an absolutely killer feature, one I have trouble working without.
Use your .vimrc file to make macros that automate common tasks.
Your autopilot editor-chooser will pick the editor that will get the job done quickest and with the least amount of mental effort. A little prep-work will ensure that editor is Vim. :-)
EDIT: I've created a flashcard set over at the online spaced repetition site flashcarddb.com, in case you're interested ...
Use a spaced repetition flash card program such as mnemosyne, supermemo, or anki to incorporate learning and retaining new commands into your daily routine. It's not enough to be using vim as your daily editor. To master it, you have to be storing those codes in your head, laying in wait for the time when they're the ideal solution to the task at hand.
Maintain a .vimrc with customizations
Write or edit a vim plugin
Two things that will greatly improve your vi skills:
Practice, practice, practice
Nethack
My suggestion: start small. Just start by memorizing a small set of most useful commands. When I started vi, these were my top 10:
(Esc) to return to command mode (most important!)
a to add text after cursor
A to add text at end of current line
x to delete 1 character
dd to delete 1 line
R to replace text (overwrite)
u to undo
:q! (Enter) to quit without saving
:w (Enter) to save
ZZ to save and quit
A lot of basic editing can be done using only these commands. Once you get comfortable, the rest don't look too difficult.
BTW, I'd like to add that I used to rely on vi for my primary text editor, but now only if I have to. In my case, productivity is better when I use tools like Emacs or Visual Studio (please note: "in my case"). Try more than one tool and choose the one that helps your productivity the most. Good luck!
It sounds silly, but playing roguelike games (such as Nethack or Angband) is a fun way to get comfortable with using the h/j/k/l keys for cursor navigation.
Write down all the short-cuts and features that you use in your current editor while you're using it at work. Then sit down on Saturday morning and using Google and stack overflow find out how to do each one of those in vi. Probably best if you use a sheet (or sheets) of paper for this.
Now disable/delete the other editors at work so that it'll take you longer to find and re-install them than look at your comparison sheet and do it in vi - i.e. you have no choice.
Lastly, publish your list of crossover shortcuts from your old editor to your new one on your blog.
Good luck!
Don't use X11?
$ sudu rm /usr/local/bin/emacs
Change your login shell to vi?
First, force yourself to use ed, then vi will seem like a luxury?
Use the vi key bindings in bash?
Just start using vi all the time?
It seems to me that learning an editor isn't terribly different from learning a language. Immersion works best.
I use vi for really quick edits or when I can't use X11 for some reason, but I live in emacs. Really powerful editors are worth taking the time to learn.
My recommendation is to come up with some simple programs and write them, start to finish, using VI.
Odds are, you will be too frustrated at first by the learning curve to force yourself to use them at work or in any time-sensitive environment.
I've done this before to get familiar with environments/editors, and it works pretty well.
If you are having problems coming up with things to write, I recommend redoing projects you did in school (or anything else that you've done previously). This method has the added bonus of letting you see how much of a better developer you have become. :)
Edit: forgot to mention that you should do this entirely from the console to avoid any temptation to use the mouse!
I remember when I first started learning emacs, it was after I was already very comfortable with Vim, and I was in the same or similar boat that you were, where I knew how to get a lot done in another editor, so as I started using emacs, it was always painfully slow.
However, I think what you'll have to do is just absorb a little bit of the pain, and always, always, ALWAYS make sure that you look up the documentation for doing something that you know you can do in your previous editor, such as moving to the end of a line, or selecting a region of text.
It also helps if you have a local vi-expert on hand that you can ask questions, or if you're like our company, you promote pair programming. That way when you're trying to do something that should be easy, you can simply ask someone, they'll show you how, and if you're using the editor regularly for a few weeks, you shouldn't have to ask more then a couple of times before it becomes second nature.
If you don't have any local resources, there are plenty of books/tutorials/reference sheets online that should be able to answer most of your questions.
