8 ms·

In my book, it’s way better to install one Vim extension in whatever your favorite IDE is, than to install Vim with a hodge podge of 5 extensions and 300 lines

by et1337 4y ago

In my book, it’s way better to install one Vim extension in whatever your favorite IDE is, than to install Vim with a hodge podge of 5 extensions and 300 lines of Vimscript. The keybindings are really the unique selling point of Vim, and you can get them anywhere. I actually view this as another advantage of Vim; you don’t have to learn new keybindings every time you switch editors.

bobbylarrybobby 4y ago
Even better, use Neovim’s server mode in your IDE, since then you're getting “real ” vim, not just a plugin that attempts to copy it.
anonporridge 4y ago
Don't forget the browser. Vimium radically improved my entire web browsing experience. I can't live without it anymore. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimium-ff/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimium-ff/ https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogba...
- hansvm 4y ago
  Qutebrowser is worth a mention too. Google has sufficiently neutered extensions that I fell out of the flow pretty often with Vimium (e.g., can't work on any of the built-in pages or some other Google properties), but having chrome exist at a much lower level and building the UI around vim bindings has made it a 10x better experience for me in Qutebrowser.
  - d0mine 4y ago
    There is `--extensions-chrome-urls` command-line flag (Chrome shows a scary warning, it works otherwise).
- behnamoh 4y ago
  I used Vimium for years until I discovered SurfingKey, which offers way more features.
  - DavideNL 4y ago
    Great it also highlights searches, hated that Vimium didn't do that :-)
- cassepipe 4y ago
  And with the Firenvim extension you can run a neovim instance in any text area! (Currently typing this inside neovim inside my browser)
- photonbeam 4y ago
  The set of permissions needed is somewhat concerning
- sexymaniac 4y ago
  checkout tridactyl, it gives much better experience than vimium.
- dexterleng 4y ago
  Love Vimium! Loved it so much I wanted it OS-wide. So I made Homerow, basically Vimium + Spotlight for the macOS user interface. https://homerow.app https://homerow.app
fuy 4y ago
Definitely agree. I've been trying to go full-Vim a few times over the years, and it's not been very successful. I'm a huge fan of Vim keybindings though, and wouldn't use an editor/IDE without support for it. I would say that going 100% Vim is reasonable if you have a very stable development stack/environment. You spend a few weeks (or months, which is more realistic IMO) setting things the way you like and then use the setup for years. If you work in several different languages, connect to several different databases, and also like to play with other tech stuff, VS code (and/or JetBrains products) with Vim bindings is usually more ergonomic. Both VS code and JB have very nice Vim plugins, so you get like 80% of Vim power + a lot of polish and modern tooling from VS code/JB.
- weaksauce 4y ago
  there's also neovim extensions for vscode which uses neovim as the "server" so to speak that does vim things and then updates your vscode. in practice it works very well... especially the more recent updates to it. just have to have a neovim binary installed somewhere and point the extension to it.
- ravishi 4y ago
  I've started full-vim and eventually settled for exactly that. It's been a success. Recently had to work from Windows after years on Mac, also using VSCode after years of Intellij and it wasn't a big deal because the Vim experience was mostly on par between Intellij and VSCode. I still prefer Intellij, but the remote coding (over SSH) experience on VSCode is just so much better.
imbnwa 4y ago
Eh, I've never run into a vim emulator that didn't do something I used or the surrounding environment made it a hassle to integrate deeper. Vim is the entire runtime that also integrates with the Unix command line
lanza 4y ago
> The keybindings are really the unique selling point of Vim, and you can get them anywhere. How you know somebody doesn't have a clue what they are talking about. That's like saying "chess is a bunch of nerds playing chess with more pieces."
- melony 4y ago
  Evil, VsCodeVim, IdeaVim are all faithful reproductions with thorough coverage of the typical text editing use cases.
  - yakubin 4y ago
    Which of them understand what gn and cgn are supposed to do?
    - azeirah 4y ago
      Evil and ideavim both do, haven't tested vscodevim
  - zvr 4y ago
    But it's the limitations of the "typical text editing use cases" that will bite you in the end. You get the illusion that you are using Vim and at some point you are rudely reminded that no, you are using something like it, but missing crucial features. I tried to use VsCodeVim, but I stopped after it made me lose a file...
ericpruitt 4y ago
> The keybindings are really the unique selling point of Vim, and you can get them anywhere. This is going to vary heavily from user to user. I'll admit it's been some years since I last tried anything new, but I never found Vim keybindings that were complete and configurable enough to comfortably replace Vim. It's always more like a UI uncanny valley in that the keybindings are relatively close, but imperfect enough that they interfere with my typical workflow.
andreyk 4y ago
Personally I like Vim because I do a lot of coding while in an SSH session and it's easy to port my setup very quickly. My work involves using a workstation with a GPU so I am not able to do that at home, and debugging requires me to run things from command line a lot to know what to change in the code. No doubt I could create a set up with a fancier IDE to do that, but at the scale I'm working in (academic code with just 1000s of lines of code) there is really no need.
- jdrek1 4y ago
  You could also use VS Code's remote (over SSH) ability.
- ftufek 4y ago
  You can do the same with vscode btw. I also work on remote gpu workstations and vscode remote with ssh works just fine, especially if you use tmux, you can preserve all the history and what you were doing.
  - RMPR 4y ago
    In my experience, vscode remote code editing is very buggy and resource hungry. Not very fitting if your Internet is unstable/slow and/or your target workstation is not that powerful (why is 8GB of RAM not enough?). I've had more success with Neovim either with distant.nvim[0] or directly on the Workstation with mosh[1] 0: https://distant.rocks/ https://distant.rocks/ 1: https://mosh.org/ https://mosh.org/
parham 4y ago
I would say that’s making the assumption that IDE is actually bound to the key bindings in a useful way (e.g. file exploring) I have yet to find an IDE that has integrated well with key bindings.
zvr 4y ago
> The keybindings are really the unique selling point of Vim, and you can get them anywhere. I beg to differ. The whole Vim is the selling point of Vim and that includes a fully functional Ex mode (command line).

