To be honest I find ESC to be even less “accessible” than arrow keys are, and while the arrow keys are supported these days, dropping to command mode is still a frequent requirement. But VI’s modes often get in the way of what my brain is thinking and I’d much rather use a stateless interface so my poor escape key can get some rest. I do use it all the time simply because it’s available everywhere and that makes it an essential tool. Personally, I have mixed feelings about VI. Now you can easily recognize that having the alternative not to use the cursor keys can be a benefit!” Know that the Escape key is used to switch vi’s modes. Compare the travelling distance of the fingers from the alphanumeric keyboard section over to the cursor keys.
“Imagine a person with impaired movement of the arm (arm in singular may mean that only one arm is available) or the hand uses a computer. Of course, all those considerations don’t apply to mouse-driven users, just as vi doesn’t apply to any average person. Now you can easily recognize that having the alternative not to use the cursor keys can be a benefit! Imagine a person with impaired movement of the arm (arm in singular may mean that only one arm is available) or the hand uses a computer. But using the HJKL keys will – together with the other “letters only” command keys of vi – to get your job done. Whenever you press a cursor key, garbage appears in your terminal session, but the desired cursor movement doesn’t happen.
Still you can connect to that system and need to edit a file in the “visual editor” (vi). The responsible sysadmin has made a mistake and terminal capabilitites don’t work at the “high level” you expect, which is required to use the arrow keys.
To come back why it’s actually a good thing to have something “outdated” in vim (and in vi, too): Imagine you have to connect to a UNIX system (or Linux, Solaris, HP-UX or AIX, whatever) that just functions in a minimal state and needs maintenance. Looks obvious? You can do some research (simple web search should be sufficient) why this is, and why it still exists today. See where Z, X, C and V are located on your keyboard (or refer to the US keyboard layout if needed). So “Windows” and most of today’s programs are also an example of something outdated enforced on the users? So Vim is an example of out dated hardware model enforced in the new one? Good job.
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