Why do I use Vim?

By Alexander van Noord on 10 February, 2012

Advantages over other editors or IDE's:

• Fast keyboard shortcuts—don't use your mouse or arrow keys
• Syntax coloring for even the most obscure languages
• Syntax checking through external commands like jshint or csslint (or integrated with Syntastic)
• Your complete configuration in file format (.vimrc) which makes it easy to version and distribute (on Github)
• Very lightweight (compared to IDE's like Aptana or NetBeans)
• Works over SSH on remote servers
• Cross-platform and installed by default on OS X and Linux
• Programmable with VimScript and other scripting languages
• Thousands of plugins available; for adding functionality like snippets, file browsers or (D)VCS integration

Personally, I use Vim for much more than only programming now. Be it notes, todo lists, documentation or long mails: Vim is what I use now. Why do you need Evernote, if you have Vim and Dropbox?

This is what the Pragmatic Programmer prescribes:

Use a single editor well: the editor should be an extension of your hand; make sure your editor is configurable, extensible and programmable.