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Breaking VIM’s unbreakable «learning wall»

First of all, let’s make things clear. VIM does not stand for Very Intuitive Magic. It’s not easy to learn and it’s like going to the gym. You have to be consistent and use it daily to see the results and keep in shape once you are fit.

But why is it so confusing for most of the people? It is a modal editor, and every mode has its own key bindings. By default VIM opens in «normal mode», which won’t allow you to type. You have to get into «insert mode» pressing the «i» key to be able to insert text, but you could also place the cursor on a character and press «r» to replace it with whatever you typed next, or you could press «o» to create a new line and enter «insert mode» at the same time, etc. You have to remember what every key does in every mode, and you’ll only achieve this with practice. That’s what makes VIM different.

Why bother?

So why would anyone try to break the learning wall and master VIM? Some will say it’s just to prettend you are cool, but they couldn’t be more wrong. There are some features that make the VIM user objectively faster than any other editor user.

No mouse

The first one is the fact that you don’t have to use the mouse for anything. Think about how many times you use the mouse to move around a document in any other editor and sum all those precious miliseconds. It’s a lot at the end of the year.

Changing an “IF” condition and adding an “IF” in 10 seconds

Hands always in standard position

It’s not only that you don’t use the mouse, but you actually don’t have to move your hands out of the standard position, meaning that you don’t need to use arrow keys, or other keys outside the normal reach.

Preinstalled

It comes preinstalled in almost every decent operative system, so you don’t have to go through the hassle of downloading it every time you change your computer or want to edit something somewhere else.

Runs in Console/Terminal

It runs GUIless, in a Terminal or Console, so if you are working on a development project running servers, scripts and commands, you don’t have to switch context. You can feel at home even when editing files in remote servers. This means you can even access and use VIM from a smartphone with an SSH app.

Editing the itnig website in a Mac, with and iPad, through SSH

Lightweight and fast

It’s lightweight and fast, super responsive and never crashes. It takes 60ms for it to open a file containing the 131843 lines of the Holly Bible.

100% Customizable

If there is something you don’t like just change it. The .vimrc config file lets you customize the behaviour of your editor and confortably replicate your settings between setups. If there is something missing, just install it as a plugin.

Macros and scripts

You can actually record your commands to automatise repetitive tasks. Imagine you have a data file you want to make JSON compliant. By recording what you want just once, you can replicate it as many times as you need.

Making a data set JSON compliant by recording and playing a macro

And if that’s not enough for you, you can write scripts using VIM Script and customize your VIM even more.

How fast can you type all IP’s in a local network in your editor?

With just a few lines you can for example create your custom syntax highlighting toggle, and use a shortcut to activate it.

VIM syntax toggling script https://www.ibm.com/developerworks/library/l-vim-script-1/

Breaking the wall

The best way for learning VIM is using it for everything. From writing documetation to typing code in every project you have. Start with the basic commands: i, :wq, dd, p, hjkl.

YBlog – Learn Vim Progressively
But before we start, just a warning. Learning vim will be painful at first. It will take time. It will be a lot like…yannesposito.com

You can try this awesome Zelda-like game to learn how to use VIM.

VIM Adventures – Learn VIM while playing a game
VIM Adventures is an online game based on VIM’s keyboard shortcuts. It’s the “Zelda meets text editing” game. So come…vim-adventures.com

Keep using it, because you’ll never feel you know it enough.

I hope this gave you the essentials to start exploring the eternal possibilities of VIM. Feel free to comment below if you have experience using it yourself, the more tips the better. When you master VIM, I can guarantee that you’ll never use any other editor again. Enjoy!

 

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What app to build in 2017? Native, Hybrid or Progressive Web Apps?

The global apps debate got another dimension as Google proposed progressive web apps as the next big thing in 2015.

However, most people building apps today still prefer native apps, for several reasons, mostly because it’s what people actually use.

We gathered three experienced developers and CTO’s to discuss the three types of apps most developers are building today. jordimirobruix, former CTO of Wuaki.tv, senior developer at Ulabox, Rubén Sospedra and founder of Javascript coder bootcamp Codeworks Alessandro Zanardi.

Friction, friction friction

A big question in the app-building discussion, is about the app install friction. In other words how many clicks there are from finding the app in the app store – to becoming an active user.

After voting on what type of app most people with build something with tomorrow, more than 40 percent of the people attending the debate chose native.

Briux believes the friction is the same in both PWA’s and native apps:

What’s the difference of the friction generated by the app store, compared with downloading a web app to your home screen?

