Learn Vim Progressively — 1st Level : Survive

I`m now learning vim, and I found a very interesting article which talks about how to learn vim progressively in four steps. I just paste the whole article here to share with others.

Want to learn vim (the best text editor known to human kind) the fastest way possible. I suggest you a way. Start by learning the minimal to survive, then integrate slowly all tricks.

Vim the Six Billion Dollar editor

Better, Stronger, Faster.

Learn vim and it will be your last text editor. There isn’t any better text editor I know. Hard to learn, but incredible to use.
I suggest you to learn it in 4 steps:

1. Survive
2. Feel comfortable
3. Feel Better, Stronger, Faster
4. Use vim superpowers

By the end of this journey, you’ll become a vim superstar.
But before we start, just a warning. Learning vim will be painful at first. It will take time. It will be a lot like playing a music instrument. Don’t expect to be more efficient with vim than with another editor in less than 3 days. In fact it will certainly take 2 weeks instead of 3 days.

1^st Level – Survive

1. Install vim
2. Launch vim
3. DO NOTHING! Read.

In a standard editor, typing on the keyboard is enough to write something and see it on the screen. Not this time. Vim is in Normal mode. Let’s get in Insert mode. Type on the letter i.
You should feel a bit better. You can type letters like in a standard notepad. To get back in Normal mode just tap the ESC key.
You know how to switch between Insert and Normal mode. And now, the list of command you can use in Normal mode to survive:

• i → Insert mode. Type ESC to return to Normal mode.
• x → Delete the char under the cursor
• :wq → Save and Quit (:w save, :q quit)
• dd → Delete (and copy) current line
• p → Paste

Recommended:

• hjkl (highly recommended but not mandatory) → basic cursor move (←↓↑→). Hint: j look like a down arrow.
• :help <command> → Show help about <command>, you can start using :help without anything else.

Only 5 commands. This is very few to start. Once these command start to become natural (may be after a complete day), you should go on level 2.
But before, just a little remark on Normal mode. In standard editors, to copy you have to use the Ctrl key (Ctrl-c generally). In fact, when you press Ctrl, it is a bit like if all your key change meaning. With vim in Normal mode, it is a bit like if your Ctrl key is always pushed down.
A last word about notations:

• instead of writing Ctrl-λ, I’ll write <C-λ>.
• command staring by : will must end by <enter>. For example, when I write :q it means :q<enter>.