Neovim: The Path to the Terminal | Ditch Your IDE for Good

Intro

In the past we set up neovim for C# so you technically could program C# in it from now on - But now what? A lot of you might now just be using neovim and your commercial IDE in parallel. Because ditching your IDE for good and going full neovim is actually scary, isn't it?

WHY Vim Is not Enough

I am a dotnet consultant with 8 years of enterprise experience. I am actually operating in the field. A lot of youtubers are not. Everyone is talking about vim, nobody talks about how to actually get there.

Vim motions, the quick fix window and macros are nice but by themselves they won't get you very far.

Why?

The commercial IDE that you're enslaved to is nothing but an oppinionated UI wrapper around functionality that you would normally use CLI tools for (if you knew your CLI tools)

Without knowing your tools and how to incorporate them into your work day, you will always be addicted.

WHO is this guide for?

Nobody starts with vim as the first thing in programming just as no first grader starts with the extended number systems as the first thing in mathematics.

This guide is for Everyone who wants to start vim or already started using vim inside the IDE with the ultimate goal to take it to the terminal.

Typically you already spent some time in your IDE so far, maybe even installed a vim plugin and now want to ditch your IDE once and for all but don't know how.

That is why in the upcoming videos you will finally get what you need to free yourself from your commercial IDE and turn your terminal into a hyper productive work environment.

WHAT can you expect?

When I say "hyper productive work environment" I mean it.

By the end of this guide you will

• Increase your working speed and capacity drastically

• offload large parts of your work day to muscle memory

• Be asked by your coworkers to "not jump around so quick, please" when sharing your screen, because you edit and navigate faster than anyone who watches can comprehend - even if it's their own code that you present

• feel a tendency to check your phone when your coworkers share their screen because they feel so incredibly slow compared to you

• get to the point where the only reason to open your IDE is to show other people how inferior it is to the terminal

The Path to Vim

Although I am a C# developer, this doesn't mean that you have to be a C# developer for this guide to be useful for you, as well.

This guide aims to help you to get rid of your commercial IDE to

• turn your terminal into a hyper productive work environment

• heavily improve your productivity and speed

no matter which programming language you live in.

1) Start with the motions

Start

Find a vim plugin for your IDE (PyCharm/rider/vscode/visual studio/...) and practice.

Since there is already terrabytes of content about this on youtube, you don't need me to show you how to vim.

I'd rather refer you to prime's wonderful playlist Vim as your Editor that got me up and running back in the days.

Patience

You will not be lightning fast over night. Don't be too hard on yourself, have some patience.

2) Work through the "CLI Essentials" mini series

Vim does not exist in a petri dish - this series will give you the CLI foundation around neovim. Knowing your CLI is crucial for letting go of your IDE.

In future videos I will discuss topics that require a good enough understanding of those CLI tools and therefore constantly refer to this self-contained series.

3) Craft your workflows

These videos will show you how to orchestrate your CLI tools to finally turn your terminal into a hyper productive work environment.

We will talk about...

• How to use fuzzy finding, macros and the quick fix window efficiently
• NeoVim Plugins
• Scripts
• Automation
• Key combinations and -mappings

and much more

After watching these videos you will be 100% confident that you don't need your IDE anymore

What's next?

Depending on where you are on the path, step 1, 2 or 3 - jump in and watch my videos.

• If you're a C# developer and wonder how to set up Neovim for C# go watch Setting up C# in NeoVim (from scratch)

• If you already did all of the above: stay tuned, much more on digital productivity on the way.