OT: unix newbie questions

[Gerard Flanagan]

Hello all

Some basic unix questions which pure laziness prevents me from googling
for.  Anyone feeling charitable? I'm using FreeBSD 6.0:

* To create an empty __init__.py file I do 'vim __init__.py' then
immediately exit vim, is there a shell or vim command which will create
an empty file without opening the editor?

* If I want to do :

            mv mypackage-1.0.2.tar.gz subdir/mypackage-1.0.2.tar.gz

  then tab-completion gives me the first occurrence of the file, but I
have to type the second  occurrence - is there a way of not having to
type it?

* cd ~ brings me to my home directory, is there a means by which I can
set up a similar alias for, say, /usr/local/www, so I can do: eg. cd ^
to get to that directory?

* I'm using the tcsh shell and have no problems with it, but bash seems
more popular - any reason to change? (I don't intend writing many shell
scripts)

* Any other unix/vim tips for a 'nix newb?!

Thanks in advance

Gerard