In vim, why is 'j' used for down and 'k' for up?

Question

I\'ve been using vim for many years and have never really thought about it. A friend of mine asked why that is, noting that in our culture, left would usually map to up while ri

Answer 1

From a user experience perspective, after you open a file, you always move down first and moving down is usually a more frequent operation. Since from left to right is the natural direction for most of us, it make sense to associate the task you perform first or more frequently with the key on the left. You can try to switch the 2 keys and try to tell which way is better. For me, "J" for down is more natural and comfortable.