Zanardi believes progressive web apps is much more frictionless because the device itself promotes the use of PWA’s:

There is much less friction in installing a progressive web app because the device your using is actually wanting you to install it. Compared to going to the app store, installing an app that takes up tons of space, and needs an update every two weeks.

Sospedra turns to the metrics:

The numbers tell us a story when 86 percent of the media being consumed on mobile phones are through native apps and only 10 percent of the total time spent on smartphones are used in browsers. PWA’s are still the new kid on the block, so maybe in five years we can talk again?

https://upscri.be/285782-2

The evil app store?

In one of the last question rounds, the app defenders had to reveal their answer about app stores — good or evil?

Miro says that if you get rejected it’s an evil thing and continues:

Android is pretty easy, just push and you’re in. With iOS however, to wait for someone from the other side of the world to test your app, that’s a black box for developers and nobody likes black boxes.

Codeworks CEO Zanardi points to that the app store or Apple, is the biggest preventer for making PWA’s really big:

The biggest problem PWA’s have at the moment is that Apple’s Safari doesn’t support service workers and that kills a lot of the purpose of the app. Firefox and Chrome are embracing PWA’s. As long as Apple is making tons of money from the app store we’ll have a real challenge.

What does your startup need?

Former Wuaki CTO Miro says choice of app to build all boils down to what kind of business you’re building:

If you asked me four months ago, hybrid apps were not the way because we couldn’t build what the business needed in Wuaki. But today for what I’m building, we’re looking for speed, something that’s tested and reliable and we wanted access to Canvas or WebGL, so hybrid is the way for us today.

Miro explains how the business decisions often dictates what kind of apps you end up building.

Sospedra agrees with Miro, saying that your business goals need to be clear before deciding what kind of app you’re building. He’s also adding that what kind of technology your team is comfortable with is important as well:

If you have a team that are really good at Javascript, then go for React native, but that’s my opinion.

As progressive web apps might be the bet for the future, Zanardi wanted to end the discussion with a statement:

I completely agree with these guys that if you’re building an app today to work on iOS and Android I would go native. The main problem you would have with PWA’s is with the iOS. If you’re targeting mostly Android devices you might go for a PWA. As long as Apple is blocking the spreading of PWA’s we’ll have an issue we need to solve.

There was a lot of other interesting points in the full debate, so check out the video at the top!

The post and video was produced by the itnig media team Masumi Mutsuda and Sindre Hopland.

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Better code structure: working with pods

Usually we organize our javascript apps either by what they are or by what they do. The first is like rails: separate directories like components, containers, reducers, etc. And the second more or less like feature/DDD: user, cart, and so on. Tho both of these options are very mainstream and solid they contain some constraints.

When you structure the code files tree by what they are you tend to keep every component of the same feature so distant that it’s very difficult to connect the pieces. Therefore you dive into some troubles like the path hell; a lot of require('../../../etc') in your code. And everything is extremely coupled to the directory structure.

In the other hand, when you are driven by what they do everything is more isolated and maintainable. But there’s a lot of duplication. And the communication between the features either is based on a weak contract or depends upon some infrastructure. Both of these options are prone to raise some bugs.

Pods it’s an evolution of the last one. You can think about pods like the microservices of the front applications. A pod is an isolated and completely independent microapp which can communicate 100% with other pods. Therefore, you get code base which is composable, extendable, reusableand extremely easy to test. Tho, the main benefit is that you completely erase the inter components side effects. Once a pod is failing you are totally sure that it’s because itself has something wrong; not an external piece.

A pod is an isolated and completely independent microapp which can communicate 100% with other pods

The unique requirement of the pods is to driven all the pods intercommunication through an event bus. If you’re already using any Flux pattern, lib or framework it’s gonna be very easy to lead this communication to the dispatcher; which is actually a single point for the events.

For a pod is not mandatory to have the logic, presentational and communication layers. Can have all of just one of them. Imagine a router pod. It has the logic and communication layer but doesn’t expose any view. Or the opposite, a form pod which only exposes a presentational layer and depends 100% on the arguments received (see React props).

Because every pod acts like and independent application we place the tests inside them. This means two things: stop duplicating the files tree, and making code coverage meaningful. When you have 100% coverage with a pod you know that it won’t fail. No side effects.

In a nutshell, by working with pods you get a secure and very flexible structure. Very easy to test and without side effects. It scales from 0 to millions without worrying about big refactors due to the fact that every pod is isolated but available to communicate with all the other pods.

In case you want to see some code here’s a Github repository with a simple pod architecture. Give it a look and check the benefits the pods can offer. If you have some doubts or proposals don’t hesitate to open an issue or comment here. This is a living pattern. We’re using the pods at Ulabox and they’re proving to be the solution to a lot of structural codebase problems. Tho, we’re willing to listen about your thoughts and concerns.

The journey is long, take some pods.

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Should We Leave Spanish Behind In The Tech Community?

World Economic Forum recently published an article that Lisbon was aimingat becoming the next unexpected tech hub in Europe, just like Ireland has become the last decade.

Lisbon is a great city with an increasing number of tech startups, now hosting the Web Summit, and the government recently made an investment fund of 200 million for early growth companies. All of this is great, but they’re missing something Ireland had all along. English.

Barcelona is way ahead of Lisbon in becoming the leading European tech hub along the Mediterranean. We’re talking in amount of VC’s, accumulated investment, amount of startups, accelerators, incubators, I could go on for a while.

But like up and coming Lisbon, Barcelona is also missing one vital element.

  • English.

Boosting the expat community

It’s not that people in Barcelona in general are lacking English skills. As a person that’s learning Spanish, I think people’s skills generally are too good, it makes me learn the local language much slower.

It’s more about the willingness to adopt all the great activity in the tech ecosystem from Spanish to English.

There’s too many interesting events and meetups around Barcelona that are done in Spanish. And there’s too many expats, digital nomads and visitors that aren’t able to attend.

The more active people, the stronger an ecosystem is, and if we want Spain and Barcelona to grow one of the strongest communities in Europe, we need everyone we can get our hands on.

Barcelona is already attracting a lot of talent from abroad, but I’m sure more people would set up shop if they knew they could survive with only English, everything to make the transition easier.

An old man’s problem

Before writing this article I talked with many local entrepreneurs and developers in Barcelona. I was a bit hesitant to ask them the question, I don’t want to come as a guest, asking them to abandon their language.

But everybody I talked to agreed. Spanish is great, but the tech community would benefit from being solely in English.

The people I spoke to were young people, and I think I would get another answer from some of the older generations of entrepreneurs, which unfortunately is where the power often lies as well.

At itnig we’re many Spanish people, and the lunch chat is usually conducted in Spanish. But all of our events, media and content are in English, and all of our employees can at any time switch over to English.

That’s why many of our recent hires has been people from outside Spain: Lithuania, England, Germany, Italy, Norway, etc.

Far from a Spanish thing

Before writing this post, I was aware that this is a topic you either agree or disagree with. You hate it or like it.

Either way, I think it’s important to know that this is not a Spanish challenge (if it is a challenge at all), it’s a concern all entrepreneurs living outside an english speaking country should address, at least consider.

Both Berlin and Paris are thriving startup hubs in Europe, and their tech communities are growing rapidly, despite German and French being the main language. But Barcelona (and many other cities) doesn’t have the privilege of being financial and economic centers in Europe, and to speed up the development of the current ecosystem, a common language might be helpful.

According to EDCi (European Digital City Index) Stockholm and Copenhagen ranks as the 2nd & 7th best cities on the continent.

If you research some of their biggest startup communities like #CPHFTW in Copenhagen, or SUP46 in Stockholm, they’re all communicating in English, making it super easy for all kinds of people to join in.

Amsterdam and Helsinki are the 3rd and 4th countries on ranking. All of these countries are known for good english skills, the EDCi even lists it as a criteria for ranking so high.

Small, but necessary step

Many would probably argue that there’s other more important things to change or improve to boost Spain and Barcelona as a tech friendly environment, than increasing English as a working language.

  • Friendlier tax regulations would certainly help.
  • More access to venture capital would be fantastic.
  • And for more established tech companies relocating to the city could also be great.

My idle theory is that a broader use of English could make all of the above happen faster.

Huge tech companies would be more likely to relocate if they knew they could operate in English.

This again would stimulate the ecosystem, and more VC’s would open their eyes to Spain, and know that they could operate deep in the community without worrying about language.

And in the end, if key tech players together with an increasing amount of VC’s establish themselves in the country, the authorities would eventually follow and adapt.

A Spanish ecosystem where English is the main community language wouldn’t fix everything, it’s always a work in progress, but it’s about putting up the right domino so all the others follow.

Do you have NO national pride??

Please, I understand that you’re proud of the Spanish and Catalan languages, they are beautiful, complex and huge – bigger than English.

If Spanish was the spoken language by Silicon Valley companies, and most tech hubs around the world, my argument would be different, but right now all are more or less done in English.

I would never want anyone to stop speaking Spanish to their friends and family. Like I’ll never stop speaking Norwegian with my friends.

But it’s about breaking down barriers for business, including people in the ecosystem and making it easier for both tech giants and small startups to relocate to beautiful Spain.

I think it’s a matter of time, but why not speed it up?