Best of Vim — November 2025

  1. 1
    Article
    Avatar of atomicobjectAtomic Spin·26w

    Go on an AI Detox

    A developer shares their experience temporarily disabling AI coding assistants like Cursor and Copilot to rediscover fundamental programming skills. After an initial productivity dip, they found themselves more engaged with code, better understanding of the codebase, and improved problem-solving abilities. The experiment revealed how AI convenience can make developers rusty in core skills like keyboard navigation, Vim commands, and deep code comprehension. The author now uses AI more deliberately, emphasizing the value of periodic detoxes to maintain sharp development instincts and genuine understanding rather than passive reliance on AI suggestions.

  2. 2
    Article
    Avatar of lobstersLobsters·28w

    How I fell in love with calendar.txt

    A developer shares their experience adopting calendar.txt, a plain text file for managing calendar events using Unix command-line tools. They demonstrate how simple grep, vim, and bash aliases provide elegant solutions for viewing daily events, editing dates, and handling recurring events—all faster and more reliable than web-based calendar interfaces. The approach offers simplicity, trust, and personal customization through Unix tools, though mobile access remains challenging on proprietary systems like Android.

  3. 3
    Video
    Avatar of primeagenThePrimeTime·26w

    Goodbye, Dvorak

    A developer shares their decision to switch back to QWERTY after 10 years of using a custom Dvorak keyboard layout. The motivation stems from wanting to program with their son on any computer without the barrier of a specialized layout. The transition has been challenging, particularly with Vim muscle memory, but the author considers it worthwhile for spending quality time teaching programming to their child.

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