Customer Reviews

Vi iMproved (VIM)

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(6)
3 star:		(3)
2 star:		(2)
1 star:		(2)

 

 

I decided to learn Vim because I work on WinNT/2K, Linux, and Macintosh boxes. Using a single editor makes it easier to work on mulitple platforms.

My review of this book is mixed. First, it's the only book on Vim and it contains a lot of information, so that's a plus. Also, it shed a lot of light on using the editor that, frankly, the help files did not (you can look up *ANYTHING* via ":help <topic>", but the documentation is not very accessible to the new user). However, the typos, errors, bad grammar, and personal idiosyncracies of Mr. Oualline just have to be seen to be believed.

You can figure out most of the errors easily enough. For example, there's a reference to the non-BUI version of Vim (I think he meant GUI)and for some reason, in the word "filename", when used as an example (e.g., "type 'vim filename'"), the "fi" is sans-serif while the rest of the example text is in bold Courier. There are, however, numerous places where the diagrams don't match the example being discussed in the text or are just plain wrong. Some of these left me wondering if I had missed something, but trying out a command in Vim quickly showed the diagram was wrong. My favorite goof is where '#' (the command to search backwards for the word under the cursor) is shown in numerous places in Appendix C (pp. 445, 449, and elsewhere) as a British money sign (e.g., "/count/ L"), where L is the pound sign. Get it? Pound sign? Obviously the person who did the Appendices and Index (and copy-editing???) was not Mr. Oualline.

With regard to the content, I found that Mr. Oualline is very idiosyncratic. Vim is VERY flexible, using ancient Vi ways of doing things, as well as more modern ways that are easier to use. Take yanking (copying) a block of text to a register (like the clipboard). *Mouse way*: select lines, press y. *Visual way*: move cursor to top of lines to be selected, press V, select lines, press y. *Vi-ish way*: go to top of lines to be selected, press "ma" to drop a mark labeled "a", go to bottom of lines, type y'a (yank from current position to mark "a").

If you consider these different styles (mouse, visual, or Vi-ish) to approaching the same general problem, Mr. Oualline always goes with the Vi-ish style, to the point of also showing you in many cases how to precede the command with a line range instead of using marks. Where Ctrl-Wn (open a new window) will do, we get Ctrl-W Ctrl-N (equivalent). Where Ctrl-W<down> moves down one window, we get Ctrl-W Ctrl-J (the arrows aren't mentioned). My guess is that this is not how the majority of new users will use Vim (though it might be handy if you find yourself using Vi or Vim via telnet).

A real barrier to learning the editor is the immense number of variations for accomplishing a given task. Multiple keystrokes to accomplish the same thing, as well as different approaches. What would be great for Vim is an attempt to break down tasks into functional groupings (movement, formatting, programmer stuff, managing buffers/windows) and choose a style (probably visual mode, which is almost interchangeable with mouseing) so you can say "here's a good way to get started." The many variations can be left as an excercise for power users. They are available in the online help, anyway.

All in all, I learned a lot about Vim from this book. But if I hadn't been determined to do so, I would have given up. If you want to learn Vim and the online docs aren't doing it for you, buy this book. You've been warned, so just chuckle when you come across errors and general weirdness. Kudos to Mr. Oualline for writing a book, but don't give up your day job. :-) BIG raspberries to New Riders for letting this slip through without proper editing. And thanks to Bram, who put up an unofficial list of errata at www.vim.org.

So far I have only read up to page 118. The large number of errors I have found so far is mind-numbing. I pity the poor beginner who has to plow through these mistakes in order to try to understand the vim program. For those who already have a copy, I ask you to compare figures 2.4 and 2.5 and tell me what is the difference between the two sets of arrows. Look at figure 2.13 and find the two outright errors, the inconsistency, and the point that might be confusing to a beginner. Read the section entitled 'How to Change Last, First to First, Last' on pages 103 and 104 and find the following:
1. The \(, \), \1, and \2 used here will not be introduced until page 213.
2. The regular expression in figure 9.2 is labeled a 'command', while the command itself is found nowhere.
3. The dollar sign in the regular expression is redundant.
4. The [^,]* could be replaced with the simpler .* unless you anticipate that there would be more than one comma on a line, in which case, any command would fail.
5. The space after the comma in the names file is not properly accounted for.
6. Who changes last, first to first, last anyway? It should be changed to first last, with no comma.
This nonsense appears just after the author has introduced the :substitute command. Take a breath Mr. Oualline, and teach the basics first.

These are not isolated problems, the whole book is like this.
My opinion is that:
1. Mr. Oualline has too much experience with vim to remember the needs of a beginner.
2. The artist who created the figures seems to have no experience with vim whatever.
3. The review process at New Riders is too careless.

I agree with David DelGreco. My review is mixed because a lot is covered and well explained, but the information is dispersed all over the place and sometimes plain wrong. It would be good to see sections for the *mouse way*, *visual way* and *Vi-ish way* from the start.

