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IDEs Editors Post #5420 · source on Telegram

The Vim Exit Strategy: A Long-Term Commitment

Description

A two-panel meme illustrating the classic developer struggle with the Vim text editor. The top panel shows a screenshot of a Google search bar with the query 'how to exit vim', a question famously asked by beginners. The bottom panel shows a skeleton sitting at a desk in front of a computer, implying the user died waiting to figure out the answer. This meme humorously exaggerates the notoriously steep learning curve of Vim, a powerful modal editor where simple actions like exiting (requiring a command like ':q!') are not intuitive to newcomers. It's a rite of passage and a long-running joke in the developer community, highlighting the initial pain of learning powerful but non-obvious tools

Comments

19
Anonymous ★ Top Pick The only thing with higher lock-in than a proprietary cloud service is a junior dev's first Vim session
  1. Anonymous ★ Top Pick

    The only thing with higher lock-in than a proprietary cloud service is a junior dev's first Vim session

  2. Anonymous

    It’s not a proper “Quick-Start” until step #1 fails, step #2 is already deprecated, and step #3 is you opening the pull request that becomes next quarter’s OKR

  3. Anonymous

    The real 'Hello World' is discovering that the maintainers last tested their Getting Started guide three major versions ago, but they've been diligently updating the copyright year in the footer

  4. Anonymous

    Ah yes, the classic 'Hello World' that requires three deprecated package managers, two environment variables that aren't mentioned until step 47, and a specific Node version that was only stable for 72 hours in 2019. The forced smile perfectly captures that moment when you realize the 'Quick Start (5 minutes!)' is actually a three-day archaeological expedition through GitHub issues from 2017

  5. Anonymous

    Senior tip: when Quickstart step one 404s, pin to the README’s commit hash and treat the docs as an eventually consistent cache

  6. Anonymous

    Every broken Quickstart has a hidden Step 0: replicate the CI agent’s OS and toolchain, then call it “developer onboarding.”

  7. Anonymous

    Step 1 fails? Congrats - you've fast-forwarded to the real tutorial: reverse-engineering the docs author's prod env

  8. @Rxd117 2y

    😭

  9. @CcxCZ 2y

    Time to get on IRC and shout at the devs.

    1. @ColonelPhantom 2y

      nicely ask for help*

      1. @ZgGPuo8dZef58K6hxxGVj3Z2 2y

        Get ignored for 3 months because last Friday caused some issues

        1. @CcxCZ 2y

          Eh, depends if it's a community project or a corpo that happens to sometimes publish their code. The former rarely stonewalls you. I'm not saying they will help. But at least if they tell you to fuck off you save time trying to get through.

  10. @dollarbr 2y

    I prefer to have a problem in 1st step then happening in last one

  11. 扇子 2y

    you waste 3 months in both options

    1. @mekosko 2y

      But in first case you got the answer

  12. @callofvoid0 2y

    what is IRC ?

    1. @CcxCZ 2y

      The oldest internet chat still in existence. Kinda.

      1. @deerspangle 2y

        Hmmm, BBS might disagree

        1. @CcxCZ 2y

          Yup but I'm not sure if I'd call that *internet* chat.

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