THE VIDEO SHELF · vim editing
Mastering the Vim Language
Chris Toomey of thoughtbot explains Vim as a language of commands, motions and text objects that combine into precise edits. He shows how to master the built-in pieces and extend them.
Why HN readers recommended it
Repeatedly called the best video introduction to Vim's underlying model.
This is a summary from the source dataset, not an endorsement by Hacker News or the video creator.
Video & recommendation details
- Creator / channel
- thoughtbot
- Topic
- vim editing
- Format
- talk
- Level
- intro
- HN recommenders in dataset
- 5
- HN mentions in dataset
- 7
- Recommendation years in dataset
- 2016–2026
These counts and years describe the included Hacker News records; they are not YouTube views or the video’s publication date.
From the original HN conversations
Excerpts from the recorded comments. Follow each source for the full comment and surrounding discussion.
In video form, the best introduction I have seen is Chris Toomey’s ‘Mastering the Vim Language’: [VIDEO] But here is something I wrote while I was learning how to migrate to Vim.. [LINK]
begemotz on Hacker News · 2016-11
In How to start using VIM?Disclaimer: My vim knowledge has many gaps. Understanding vim's model, what Chris Toomey of Thoughtbot calls "the Vim Language", helps incredibly: [VIDEO] I've picked up numerous tips watching this and other of Thoughtbot's excellent video series. More importantly, though, is that I've learned why specific …
dredmorbius on Hacker News · 2019-03
In Vim Anti-Patterns (2012)My first experience, on a BSD machine at about the same time, was similarly traumatic. I've since learnt the tool. Its ubiquity (particularly over pretty much all of the other ones I'd listed, at least on the machines I had ready access to) cemented that. …
dredmorbius on Hacker News · 2026-05
In It's time to talk about my writerdeck
Summaries, classifications and recommendation records are from the HackerTube source dataset. Read about this library and its limitations.