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0 pointsthomastjeffery2y ago0 comments

The coolest feature of Vim is its macros. They bring the entire UX into one cohesive feature. The keymap has meaning, because every key symbol is a character, and a macro is just a string. You can paste them, edit them, copy them, then play them back; all without ever leaving Vim's primary UX. Macros are stories written, not in vimscript, but in the language of Vim itself.

Macros are also the reason I don't use Vim anymore. The keymap has meaning, and it shouldn't. Want to change your keymap? Good luck.

I spent years in Vim. I conceptualized all of it. I built my muscle memory around it. Then I learned a new keyboard layout.

I tried remapping the keys. Not only was that impossible (circular dependencies), it broke the conceptual map, too. I have offended the beast, and am welcome no more.

What I really want is to start fresh. No defaults: just user config. Give me the pieces, and the glue to hold them together: I'll do the rest.

0 comments

linsomniac2y ago

>Macros are stories written, not in vimscript, but in the language of Vim itself.

Last year I hit upon the idea that vim's commands are like a bytecode that my brain outputs and vim interprets. I guess that's true of any editor UI, but it just feels more appropriate in the vi case.

alpaca1282y ago

I had different reasons but I only hardcoded a few basic keybindings like Escape. Everything else is customizable, but still limited to the three modes (it's just a good combination). Defining explicit keybindings for every symbol on the keyboard turned out to be the cleanest way to fix bugs in the input handler, special behaviour just for insert mode isn't worth it.

> I tried remapping the keys. Not only was that impossible (circular dependencies)

I wonder if that could be remapped in the code itself? From a quick look they seem to be defined in ops.c and vim.h, but I'm not very familiar with the codebase.

teo_zero2y ago

> I tried remapping the keys. Not only was that impossible (circular dependencies)

I don't get this. To swap x and y is easy:

  noremap x y
  noremap y x

Of course you can't do it with map, that's why noremap exists.

thomastjefferyOP2y ago

Believe me, I have tried. It's been a while, or I would tell you precisely what went wrong. Suffice it to say, I did not give up easily.

Even if it did work, I wouldn't have the conceptual map that Vim's UX is made of. Without that, it's just not going to be a positive experience.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse

0 pointsthomastjeffery2y ago0 comments

Macros are also the reason I don't use Vim anymore. The keymap has meaning, and it shouldn't. Want to change your keymap? Good luck.

I spent years in Vim. I conceptualized all of it. I built my muscle memory around it. Then I learned a new keyboard layout.

I tried remapping the keys. Not only was that impossible (circular dependencies), it broke the conceptual map, too. I have offended the beast, and am welcome no more.

What I really want is to start fresh. No defaults: just user config. Give me the pieces, and the glue to hold them together: I'll do the rest.

0 comments

linsomniac2y ago

>Macros are stories written, not in vimscript, but in the language of Vim itself.

alpaca1282y ago

> I tried remapping the keys. Not only was that impossible (circular dependencies)

I wonder if that could be remapped in the code itself? From a quick look they seem to be defined in ops.c and vim.h, but I'm not very familiar with the codebase.

teo_zero2y ago

> I tried remapping the keys. Not only was that impossible (circular dependencies)

I don't get this. To swap x and y is easy:

  noremap x y
  noremap y x

Of course you can't do it with map, that's why noremap exists.

thomastjefferyOP2y ago

Believe me, I have tried. It's been a while, or I would tell you precisely what went wrong. Suffice it to say, I did not give up easily.

Even if it did work, I wouldn't have the conceptual map that Vim's UX is made of. Without that, it's just not going to be a positive experience.

j / k navigate · click thread line to collapse