I'm trying it again. I've made a number of these attempts over the years with my longest attempt lasting just a couple of weeks. Now though I think the time is right for a final go. You're probably wondering what the hell I'm talking about. My fellow programmers might have an idea.

I'm talking about making the transition to Vim as my preferred text editor for writing code.

For years now Sublime Text has been my only text editor. Its flexibility, plugins and stability make it such a great editor to use. It made my job easier since I first started using it and continues to do so. So why would I want to upset my workflow and change to something else? Curiosity. For a long time I've watched other developers wield Vim with such ease and fluency. I'm fluent with Sublime Text but there's something about Vim that makes me think I could be more fluent.

I've tried to make the move permanent so many times over the last few years but it's never successfully happened. The main problem with each attempt to use Vim has been the initial stumbling blocks that make an impact on your typical work day. Sublime Text has worked for me so well since I first started using it and switching to Vim will take a while but my patience always takes a battering and then I move back to Sublime Text.

This time it feels different though. After a couple of days using Vim I'm making headway with the basic actions of managing panes, buffers and basic text manipulation. I'm taking notes as I'm using it and I'm practing some of the shortcut keys that I discover each day. There's still a few teething problems with the setup I have but I'm prepared to see it out for another month at least.

We'll see how it goes.