Why use Vim

(my personal take) Vim motions are non-trivial to learn. e.g. you need to know how delete register works to effectively move around lines. Combination of usefulness as a tool (effectiveness of motion) + non-trivial but not-challenging difficulty of Vim supplies enough dopamine to keep a programmer on edge while programming (regardless of the mastery).

Vim Modes

Normal Mode (Command Mode)

here is where you can do things like copy, paste, find, or replace, and execute commands like (:w to save,or :q to quit).

Visual Mode

here is where you can select text.

Insert Mode

here is where you can edit your text.

Editing

# delete

d # delete selection
dd # delete line, move to registry
_d # delete to void
"1d # delete and move val to reg position 1
"2d # delete and move val to reg position 2
"9d # max is 9 in register

:reg # view delete register
"1p # paste 1-st position register value
"2p # paste 2-nd position register value

# copy/pasting

y # copy
p # p pastes below the current line

# undo/redo

u # undo edit
ctrl + r # redo edit

Behavior of `p`

When pasting a whole line, it pastes to line below current.

When pasting a word(s) in current line, it pastes after the cursor location (right side of the cursor box).

Positioning and Edit Modes

Why is right hand index finger placed on `J` and not `H`?

Prefer vertical movement over horizontal movement.

prioritize use of k and j to move vertically.
prioritize use of w, b, and e to jump words horizontally.
use f{x} when a lot of words are in a single line.

Use w, b, e, and f{x} combo to navigate current line.

For example, wrapping a word in quote should involve sequence like:

# starting from middle of the word character sequence
b v e d i "" esc p

# positioning screen

zz # center current view to cursor

# word navigation

w # move to the first character of next word
e # move to the last character of current word
b # move to the first character of previous word
f{x} # move to first match of "x" in current line 

# edit mode

i # insert - insert mode from beginning of currently selected word
a # append - insert mode from end of currently selected word
I # insert at the beginning of line
A # append at the end of line

Vim