SaltyCrane Blog — Notes on JavaScript and web development

Switching from Emacs to Vim (actually Spacemacs)

I recently switched from Linux to OS X and Python to Javascript. To complete my fall from the Light, I've switched from Emacs to Vim. Actually I just switched to Evil Mode and Spacemacs. This is how I came to switch:

  • I discovered OS X uses many Emacs key bindings by default and I could set even more.
  • I went back to the default key bindings in Emacs to be consistent with OS X.1
  • I remapped Return to Control and started using both Control keys to help use the default Emacs key bindings. Using both Control keys felt amazing compared to just one...
  • ...until I began feeling Emacs Pinky since Return was slightly farther than Caps Lock.2
  • I tried remapping Spacebar to Control and this felt even more amazing...
  • ...until I tried to type a sentence at normal speed.
  • I decided I didn't want to buy a foot pedal.
  • I tried Spacemacs.
  • I set bash and Karabiner to Vim mode.3
  • I set Caps Lock to Escape and Control.
  • I started looking for Vim screencasts.4

Even after 3 months, I'm still working a lot slower, but I'm hoping it's a good investment. One thing I've noticed is that Vim seems to use a lot of number and symbol keys. I need to learn to touch type my numbers! Update 2017-07-31: After 1.5 years, I'm still enjoying Spacemacs and Vim key bindings (and I've gotten better at my numbers). I find Vim mode more relaxing compared to the many key chords used in Emacs. A few of my favorite commands are f/t to jump to a character on a line and . and ; to repeat commands.

Spacemacs

spacemacs screenshot

Spacemacs is an Emacs starter kit5 (like Emacs Prelude) optimized for Vim key bindings. It provides the "best of both worlds" – the efficiency of Vim's modal editing and the extensibility of Emacs Lisp.

Spacemacs replaces many Emacs modifier combinations by setting a leader key to the Spacebar (hence the name spacemacs). To open a file, use SPC f f instead of C-x C-f. Spacemacs makes commands easily discoverable using which-key. Just press SPC to see a list of commands, press a key and see more commands.

Spacemacs has a good out-of-the-box configuration for Javascript and React development. It uses js2-mode, web-mode6 for JSX, flycheck w/ eslint, tern, and some things I haven't used.

Install Spacemacs

Here's how to install Spacemacs on OS X.

  • Install Emacs
    $ brew install emacs --with-cocoa --with-gnutls --with-imagemagick 
    
  • Install Spacemacs
    $ mv ~/.emacs.d ~/.emacs.d.bak  # if you have an exisiting .emacs.d directory
    $ git clone https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs ~/.emacs.d 
    
  • Start Emacs (in terminal mode). This will download and compile packages and ask if you want to use vim mode or emacs mode.
    $ emacs 
    

Start Emacs in client/server mode

  • Start the Emacs server
    $ emacs --daemon 
    
  • Start an Emacs client in the terminal
    $ emacsclient -t 
    
  • Start a graphical Emacs client
    $ emacsclient -c 
    

Spacemacs config

Spacemacs has its own configuration file located at ~/.spacemacs or ~/.spacemacs.d/init.el. For more information, see the configuration documentation. My personal Spacemacs configuration is on github.

Useful Spacemacs commands

SPC q q - quit
SPC w / - split window vertically
SPC w - - split window horizontally
SPC 1   - switch to window 1
SPC 2   - switch to window 2
SPC w d - delete current window
SPC TAB - switch to previous buffer
SPC b b - switch buffers
SPC f f - find a file
SPC f s - save a file (:w also works)
SPC p p - open project
SPC p h - find a file in current project
SPC b d - delete current buffer
SPC b M - move buffer to another window
SPC v   - enter expand-region mode

