How to Exit Vim

Re:How to Exit Vim by gbacon on Wednesday January 08, 2020 @12:29PM (#21993621)

I’ve seen Java developers completely lost with no idea where to start debugging an installation in a lab environment because they had no IDE, JDK only. Sure, you might argue that it’s an unlikely scenario, but never say never. CS is one of many fields where having a basic understanding of how things work at least a couple of layers of abstraction down is a good thing, and at least could save potential embarrassment.

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Re:How to Exit Vim by filmgirlcw on Wednesday January 08, 2020 @02:10PM (#21994672)

You're not wrong, but I don't see how forcing people to use vim solves this problem. If anything, you risk having a whole class of students who can only do things the vim way. I'll grant you that you're much more likely in a lab environment to have access to a POSIX system so you can use vi or whatever, but you could also wind up in a shop that dictates its devs use a specific IDE.

I'm in full-agreement that it's a good thing to have a basic understanding of how stuff works, but I'm not sure how enforcing vim over VSCode or Sublime or [insert your favorite editor] necessarily teaches that. It teaches adherence to vim.

I'm of the opinion that programming tools are very personal -- that's why there are so many debates and that's why we'll never have universal agreement. I know my way around the command line and I'll suffer through vim if I have to (it's fine. It's just not my editor of choice), but if I don't have my dotfiles or configurations, I'm not going to be very productive either.

I'm fine with saying, "don't use an IDE in my class, use a text editor" -- but I find it draconian and ridiculous to insist upon a specific text editor.

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Re:How to Exit Vim by gbacon on Monday January 13, 2020 @12:11PM (#22036346)

I should have been clear that I lean toward your side of the issue in that a blanket policy for the entire term does seem a bit extreme but completely without value. If I were pushed to defend the instructor’s policy of a particular editor, vi is nearly certain to be on any Unix installation. Not necessarily how I would (or have) done it, but the approach is not without value.

My preferred Unix editor is the vi family. I wonder whether emacs people are less sympathetic.

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