Introducing Vim

Developer preferences for interacting with code break down into two categories—text editors and integrated development environments (IDE)—each of which has its own approach to handling text and code. The code editor of choice for the R&D Team is vim. Vim was developed before there were mice, so the editor is optimized for efficient, mouseless interaction with your code. (You’ll be surprised how much time you waste moving your hand to the mouse.) There is a learning curve, but once you get used to a few simple commands and build up some muscle memory, it becomes quite natural.

There is an excellent set of video tutorials on Derek Wyatt’s Blog. Install vim (there are pre-built binaries on the vim download page. Once you get through those tutorials, these visual cheatsheets (from ViEmu) will help you with your movements.