In my last flight I discovered something with my laptop. It was the first time I used it inside the plane. Normally I prefer to sleep (or try to). But in this case I was trying to program some ideas (specifically a CMS using AJAX), and suddenly I discovered my usual text editor didn’t fit all my needs without a mouse. Normally I use a modern editor to implement web pages, Notepad++, but without a mouse it’s not so comfortable. Then I remembered an “old friend”, Vim.
Let me introduce Vim. Some decades ago, in the old Unix times, somebody created a clever text editor called Vi. Later, in 1991, another person improved it, so Vim (Vi improved) was born. It was a weird editor for the newcomers, but really effective for the experts. I used it at the university, but later I forgot it, because it was a text IDE, without the new and modern options it should have (windows system, mouse use, friendly interface and such things). However some weeks ago I read they are still improving it, and I installed it in my laptop (for curiosity). And it was amazing, because I discovered it fits perfectly for my needs when I’m programming in a plane, only with the keyboard of my laptop. So I’m learning, again, all about it. Programming with Vim in a plane! I’m sure the inventor never dreamed about it, three decades ago!
:wq