Skip to Content
Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition
book

Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition

by Arnold Robbins, Elbert Hannah, Linda Lamb
July 2008
Beginner
492 pages
16h
English
O'Reilly Media, Inc.
Content preview from Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition

vi Quotes

Finally, here are some more vi quotes, courtesy of Bram Moolenaar, Vim’s author:

THEOREM: vi is perfect.

PROOF: VI in roman numerals is 6. The natural numbers less than 6 which divide 6 are 1, 2, and 3. 1 + 2 + 3 = 6. So 6 is a perfect number. Therefore, vi is perfect.

— Arthur Tateishi

A reaction from Nathan T. Oelger:

So, where does the above leave Vim? VIM in roman numerals might be: (1000 – (5 + 1)) = 994, which happens to be equal to 2*496+2. 496 is divisible by 1, 2, 4, 8, 16, 31, 62, 124, and 248 and 1+2+4+8+16+31+62+124+248 = 496. So, 496 is a perfect number. Therefore, Vim is twice as perfect as vi, plus a couple extra bits of goodies. ☺

That is, Vim is better than perfect.

This quote seems to sum it up for the true vi lover:

To me vi is zen. To use vi is to practice zen. Every command is a koan. Profound to the user, unintelligible to the uninitiated. You discover truth every time you use it.

— Satish Reddy

Become an O’Reilly member and get unlimited access to this title plus top books and audiobooks from O’Reilly and nearly 200 top publishers, thousands of courses curated by job role, 150+ live events each month,
and much more.

Read now

Unlock full access

More than 5,000 organizations count on O’Reilly

AirBnbBlueOriginElectronic ArtsHomeDepotNasdaqRakutenTata Consultancy Services

QuotationMarkO’Reilly covers everything we've got, with content to help us build a world-class technology community, upgrade the capabilities and competencies of our teams, and improve overall team performance as well as their engagement.
Julian F.
Head of Cybersecurity
QuotationMarkI wanted to learn C and C++, but it didn't click for me until I picked up an O'Reilly book. When I went on the O’Reilly platform, I was astonished to find all the books there, plus live events and sandboxes so you could play around with the technology.
Addison B.
Field Engineer
QuotationMarkI’ve been on the O’Reilly platform for more than eight years. I use a couple of learning platforms, but I'm on O'Reilly more than anybody else. When you're there, you start learning. I'm never disappointed.
Amir M.
Data Platform Tech Lead
QuotationMarkI'm always learning. So when I got on to O'Reilly, I was like a kid in a candy store. There are playlists. There are answers. There's on-demand training. It's worth its weight in gold, in terms of what it allows me to do.
Mark W.
Embedded Software Engineer

You might also like

Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 8th Edition

Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 8th Edition

Arnold Robbins, Elbert Hannah
Mastering Vim

Mastering Vim

Ruslan Osipov
Mastering Vim

Mastering Vim

Damian Conway
Vim Masterclass

Vim Masterclass

Jason Cannon

Publisher Resources

ISBN: 9780596529833Errata Page