On Thu, Oct 8, 2015 at 7:33 PM, Gevisz <[email protected]> wrote: > On Thu, 8 Oct 2015 22:23:33 +1100 Erik Christiansen <[email protected]> > wrote: > >> On 06.10.15 01:01, Filype Pereira wrote: >> > So, I started reading a vim book and didn't get very far, when I stopped >> > at this line: >> > >> > > If you can't touch type, then go learn it and then come back to learn >> > > vim. >> >> What a load of bollocks! >> >> During three decades of earning a living developing software, I used >> vi/vim for the last quarter century without ever learning to touch type. >> OK, I use quite a few fingers, and it goes pretty fast, but I do need to >> look at the keyboard most of the time. That doesn't manifest as a >> practical problem, since the computers I've used have all been very good >> at remembering what I've typed, so I have no need to view the screen at >> more than infrequent intervals. >> >> One thing I've noticed is that where one values quality over quantity, >> it is the amount of thought that goes into a composition which matters, >> not how rapidly it was input, or whether the typist did it with his eyes >> closed. > > Completely agree and would throw the book after the phrase right into the > trash bin. > > Unfortunately, I cannot boast that I use vim for a three decade, but I do use > it > and I do type using computers for a quarter of century. > > When necessary, I type fast enough to do my job quickly but I never tried to > learn > a touch typing and I should admit that for me it is already too late to learn > it. > > Nevertheless, I do use a "blind typing" in the sense that I do not look into > the monitor when I type, only to the keyboard. I get used to this style yet > about 25 years ago trying to save my eyes from the ray monitors of that days. > > Usually, I type a whole sentence without looking into the monitor. > > It does not mean that I do not know my keyboard layout. I do know it and can > type > in a complete darkness (but much more slowly, of course). > > My hands move over the keyboard almost automatically but I still need a > little feedback > from my eyes to not hit "i" instead of "o" for example. > > In this connection I have only one inconvenience connected with the facts that > 1) I usually have to use 3 keyboard layouts at the same time switching > between them with a hot key, > 2) it is impossible to have a "direct hot key switch" to a certain keyboard > layout in Linux world. > > Because of that I have to remember all the time not only in which vim mode I > am but also in which > keyboard layout I am and it is too much for me. As the result, I too often > end up raising my eyes > to the monitor and finding out that I have typed the whole sentence in > incorrect keybord layout. :( > > In such times I very much miss the good old MS DOS keyrus driver that could > have been configured > to produce a pleasant "crimping" noise when typing in a cyrillic keyboard > layout and nothing > when typing in Latin keyboard layout, for example. > > But the "direct hot key switch" could also help a lot in this situation. > Unfortunately, as far as I know, it is impossible in the Linux World. > > P.S. By a "direct hot key switch" I mean the hot key that switches directly > to a certain > keyboard layout, not by circling through all the active ones. > > However, such a "direct hot key switch" is possible in Windows.
In Vim (but only in Vim) I also use 3 keyboard layouts, and there I could, if I wanted, assign them to hotkeys, even though I'm on Linux: • Most of the time I use a Belgian AZERTY keyboard with international Latin letters, as shown at http://users.skynet.be/antoine.mechelynck/other/keybbe.htm. This is my only keyboard layout outside Vim. • A significant minority of my time is spent typing Russian with one keymap. If I need Russian text outside Vim I use copy-paste from Vim to the other application. • Even less often, I use a different keymap for Arabic. Both of these keymaps are (more or less) "phonetic", i.e. e.g. hitting the b key produces the letter having the b sound in that alphabet. I provide additional letters by means of dead keys (keymap entries with a {lhs} of two characters). It is enough for me to map the <F8> key to toggle the current keymap on and off in both Normal and Insert mode, and to have a custom statusline remind me which keymap (if any) is currently in use, but only when &l:iminsert == 1 Best regards, Tony. -- -- You received this message from the "vim_use" maillist. Do not top-post! Type your reply below the text you are replying to. For more information, visit http://www.vim.org/maillist.php --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "vim_use" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
