Vim is the editor of choice for many developers and power users. It’s a “modal” text editor based on the vi editor written by Bill Joy in the 1970s for a version of UNIX. It inherits the key bindings of vi, but also adds a great deal of functionality and extensibility that are missing from the original vi.
What the heck do we mean by modal? When you’re using most word processors and text editors, the alphanumeric keys (i.e., a through z, 1 through 9) are only used to input those characters unless they’re modified by a control key. In Vim, the mode that the editor is in determines whether the alphanumeric keys will input those characters or move the cursor through the document.
For more read this introduction to vim guide
Disclaimer: This cheatsheet is summarized from personal experience and other online tutorials. It should not be considered as an official advice. You can check,
The Vi editor was originally written on an ADM-3A terminal, which had the Escape key positioned where the Tab key occurs on most modern keyboards.(ref)
{% img https://i.ibb.co/bJcdsdy/Wm8r5.jpg ‘“ADM-3A terminal keyboard” “ADM-3A terminal keyboard”’%}