by et1337 4y ago

bobbylarrybobby 4y ago

Even better, use Neovim’s server mode in your IDE, since then you're getting “real ” vim, not just a plugin that attempts to copy it.

anonporridge 4y ago

Don't forget the browser. Vimium radically improved my entire web browsing experience. I can't live without it anymore. https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimium-ff/ https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/vimium-ff/ https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogbaibhgnhhndojpepiihcmeb?hl=en https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/vimium/dbepggeogba...

hansvm 4y ago
Qutebrowser is worth a mention too. Google has sufficiently neutered extensions that I fell out of the flow pretty often with Vimium (e.g., can't work on any of the built-in pages or some other Google properties), but having chrome exist at a much lower level and building the UI around vim bindings has made it a 10x better experience for me in Qutebrowser.
- d0mine 4y ago
  There is `--extensions-chrome-urls` command-line flag (Chrome shows a scary warning, it works otherwise).
behnamoh 4y ago
I used Vimium for years until I discovered SurfingKey, which offers way more features.
- DavideNL 4y ago
  Great it also highlights searches, hated that Vimium didn't do that :-)
cassepipe 4y ago
And with the Firenvim extension you can run a neovim instance in any text area! (Currently typing this inside neovim inside my browser)
photonbeam 4y ago
The set of permissions needed is somewhat concerning
sexymaniac 4y ago
checkout tridactyl, it gives much better experience than vimium.
dexterleng 4y ago
Love Vimium! Loved it so much I wanted it OS-wide. So I made Homerow, basically Vimium + Spotlight for the macOS user interface. https://homerow.app https://homerow.app

fuy 4y ago

Definitely agree. I've been trying to go full-Vim a few times over the years, and it's not been very successful. I'm a huge fan of Vim keybindings though, and wouldn't use an editor/IDE without support for it. I would say that going 100% Vim is reasonable if you have a very stable development stack/environment. You spend a few weeks (or months, which is more realistic IMO) setting things the way you like and then use the setup for years. If you work in several different languages, connect to several different databases, and also like to play with other tech stuff, VS code (and/or JetBrains products) with Vim bindings is usually more ergonomic. Both VS code and JB have very nice Vim plugins, so you get like 80% of Vim power + a lot of polish and modern tooling from VS code/JB.

