Conquering the Command Line: Installing and Configuring Vim on Ubuntu

The flames of the decades-long editor war between Emacs and Vim may have cooled, but among serious command line aficionados, Vim remains the tool of choice. With cult-like adherence from developers scattered across Silicon Valley and remote outposts around the globe, Vim delivers a blazing-fast, customizable editing experience that keeps users productive and happy once they clear the initial learning curve.

Unfortunately, first-timers attempting to summon the venerable editor on Ubuntu can hit frustrating roadblocks:

$ vim
bash: vim: command not found

While GUI apps have largely abstracted away the complications of the Linux environment, mastering the terminal is still a mandatory rite of passage – so let‘s remedy Vim‘s "command not found" error and rescue another soul from the depths of Nano purgatory!

The Promise and Power of Vim

Before fixing our missing editor, it helps to understand why Vim commands such devoted admiration among engineers, administrators and open source contributors after nearly 30 years of development.

Originally created as a vi clone with additional improvements, Vim transformed text editing workflows by introducing an innovative modal interface – multiple operating modes tailored to specific interactions like inserting, changing, deleting or navigating text instead of relying on modifier keys like Ctrl and Alt.

Combinations of verbs and nouns give rise to a rich vocabulary for manipulating text at unbelievable speeds. Less keystrokes and reduced mouse usage equals higher efficiency and lower repetition strain. Estaillades of opening, editing and writing files melt away thanks to ruthless keyboard centricity.

Beyond lightning-fast editing, Vim offers outstanding customizability and applicability across countless scenarios:

• Expansive Vimscript language for tailoring editor behavior
• Thousands of plugins powered by a thriving open ecosystem
• Support for automating complex editing workflows and tasks
• Integrations with external tools like Git, TMUX, Make etc
• Syntax highlighting for all major programming languages and file formats
• Configuration syncing between editor instances via the .vimrc
• Portability across every operating system thanks to lightweight dependencies
• Decades of accrued muscle memory transferable across environments
• Path to mastery scales from basic editing up to advanced text manipulation sorcery!

Unsurprisingly, Vim usage remains near ubiquitous among experienced developers, sysadmins and IT professionals four decades after initial development on the venerable QUNIX system. Today Vim ships as the default editor on most Linux distributions thanks to decades worth of tweaks and improvements from packages maintained by devoted communities.

Understanding Vim‘s Lasting Appeal

Especially for proficient technologists thriving in terminal environments, Vim delivers tangible quality-of-life improvements:

Speed

Vim‘s modal editing paradigm enables blazing fast interactions once the keyboard sequences become second nature. Studies show expert Vim users consistently outperform peers using other editors for common text editing tasks – even when considering initial learning time.

Efficiency

Keyboard-driven workflows mean less reaching for the mouse or touchpad. Keeping your fingers on the home row reduces pointless deviation and wasted effort.

Precision

Command combinations allow precise selection, manipulation or exploration of code and text. Vim‘s vocabulary becomes rich with nouns and verbs expanding your editing vocabulary.

Focus

No distracting toolbars, menus or excess chrome demanding attention. Vim eliminates UI cruft in favor of a distraction-free editing canvas promoting concentration and flow.

Flexibility

Vim adapts seamlessly across tech stacks thanks to its language agnostic design. Edit system files and logs, code applications in Python or JavaScript, write prose, take notes…no other toolkit delivers such versatility.

Customizability

An almost overwhelming degree of personalization allows matching workflows precisely to specific needs – fonts, color schemes, IDE-like behaviors, window management – catering to newcomers and power users alike with different preferences.

With so many advantages over normal text editors after surmounting the initial learning barrier, Vim rightfully deserves its reputation as the premiere keyboard-oriented editing solution.

Quantifying Vim‘s Footprint

Exact metrics on Vim‘s popularity among developers prove slippery given variations in package naming across Linux distributions, embedded uses in applications like Git, Neovim forks and challenges separating terminal and GUI usage.

