I was reading about vim the other day and found out why it used `hjkl` keys as arrow keys. When Bill Joy created the vi text editor he used the ADM-3A terminal, which had the arrows on hjkl keys. Naturally he reused the same keys and the rest is history. Here is how the `hjkl` keys looked. ADM-3A keyboard's hjkl keys...
And the home directory is aliased to ~ in UNIX-like systems because the tilde key doubled as the Home key.
I think I’d be okay with that. I’ve setup my keyboard so that FN+wasd act as arrow keys and I will occasionally use them that way in my editor even if I primarily use vim style movement
Oh, I know. I’ve been using VI since 1992. I was just wondering, given that wasd is the popular navigation format now thanks to gaming, if VI would have been coded differently today.
WASD in gaming is generally used with the hand shifted one position left of the home keys, so it would require a typist to continually reposition. ESDF or IJKL would be a better choice, and closer to what vi does.
So if written today, vi would use
wasd?I think I’d be okay with that. I’ve setup my keyboard so that FN+wasd act as arrow keys and I will occasionally use them that way in my editor even if I primarily use vim style movement
The point of using hjkl is to navigate while keeping your fingers on the home row and without moving your fingers to other positions
Oh, I know. I’ve been using VI since 1992. I was just wondering, given that
wasdis the popular navigation format now thanks to gaming, if VI would have been coded differently today.WASD in gaming is generally used with the hand shifted one position left of the home keys, so it would require a typist to continually reposition. ESDF or IJKL would be a better choice, and closer to what vi does.