I have two criticisms that I have not read in the other reviews that makes my opinion rather negative. First and foremost, the book is STIFF. A tutorial book should remain open on the page without having to put your hand on it. I'm having it beside me now, and the only page that is willing to remain open is the title page. Even thumbing to the index is a chore. It's like paging through a carton book for 2-year olds. I have a grandchild now, so I know how it feels. It makes the book almost unusable.

My second criticism is the chosen font. You can hardly see the difference between uppercase and lowercase, and that is rather important. I've had several times wondering why a command didn't work because of this.
And why are 'vimrc' and 'configuration file' not in the index? I still have to find them somewhere in the book. I gave up and looked up on the internet how to set the colorscheme in vimrc (it's ":colorscheme desert" b.t.w.)

So a lot of it is good and it has some really bad points. Mixed feelings...

One main reason people use vi/vim is that by using few key strokes you can do your editing job. In this book, author choose to teach you how to do things using the longest command available. For example, :split instead of :sp; :buffer instead of :b ...
It will be nice if author at least mentioned the alternative.

This book was the ticket to admission to the Linux world. To use Linux, one must immediately be competent with a text editor that runs on Linux. For me, a Windows developer who had used vi a decade or so ago on an HP-UX system but had successfully forgotten everything, this book allowed me to regain my vi-ish skills on Windows during my day job so I could productively goof around on Linux at night.

Other reviewers noted errors. To me, there were no big, hairy errors. This book yielded a positive learning experience. I shudder to think where I would be now without it. I had considered the purchase of a $... Linux version of a commercial editor that I use on Windows, but decided to give this book a try before I made the big investment. This proved to be a good decision, because now I eschew the expensive commercial editor and use vim as my text editor on Windows and Linux.

My only complaint with this situation is not with the book, but with me. Now, my fingers 'think' in vim, and those fingers 'think' much faster than my brain thinks. This book has enabled me to commit vim to muscle memory. I can use the editor, but I'll be darned if I can explain it to anybody.

I read all the negative reviews, and have to admit that I agree with many of the sentiments. The book IS hard to navigate. There ARE many typos. It IS hard to find material.

Despite all this, I still find the book useful -- one of the most useful books on my bookshelf. I can open up to practically any page and chances are good I'll find something new and useful.

Additionally, commands are grouped together in a nice reference style manner which is often lost to me while thumbing through Vim's (admittedly) lousy help file system.

And the graphical demonstrations are worth their weight in gold.

So while the book is certainly flawed, it has some really nice features and high points. But more importantly (ultimately, THE most important thing) is that I find the book utterly useful. That one fact alone trumps all the bad points and is the driving force behind my 4 star rating (I wish I could give it 4.5 stars). I purchased the book new, and never regretted a single penny that I spent for it.

If you've never used Vi before, this book will help you to get started. But after the first week, it won't be very useful.

I use Vim everyday as a computer programmer, and whenever I need to figure out how to do something, I now just turn to google. The book covers many features of Vim, but in not much detail. The Appendix is sparse and often wrong. And topics are usually scattered in 3 different places in the book.

For example, I don't use macros a lot, but I know they are a simple and powerful feature that many Vim users use all the time. Looking up how to use them took me through 2 sections and 15 minues. And the command involes only 2 keys!

The first two chapters tell you how to get started in VIM with the basic commands - and its easy enough to follow along with. But the other 28 chapters don't help you get much done at all.

The Vim book by Steve Oualline is the first book to be completely dedicated to Vim. The only other choice is a book about Vi, in which too much information is missing.

I can recommend this book especially for beginners and those who use Vim for a short while and would like to learn more. The most often used commands are explained with many figures and examples. Steve has a writing style that is very easy to read. Advanced Vim users will find many hints for useful features. The more advanced items are not explained in detail though.

The foreword is great! Well, I wrote it... I also reviewed the text, but not all reported mistakes have been corrected. [...]

Eventhough it's thick, but it's an easy read. Takes you from a novice to expert. So if you are at a certain level of competency in vi, it's good to review the easy stuff in the beginning. You never know what you don't know. Great book

I loaned my original copy of this book to a co-worker who later quit, and took the book with him. I missed the book so much, I went and ordered another copy. And this was at a time in my life when I was actually clearing my book shelves of old books in an effort to simplify my life. This book is that good. Vim is arguably one of the best text editors in existence, and if you want to learn Vim I can't think of any better book than this one. Even if you're just a casual user who is going to edit a few config files on a Unix/Linx machine, this is the book for you; the first three chapters will have you well on your way to using Vim efficiently. If you're a programmer or advanced user, you'll also benefit from the later chapters. Some say that Vim's learning curve is too steep, and prefer to use simpler editors like Pico or Joe (or even Notepad, on Windows), but this book will take away your fear and will make learning Vim easy. Even if you just read the first few chapters, it's worth it. Highly recommended.