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I know that best way would be by doing and practice. But sometimes you learn in a wrong way, so what courses on YouTube or other paid websites or books you would recommend for who is starting with vim? I am just started studying for server administration and some one recommended vim to use it in terminal. So I am hunger to learn but do not know which step to do now. Your recommendations are highly much appreciated.

Mohamed GadAllah
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  • check out https://stackoverflow.com/questions/1218390/what-is-your-most-productive-shortcut-with-vim/1220118#1220118 for an intro, read it multiple times, practice, etc... and then check out my curated vim resources – Sundeep Nov 07 '16 at 02:25
  • Mohamed GadAllah: SE sites are not the place to make this kind of lists, I think you'll find better answer on reddit. @Sundeep: IMO your list lacks the 2 best resources available: Practical Vim (If one should read one book about Vim it's this one because it doesn't teach you how to do things but how to actually grok Vim) and vimcasts (Also thanks for adding a question of mine in your list ;-) ) – statox Nov 07 '16 at 08:45
  • @statox, will have a look and add them too :) and should be Practical Vim, Second Edition as first edition is out of print as per link you shared – Sundeep Nov 07 '16 at 09:14
  • @Sundeep Yup latest edition is better I just grabbed the first DDG result which came up :-) – statox Nov 07 '16 at 09:16

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I got a lot out of the Robbins book, and I've been using vi for about a quarter century now.

The Vim videos by Derek Wyatt also proved somewhat enlightening, though for someone of my experience, it is more because they showed me how someone else works, which expanded my horizons. I can only guess how a true newbie will see them, but I suspect that at the least, they will do the same for you: that is, show you how one person works, so you can at least have some basis for thinking about Vim.

Realize that Mr. Wyatt's videos show you just one guy's idea of the right way to do things. I don't entirely agree with his opinions, but that doesn't make either of us a bad Vim user. His "One Vim" concept in particular doesn't work for me, but it may work for you, and if not, you will at least find it enlightening, if only because it forces you to confront your reasons for disagreeing.

I also want to dismiss your concern about learning Vim the "wrong" way. I think the worst that can happen to you is that you end up not knowing about tools that could save you time. I think 10,000 hours of focused practice will have more effect on your efficiency with Vim than any number of books and tutorials.

If you want it all wrapped up in a bow, I recommend that you:

  1. Order the Robbins book

  2. Watch all the Wyatt tutorials before the book arrives, at least up through the Intermediate series; and

  3. Slowly read through the book a piece at a time while you simultaneously use Vim to accomplish every text editing task you come across. Using Vim is far more important than reading about Vim.

Resolve not to use any other text editor for at least a year. Any time you find yourself spending more time than you think reasonable to accomplish your desired ends in Vim, find out if there is a workaround or an improved method. If you must use another text editor in this time (e.g. Visual Studio because you need to build some piece of Windows software) find out if it has a Vim/vi plugin, and use it if there is one. Most powerful text editors do have such a plugin or add-on available, and if your current favorite text editor does not, ask yourself if you really must use it.

I can't stress living solely in Vim enough. Any time you backslide and spend time in another editor, you are letting your Vim skills atrophy, and you are missing an opportunity to learn how to do the same task in Vim. You will never become more than a pidgin Vim speaker that way. It is just like learning another human language: total immersion works much better than classes an hour a week.

Warren Young
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