I wouldn't consider it funny that someone would want to optimize a very important tool to make it more functional. The tools we use for software development are both a curse and a blessing. A curse that there is no ONE TRUE WAY of doing something and a blessing that we can build and mold the tools to accomplish what we need.
I am not religious about Vim or any other text editor but I can definitely appreciate others wanting to optimize their usage.
Personally, I find that once you have setup Vim the way you want, its pretty much on autopilot. I would say that if someone is a natural tinker, Vim is the best black hole one can get into as there can be no end to the tinkering.
My blood pressure goes up when people start to get religious about this stuff. Some go as far as proposing that one can only be a professional programmer if one uses vim, which is utter nonsense.
That's the point. vim does not make you super-efficient at anything other than being a data entry clerk. That's not where significant value is developed in a technology business.
> True vim followers use buffers only.
Don't forget a Lear Siegler ADM3A terminal over a 300 BAUD modem leased line to the mainframe. Oh, wait, that's the way it was when vi was written.
:-)
I love this quote from Bill Joy: "I think if I were going to go back—I wouldn't go back, but start over again."
A religious attachment to vim? No friggin way. No editor has ever caused one of my projects to come in late (or early). The factors that affect real projects are so far removed from the software one uses to edit code that it is incredible some people evangelize something like vim to such an extent.
The other really funny thing is to see articles and blog posts describing how to add trees, tabs and all manner of other things to vim and how this makes it even cooler. Really funny.