Sessions at Strange Loop 2011 matching your filters

Vim deserves its reputation as one of the most powerful tools in a developer’s toolbox — but it’s not exactly friendly and approachable. Even long-time users rarely employ more than a fraction of its capabilities, and new users are often left wondering why so many apparently-sane people won’t shut up about how awesome it is. The stark UI, the steep learning curve, the host of idiosyncrasies… mastering Vim is a challenge, and that’s putting it politely.

In this hands-on session, you’ll learn why it’s worth the effort.

We’ll quickly review the essentials of Vim, like modes, motions, operators, and commands, with an emphasis on why Vim works the way it instead of just how. With the fundamentals firmly established, we’ll work our way through real-world examples of using Vim to perform astounding feats that poor souls using lesser editors can only imagine. We’ll cover ways to integrate Vim with your environment, tailor it to your work, and generally bend it to your every whim. We’ll discuss important settings, advanced techniques, useful customizations, handy scripts, must-have plugins, crafty tips, and sneaky tricks.

In short, we’ll explore how to use Vim most effectively, so it lives up to the awesome reputation that you’ll soon be telling all your disbelieving friends about.