Ultimately, learning Vi is like learning other skills, there's no silver bullet, and you'll have to accept that, for a while, you're going to be less productive in it then your current editor. Just keep telling yourself, "Other people have been able to learn Vi, and I'm at least as smart as them" (That's what I tell myself anyway :) )
The main reason for me to use vi is ssh (or Putty on Windows): When you're logged into a Unix server remotely, then vi is always available. And it works with VT100 when neither the cursor keys nor backspace/delete are mapped.
Also having a book like VI Editor Pocket Reference helps greatly.
gVIM has a really good tutorial (link in the Start menu group).
I found working through that helped to get over the initial learning hump; and then switching my Visual Studio to ViEMU helped me hone my VI skills.
Also, the screencasts at http://vimcasts.org/ are great!
You could get your hands on one of the original Happy Hacker keyboards (no arrow keys) and place your (wireless) mouse out of reach each time you start editing.
It's easy to write out a big list of commands/shortcuts, but it's difficult to remember them all without practice.
Focus on one new command at a time. When it becomes automatic, say after using it for a week or two, add another to your repertoire.
You'll be taking the long way around to accomplish certain things in the short term - these are obvious opportunities for new shortcuts to learn.
In my experience it was easier when I tried not to take on too much at once.
My number one suggestion: learn to type fast, without needing to look at the keyboard.
If you can't touch type and are always hunting-and-pecking for the colon or the hjkl or :%s/foo/bar, forget about it. Typing can be faster than using the mouse, but if that's not the case for you, vi's not going to work.
But combine good typing skills, ssh and screen and vi will be natural.
Face the fact that it will create an immediate performance hit. When learning a new tool you need to be able to do something that you know how to do with other tools so the problem isn't your problem. After using the new tool a while it will disappear and you will be only focusing on the underlying problem.
With something like vim (as others have said, vim is vastly superior to vi) it is important to reread and browse the documentation periodically. The interface is completely undiscoverable without it. With each new reading you will see a feature and say, "ah ha, that would have solved this issue I was trying to figure out last week", and will file it away in your brain. Solutions connected to real-world problems that you've had are much easier for you to remember than random shortcuts.
In the end you can use vim with a fairly small subset of it's features, so don't be overwhelmed with all the bells and whistles. Think of all the features in Word, do 99% of the people use them?
ESC gg=G to reindent code and :retab to convert tabs to spaces or spaces to tabs was what hooked me to vim. So actually you don't need to be forced to use it, you just have to learn when it can help you increase your speed.
Go through vimtutor.
Start using vim for simple editing, like config files or html. Learn the commands as you need them.
Search google for a good .vimrc used by someone who uses a toolchain that resembles yours. Turn on syntax highlighting. Find a nice color scheme.
Learn macros because Vim is the best for automated tasks and snippet insertion, like formatting a few words into a complex XML tag or converting a CSV to an HTML table.
You might want to start out with Cream. Cream describes itself as "a modern configuration" of vim. Basically, it is a special version of vim which looks and feels like any other text editor for all practical purposes. But enable the "expert mode" and you have all the power and behavior of vim.
So you can start using Cream as a regular text editor and then experiment with the "expert mode" until you are comfortable enough to fully switch to vim.
Install gVim on all platforms you use.
Then run through the the vimtutor (:help vimtutor or vimtutor at the command line).
Watch the following lecture and follow its advice: 7 Habits For Effective Text Editing 2.0
I say you definitely want to start using it for all your editing. If you fear a loss of productivity then take a weekend to practice it solid (I once did this to switch to dvorak from qwerty and had my productivity high enough by Monday and managed to stick with it after).
It's worth the effort and you won't look back!
Personally, what I had to do was make sure that I could use the Vim key-bindings (or at least, close enough) in several applications. Having to completely switch how I edited text whenever I changed editors made it too hard to get the Vim editing style committed to muscle memory.
In my case, Viemu + vimperator did the trick.