Why Vim Felt Inevitable

Table of Contents

I didn’t switch to Vim because it was trendy.
I switched because everything else started to feel wrong.

It Started With Friction

Over time, I became increasingly sensitive to small inefficiencies:

  • Reaching for the mouse
  • Breaking typing flow
  • Context switching between tools
  • UI-heavy editors fighting my focus

Individually, these are minor.
Collectively, they compound.

As someone who cares about systems performance at the kernel and runtime level, it felt inconsistent to tolerate inefficiency in my own development workflow.

The Ergonomics Shift

The turning point wasn’t Vim itself — it was ergonomics.

  • Moving to compact keyboards
  • Optimizing for home-row typing
  • Reducing hand movement
  • Eliminating unnecessary reach

Once you train your hands to stay anchored, the mouse becomes an interruption.

Traditional editors assume pointer interaction. Vim assumes intent expressed through motion.

That difference is fundamental.

What clicked for me was this:

Vim treats text editing like a language.

  • Verbs (d, c, y)
  • Motions (w, }, t()
  • Objects (iw, ap, etc.)

You compose actions instead of triggering commands.

That composability mirrors how I think about system design:

  • Small primitives
  • Clear contracts
  • Composable building blocks
  • Zero unnecessary abstraction

It felt closer to Rust than to an IDE.

Why Neovim (Not Just Vim)

I eventually moved to Neovim for practical reasons:

  • Native LSP integration
  • Async plugin model
  • Lua configuration
  • Tight terminal integration

I wiped prebuilt configs and built my setup from scratch.

Not because prebuilt configs are bad —
but because understanding your tools matters.

When your editor becomes infrastructure, you should know how it works.

The Real Benefit

The biggest gain wasn’t speed.

It was flow.

  • Fewer context switches
  • No mouse dependency
  • Terminal + editor unified
  • Predictable behavior

The editor stopped being a UI and became an extension of intent.

Is It For Everyone?

No.

Vim has a learning curve. It requires patience. It requires deliberate practice.

But if you:

  • Care about ergonomics
  • Think in composable primitives
  • Prefer keyboard-driven workflows
  • Enjoy understanding your tooling deeply

Then it may feel less like a choice —
and more like inevitability.