However a few statistics hint at just how widely entrenched Vim remains today:

• Over 12 million downloads served from vim.org as of 2023
• Over 2 million lines of code across Vim and Neovim projects
• Over 500 plugins available from vimawesome.com alone
• Over 2200 registered extensions for VSCode‘s Vim mode
• Ranked within the top 50 most starred projects on GitHub
• Pre-installed by default on nearly every Linux distribution
• Included by default in MongoDB database and Git version control system

Clearly millions of developers, sysadmins and IT professionals choose Vim daily as their editing power tool of choice nearly 30 years running!

Terminal Text Editors Compared

Understanding similarities between Vim and other common text-based editing options helps illustrate key differences in their approach. Note that Emacs in particular blurs boundaries thanks to its extensive multi-language support and application framework extensibility.

Editor	Learning Curve	Modal?	Extensibility	Customization
Nano	Lowest	No	Minimal	Color Schemes
Vim	Moderate	Yes	Vimscript, Plugins	Very High
Emacs	Highest	No	Lisp, Packages	Extreme

Here is an overview of distinguishing capabilities:

• Nano – Simplest editor for quick edits but least powerful long-term due to minimal customization and lack of workflow optimizations.
• Vim – Optimal balance empowering intermediate to advanced text editing workflows through composable building blocks.
• Emacs – Extreme flexibility thanks to embedded scripting language allows Emacs to transform into an entire development environment.

Interestingly, while Nano lacks Vim‘s text manipulation finesse and extensibility, its intuitive experience serves an important onboarding role introducing complete novices to the joys and advantages of terminal editing before migrating to more advanced tools.

Emacs on the opposite end of the spectrum blurs the line between editor and operating system – but this power comes at the cost of accessibility requiring substantial personal investment exploring edge cases.

Vim strikes an elegant balance optimizing essential text manipulation and navigation capabilities with compositional building blocks benefiting both early learners yet scaling up to unlock truly advanced workflows which would prove tedious and repetitive using other editors. Mastery enables almost Zen-like focus and efficiency.

Decoupling GUI from Functionality

Before fixing our missing editor, we must address the elephant-sized
failure detected: why are we unable to run a Terminal application from
the Terminal itself?!

Blame the growing division between graphical tools and shell-based ones as personal computing pivots increasingly towards mobile consumption instead of creation or configuration. Desktop OS makers rightfully prioritize acquainting newcomers with intuitive, familiar interfaces – the realm of touchpads and mice.

Yet the terminal environment where keyboard reigns supreme persists as the interface of choice for performing advanced technical work thanks to advantages listed earlier.

Text manipulation forms the bedrock of software development itself: authoring prose, crafting meanings, sculpting functional sculptures noted by C programmers and poets alike as expressions of the human condition.

Thus we arrive at this crossroads: GUI excels at accessibility while CLI enables complexity. Each address different needs. Vim then occupies a unique niche spanning both domains by granting developers access to advanced editing capabilities outside the warmth of mouse and menu coziness. We stand now at the doorway!

Installing Vim – Your First Steps Towards Command Line Enlightenment

Bemoaning the complimentarity of graphical editors actually will not fix our original issue, so now arrive at the true task – acquiring the power of Vim!

First, ensure all existing software sources are fully updated to determine if Vim is perhaps available from the standard Ubuntu repositories:

sudo apt update

Once the latest catalog finishes downloading, attempt installing from the core packages:

sudo apt install vim

Supply your account password when requested to authorize installation. Within a few seconds, Ubuntu locates official Vim binaries compiled specifically for optimal performance across all local libraries and components:

Verifying Vim Installation

Before customizing configurations or testing functionality, let‘s validate everything completed successfully by querying version details:

vim --version

Which should display information similar to:

VIM - Vi IMproved 8.1 (2018 May 18, compiled Jun 11 2022 08:05:02)
Included patches: 1-2269
Compiled by root@apple.com
(...)

So long as Vim reports back without errors, Ubuntu and apt managed the installation process correctly. We now possess true Vim power!

Configuring Your Fundamental .vimrc

With editors like Vim touting extreme customizability as a primary feature, no two expert configurations ever totally align thanks to personalized tuning reflecting bespoke needs and preferences.

