Using VIM as a text editing tool on the Mac
The bluffers guide
VIM allows you to create and edit text files on your Mac. It is wonderful, fast and free. However there seems to be no secret guide to this to help understand VIM. But this is it!
People tend to use vim because of it’s small size (it does not use a large amount of system resources) and is fast and lightweight, even when dealing with large files. This means that if you are editing a large source code file, that VIM can be a great choice. People also love the speed of search and replace, meaning no waiting around for the editor. Good stuff!
Prerequisites:
- Some experience with the Terminal on the Mac
- Awareness that VIM is rather different from every text editor that you might have used (hello Sublime text!)
Terminology
Command line: An interface for interacting with the operating system.
Terminal: A command line interface to control the UNIX-based operating system that underlies the Mac.
VIM: This is a contraction of Vi and IMproved. That is, it is a clone (with additions) of the vi text editor for Unix. In other words, it is a command-line interface for creating and manipulating files.
