[gtf21]

vim (I can only really speak for vim here) has several modes for editing. The main ones are: normal, insert, visual. Most people I know (incl. myself) spend most of their time in normal mode, which allows you to manipulate text objects using movements. In insert mode, your key strokes are converted to characters which are inserted into the file buffer. Switching to normal mode isn't really the same as summoning a command prompt into which you enter commands, it's a bit more fundamental than that.