>Vim and Emacs are borderline torturous for beginners and it's easy to give up.
Hardly so, IMO. Plus - and I assume here that you are talking here mainly about developers (using programming languages) and maybe web designers (using CSS/HTML/etc.) - the complexity of vi(m) and emacs can hardly be called higher than those dev and design technologies, except, maybe, for the use of advanced editor features and scripting of those editors in VimScript or ELisp.
Anyway, FWIW, I had published this article (a vi quickstart tutorial) in Linux For You magazine some years ago, after I first wrote it for some Windows sysadmin friends of mine, who were given additional charge of a few HP Unix boxes. After using the tutorial, they told me it helped them to quickly come up to speed on the basics of using vi (the predecessor of vim).
The tutorial is available here; it is short and easy to digest:
Thing is you don't need such tutorials for other text editors, you know how to use them intuitively. This itself is a barrier for entry for most people, people who manage to cross this barrier prove they've some initiative and motiviation to spend time in learning something that makes them more productive, they're more likely not to shy away from obscure tasks which may appear difficult on the surface.
That's a good point. I did read similar comments to yours in this thread (such as the nearby one by andrewstuart2, and others), before posting about my vi tutorial, and agree with the general argument stated. I've grown from scratch in my own career by the same method you and others describe, i.e. doing a lot of self-study, trying out stuff a lot, poring over tech docs and books a lot (used to buy used ones earlier, when I could not afford too many new ones), borrowing from libraries, etc.
Edit: And have always recommended such an approach to younger developers and aspiring ones, when they ask me for advice, which sometimes happens. Basically tell them to learn as much as you can and invest in your future (with study effort, not only money) for the long term, not just for quick immediate gains.
Hardly so, IMO. Plus - and I assume here that you are talking here mainly about developers (using programming languages) and maybe web designers (using CSS/HTML/etc.) - the complexity of vi(m) and emacs can hardly be called higher than those dev and design technologies, except, maybe, for the use of advanced editor features and scripting of those editors in VimScript or ELisp.
Anyway, FWIW, I had published this article (a vi quickstart tutorial) in Linux For You magazine some years ago, after I first wrote it for some Windows sysadmin friends of mine, who were given additional charge of a few HP Unix boxes. After using the tutorial, they told me it helped them to quickly come up to speed on the basics of using vi (the predecessor of vim).
The tutorial is available here; it is short and easy to digest:
https://gumroad.com/l/vi_quick
Edited for wording and typos.