Useful Vim key bindings

movement
--------
0 - beginning of line
^ - beginning of non-whitespace
$ - end of line
9j - move down 9 lines
w - move forward by word
b - move backward by word
gg - first line
G - last line
C-u - up half page
C-d - down half page
f/ - move forward to first "/" character
t/ - move forward right before the first "/" character
; - repeat that command again
H - head of the screen
M - middle of the screen
L - last of the screen
} - move forward by paragraph or block
{ - move backwards by paragraph or block
* - search for word under the cursor
    n - search again forward
    N - search again backwards
# - search backwards for word under cursor
/ - search forward
? - search backward
% - find matching brace, paren, etc
ma - mark a line in a file with marker "a"
`a - after moving around, go back to the exact position of marker "a"
'a - after moving around, go back to line of marker "a"
:marks - view all the marks
'' - go to the last place you were
[{ - jump back to the "{" at the beginning of the current code block

editing
-------
x - delete char under cursor
X - delete char before cursor
A - add to end of line
I - insert at the beginning of the line
dd - delete line
D - delete from cursor to end of line
di' - delete text inside single quotes
yy - copy line
Y - copy from cursor to end of line
cc - change line
C - change from cursor to end of line
cit - change text inside html tag
ci' - change text inside single quotes
ci{ - change text inside curly brackets.
ci... - etc
p - paste after cursor
P = paste before cursor
o - add line below
O - add line above
. = repeat last comment
r - replace character
R - replace. (overwrite) (good for columns of text)
J - join line (cursor can be anywhere on line)

visual mode
-----------
v - visual char mode
V - visual line mode
C-v - block visual mode

  1. And to be consistent with other machines or programs using Emacs or Emacs key bindings. Mandatory Eclipse for a 4 day Hadoop training emphasized this need. [back]
  2. At this point, I probably could have learned to move my hand 2 cm to the right, but I have been curious about Vim for a while now. Update 2017-07-31: mabye a better alternative is using semicolon instead of Enter as the right Control key as mentioned here. [back]
  3. Later I also installed Vimium. [back]
  4. I found some excellent Vim screencasts here: http://derekwyatt.org/vim/tutorials/. [back]
  5. Though some don't call it a starter kit. [back]
  6. Hat tip to web-mode's author/maintainer. I created an issue about JSX indentation and it was fixed in less than a day. [back]

Comments


#1 Rob Phoenix commented on :

This is super helpful, thanks!

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#2 Saksham Sharma commented on :

Hi, I started off as a Vim user, still am. Shifted to Emacs 4 months ago for IDE like uses. Still use Vim in terminal.
Anyhow, do try this if you want a good way to prevent Emacs pinky. It was a personal experiment, and worked pretty well. Basically remapping the right alt key to ctrl. The commands needed are written here:
http://www.acehack.org/post...

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#3 Eliot commented on :

That sounds like a really good idea-- I should have tried that. I am enjoying the Vim key bindings more and more as I get used to it though. You should try Evil/Spacemacs too!

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#4 Saksham Sharma commented on :

I'm less of a "taking it on a platter" guy, so spacemacs, with its fully configured thing doesn't appeal to me, I like writing all my own configs :) Besides, I already have an awesome vimrc for my Vim cravings.
Anyhow, great blog, I enjoyed reading your posts!

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#5 Eliot commented on :

I agree there is something to be said for building up your own custom Emacs config and if you want to stay holy while attending the Church of Emacs, more power to you. I guess you're polyreligious and I'm syncretistic. :)

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#6 Saksham Sharma commented on :

That's a very interesting way to put it :)

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#7 Nek commented on :

Thanks! Got several shortcuts I didn't even know existed.

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#8 wsteinbr commented on :

Great compliation - well done. Also you can do combinations with vim such as dt_ - which is delete till underscore. Another would be c/object - which cuts out all the text until search finds "object", then puts you in insert mode. (change till find object). Another would be ytb - which is yank till encountering a "b". That yank can be used with C-r0 - at the : for ex commands. That yank can be used by "p" (paste) within the file of course. This is vim yank to the zero register as opposed to Emacs C-y - yank back to the file. Note also that the find with "f" within the current line is fully independent of the current item being searched over many lines by "/". ---- Someone should do a Spacemacs entry to compliment the Emacs entry at https://shortcutworld.com/e... -- You have a great start here. By the way, I prefer using "jw" and "wj" for escape. These are very rare combinations and when both are possible order does not matter. Also your fingers barely leave the home row for qwerty. Finally quitting a file that you don't want to save changes on is easy - :cq

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