How to use vim

So far we learned about writing Bash scripts using the editor (or IDE) on the right. If you ask me, an IDE is the only sensible way to edit code (I look forward to your letters, please send complaints to vim4life@omgenomics.com).

It is true that sometimes, you need to log in to a remote server and modify files there. But if you do that often, I recommend using a plugin for your favorite text editor. I’ve used that myself with VSCode connected to a virtual machine on the cloud and it’s quite snappy.

While I do use an IDE 90% of the time, I still find it convenient at times to just launch vim and modify something quickly. Example use cases include modifying my ~/.bashrc file, tweaking a config file, editing cron job settings, etc.

For those moments, here’s an excellent tutorial by Maria Nattestad: