Great question and it's not overly critical. I'm afraid I can't give you a satisfying answer even though I would like to because even I'm not sure why VIM acted as a catalyst for me.
What I think it did for me is two things:
- the splits allows me to have multiple files (aka buffers) open at ones time and this might decrease the number of times I have costly context switches.
- the vi way of manipulating text is faster and more efficient in terms of steps needed to complete an edit. I believe this reduces the cognitive load of mundane tasks and lets my mind stay focused on the actual problem I'm solving.
VI may not help everyone obviously. But I think it opened a flood gate for me.
Also the initial lower productivity wasn't really that bad so I don't think it had too much of an impact.
What I think it did for me is two things:
- the splits allows me to have multiple files (aka buffers) open at ones time and this might decrease the number of times I have costly context switches.
- the vi way of manipulating text is faster and more efficient in terms of steps needed to complete an edit. I believe this reduces the cognitive load of mundane tasks and lets my mind stay focused on the actual problem I'm solving.
VI may not help everyone obviously. But I think it opened a flood gate for me.
Also the initial lower productivity wasn't really that bad so I don't think it had too much of an impact.