3 ms·

So vim with a plugin isn't a text editor?

• MobiusHorizons 5y ago
  I just mean, if you _require_ plugins in order to be able to edit the content, then the content can't easily be described as text. It is fine to use a specialized application to edit a file of a non-text format, I have nothing against that, but you have then left the realm of text editor. As an example of what I mean, if someone wrote a vim plugin that allowed a user to interact with a sqlite file and change the schema or edit raw row values from vim, it could be a really valuable and useful plugin. But the presence or absence of a plugin for some given text editor doesn't change whether a given format is generally considered a format suitable for being edited in a text editor. What it does instead is convert vim into an editor of non-text files. I admit that the proposed file format is much closer to being editable in a text editor than a binary format such as sqlite, but the fact that the characters cannot be typed without special functionality suggests that the format is not suitable for a text editor.
  • lelanthran 5y ago
    > I just mean, if you _require_ plugins in order to be able to edit the content, Vim doesn't require plugins (as long as you are editing an existing file, and not trying to create a new one).
  • thayne 5y ago
    The described format _is_ editable in vim without a plugin. It's just a little awkward, because everything will be on a single line, and you have to use more complicated key commands to enter the delimiters (for example `<C-v><C-6>` for \x1e).