IDE’s make you dumb?
March 24th, 2006[ Geek ]
I’ve often wondered myself, does visual studio rot your brain? I openly admit I’m a vi and vim bigot. I used vi back in university, however, it wasn’t until my mks days that I solidified my bigotry. I worked primarly on a java codebase with the odd bit of awk or make files mixed in.
So without further ado, here are the top x reasons I’m in love with a text editor that’s name begins with the letters “vi”:
- Command mode. For me, that is the key feature in vi. I have access to my entire keyboard for commands instead of having to use key modifiers like alt, ctrl etc. I tried emacs, if I was good at chords I’d have played piano. This is also the biggest hindrance to new users adopting vi.
- I despise using a mouse. To be more precise I hate moving my right hand between my keyboard and my mouse.
- At times, I work in various operating systems, most of which have some flavour of vi out of the box. I know I can login to any *nix OS, open a shell and type “vi” and be up and running. Contrast that with an IDE like visual studio.
- I’m part of a club. Let’s face it, vi is a clique bordering on a cult. In order to get in the club you have to tolerate months, if not years, of being utterly unproductive in this crappy editor if you want to have any hope of getting in. The average person’s experience with vi consists of opening it, trying to type a line, getting three key strokes in before the computer starts beeping. They then look around the room for anyone who has any clue whatsoever how to close this shitty editor. After rebooting they type in “pico” and get back to work. It’s an editor that comes with a built-in hazing ritual. That alone is enough to solidify my love.
March 27th, 2006 at 10:25 am
I’m a card carrying member too sista. We’re a dying breed however. Many a self-professed VI lover I know, have switched over to Eclipse.
Eclipse looks cool on someone else’s box. I won’t be switching anytime soon as I don’t remember the last time VI took up 250mb of heap space and then crashed mid-edit.
May 24th, 2006 at 12:39 pm
[…] These windows apps are gateway drugs and if you’re enjoying the freedom they offer, treat yourself and get the real thing. Similarly to the vi scenario, once you get used to the power you have in a shell it’s difficult to ever turn back. Most IDE’s are a pretty way to get limited access to vi. These apps are a pretty way to get limited access to the shell. Just go to the source. […]
May 24th, 2006 at 2:02 pm
When eclipse breaks ..they come running to me. Kids nowadays have no idea how makefiles or compilers work.
June 8th, 2006 at 5:34 pm
[…] If you’ve been sleeping for the past few months, or just using your internet time productively, then you may not know that I’m a self-proclaimed vi bigot. It’s okay, that puts you in the club with most other humans. In case you didn’t know, there’s a really great plug-in for Visual Studio that emulates vi for the low low price of $69.95. […]
July 18th, 2006 at 5:30 pm
[…] If you don’t use vi(m) and were intriqued by my previous post, take a peek at this and join the cult. […]
August 2nd, 2006 at 3:20 pm
[…] It’s no secret that my love/hate relationship with intellisense is heavily weighted to the hate side. Well now intellisense has gone too far as it’s now crammed it’s face into actual development. […]
February 28th, 2007 at 10:56 am
[…] The same applies to my obsession with vi. Everything I take the time to learn in vi, I know have available to me for any non-binary file on any *nix based machine. Again, in my humble opinion, powerful. […]
June 17th, 2008 at 3:02 pm
[…] you’re a tech caveman like myself then you may not have a loving relationship with IDE’s in general. Hang on, now […]