weaksauce 4y ago
there's also neovim extensions for vscode which uses neovim as the "server" so to speak that does vim things and then updates your vscode. in practice it works very well... especially the more recent updates to it. just have to have a neovim binary installed somewhere and point the extension to it.
ravishi 4y ago
I've started full-vim and eventually settled for exactly that. It's been a success. Recently had to work from Windows after years on Mac, also using VSCode after years of Intellij and it wasn't a big deal because the Vim experience was mostly on par between Intellij and VSCode. I still prefer Intellij, but the remote coding (over SSH) experience on VSCode is just so much better.

imbnwa 4y ago

Eh, I've never run into a vim emulator that didn't do something I used or the surrounding environment made it a hassle to integrate deeper. Vim is the entire runtime that also integrates with the Unix command line

lanza 4y ago

> The keybindings are really the unique selling point of Vim, and you can get them anywhere. How you know somebody doesn't have a clue what they are talking about. That's like saying "chess is a bunch of nerds playing chess with more pieces."

melony 4y ago
Evil, VsCodeVim, IdeaVim are all faithful reproductions with thorough coverage of the typical text editing use cases.
- yakubin 4y ago
  Which of them understand what gn and cgn are supposed to do?
  - azeirah 4y ago
    Evil and ideavim both do, haven't tested vscodevim
- zvr 4y ago
  But it's the limitations of the "typical text editing use cases" that will bite you in the end. You get the illusion that you are using Vim and at some point you are rudely reminded that no, you are using something like it, but missing crucial features. I tried to use VsCodeVim, but I stopped after it made me lose a file...

ericpruitt 4y ago

> The keybindings are really the unique selling point of Vim, and you can get them anywhere. This is going to vary heavily from user to user. I'll admit it's been some years since I last tried anything new, but I never found Vim keybindings that were complete and configurable enough to comfortably replace Vim. It's always more like a UI uncanny valley in that the keybindings are relatively close, but imperfect enough that they interfere with my typical workflow.

andreyk 4y ago

Personally I like Vim because I do a lot of coding while in an SSH session and it's easy to port my setup very quickly. My work involves using a workstation with a GPU so I am not able to do that at home, and debugging requires me to run things from command line a lot to know what to change in the code. No doubt I could create a set up with a fancier IDE to do that, but at the scale I'm working in (academic code with just 1000s of lines of code) there is really no need.

jdrek1 4y ago
You could also use VS Code's remote (over SSH) ability.
ftufek 4y ago
You can do the same with vscode btw. I also work on remote gpu workstations and vscode remote with ssh works just fine, especially if you use tmux, you can preserve all the history and what you were doing.
- RMPR 4y ago
  In my experience, vscode remote code editing is very buggy and resource hungry. Not very fitting if your Internet is unstable/slow and/or your target workstation is not that powerful (why is 8GB of RAM not enough?). I've had more success with Neovim either with distant.nvim[0] or directly on the Workstation with mosh[1] 0: https://distant.rocks/ https://distant.rocks/ 1: https://mosh.org/ https://mosh.org/

parham 4y ago

I would say that’s making the assumption that IDE is actually bound to the key bindings in a useful way (e.g. file exploring) I have yet to find an IDE that has integrated well with key bindings.

zvr 4y ago

> The keybindings are really the unique selling point of Vim, and you can get them anywhere. I beg to differ. The whole Vim is the selling point of Vim and that includes a fully functional Ex mode (command line).