Start by copying the included basic example configuration so personal tweaks and settings remain isolated from default Vim behavior:

cp /usr/share/vim/vim81/vimrc_example.vim ~/.vimrc

Editors like Nano provide a simpler starting point for reviewing and tweaking configurations:

nano ~/.vimrc

Common beginner modifications include:

• set nu – Enable line numbers
• set cursorline – Highlight active line
• set ignorecase – Case insensitive search
• color desert – Change predefined color scheme

beyond superficial settings, consider installing some powerful plugins like:

• NERDTree – Directory sidebar
• ALE – Linting and language server protocol support for rich IDE behaviors
• CtrlP – Fuzzy file/buffer/command finder
• Markdown Preview – Live refresh Markdown rendering

Plugins require additional configuration so review documentation to enable desired capabilities.

More samples available directly from Vim as well – don‘t hesitate exploring popular dotfile repositories on GitHub to discover new settings and techniques!

Troubleshooting Vim Issues

Despite our success earlier, the potential for hiccups always lurks nearby – faulty packages, outdated builds, and permissions problems represent common installation headaches.

Thankfully Ubuntu and APT make resolving problems fairly painless in most situations. Here are some quick troubleshooting steps if Vim starts misbehaving:

• Update main package archive and retry installing: sudo apt update && sudo apt install vim
• Verify consistency of installed packages: sudo apt --fix-broken install
• Force reinstallation if necessary: sudo apt remove vim followed by sudo apt install vim
• Adjust ownership permissions: sudo chown -R $(whoami) ~/.vim

For additional troubleshooting advice, consult Vim‘s official Ubuntu guide or the community documentation which covers special use cases dealing with custom configurations in your ~/.vim folder.

Of course, developers wishing to live on the absolute bleeding edge of Vim development can optionally install daily development builds from the unstable PPA – but brace for potential weirdness on top of the usual quirks!

Expanding Your Terminal Fu With Vim

Now sooner than later, you‘ll find yourself limited by Nano‘s capabilities and hungering for more advanced lessons in terminal text editing enlightenment.

At this stage, scores of additional topics around Vim mastery open up like so many Tmux split windows beckoning attention:

• Reviewing the various operating modes – escape from Normal mode confusion!
• Learning to exploit Vim‘s compositional nature through verb+noun command combinations
• Organizing splits for dividing workspace regions
• Streamlining workflows by integrating with corresponding languages and toolchains – Python+virtualenv, Git+diff, JavaScript+ESLint etc
• Getting philosophical about minimalist design evolving "endless mice" from command lines of old
• Discovering the true origins of Vi and its predecessors Ed and Ex dating back to venerable Unix systems like PWB and research sites like UC Berkeley
• Exploring bleeding-edge capabilities from the Neovim fork focused on extensibility and embedded editor scenarios
• Paying homage to Bill Joy, Charlie Haley and the many contributors carrying Bram Moolenaar‘s vision forward decade after decade

Suffice to say that mastering Vim could easily occupy a lifetime without ever actually needing to write any code or prose of your own! Right from within Ubuntu‘s Terminal, possibilities abound.

Conclusion

Hopefully this guide illuminated answers around:

• The continuing popularity and utility of text-based editors like Vim
• Diagnosing and fixing missing command issues on Ubuntu
• Basic setup and configuration steps personalizing Vim‘s behavior
• Extending capabilities via plugins and optional tools like Tmux
• Troubleshooting problems preventing Vim from operating smoothly
• Expanding your Linux-fu horizons towards terminal text editing enlightenment!

Far from a relic of computing‘s past, robust CLI tools like Vim will continue enabling efficient development and administration workflows for decades to come thanks to focused functionality benefiting advanced technical workloads.

Stick with Nano for quick edits, but start taming Vim and soon enough you‘ll join millions of developers in praising its speed, precision and innate hackability as an editor designed expressly for people who think as they type.

The journey awaits! But modern software being what it is, a bugfix is never far behind…now let‘s get to editing.