It seems like tools like Vim are less about specific productivity gains in isolation and more about developing a particular mental model of interacting with text and systems. Even as AI takes over more of the generation work, the ability to navigate, inspect, and make precise edits efficiently still seems valuable. In that sense it feels less like an either/or question and more like whether someone finds that model aligns with how they prefer to work.
One thing I’ve found helpful is relying less on understanding the syntax itself and more on validating behavior at the system level. Even if I don’t know the language well, I can still focus on things like test coverage, edge cases, performance patterns, and whether the architecture follows familiar design principles. In that sense it ends up feeling more like auditing a black box than reviewing code line by line.
Probably both. The concepts themselves don’t seem entirely new, but execution and timing matter a lot. Sometimes the real breakthrough isn’t the idea itself, but when the surrounding ecosystem finally makes it viable.