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Eh, half of this list actually IS possible with Vim, either through a plugin or simply out-of-the-box keyboard shortcuts. The other half are features that sepa
by StevePerkins 12y ago
Eh, half of this list actually IS possible with Vim, either through a plugin or simply out-of-the-box keyboard shortcuts. The other half are features that separate IDE's from text editors in general.
I do agree that I'm infinitely more productive in an IDE than I ever would be with any plain text editor (e.g. autocomplete-hints, refactoring support, etc etc). After discovering the JetBrains suite of IDE's some years ago, I can't imagine using anything else for application development.
However, the point of vi/Vim is not so much the editor application itself... but rather its keybindings and modal editing approach in the abstract. Those concepts are decoupled from the actual editor, because every major IDE has plugins which make them available in its environment as well. The "IdeaVim" plugin for JetBrains IDE's is amazing, letting you mix-and-match between Vim commands and normal JetBrains shortcuts in a very intuitive way (or at least intuitive if you're familiar with Vim).
If you're happy with your current working environment, then rock on. But if you're fluent with vi/Vim (and it is a significant learning curve), then you can absolutely have the best of both worlds. To me, arguing about whether to use an IDE or an editor is pretty silly. But the question of whether or not to use modal editing and a suite of standard shortcut commands within an IDE is a much more interesting matter.
- lfowles 12y agoMy biggest problem with vim is that I can get it configured with all of the plugins to emulate a GUI IDE, but it does nothing to help if I can't remember the shortcuts. Off by one character? Whoops, you activated the RootNuker Plugin on Buffer 3. Discoverability is terrible, one of the few things that I feel is actually faster with a mouse.
- MetaCosm 12y agoAbsolutely. That said, I think modern IDEs suffer from huge discoverability problems as well. The truth is, when you have thousands of features, discoverability had to give way to documentation.
- aidos 12y agoThere's no doubt, vim isn't big on making it easy to find your way around. I don't think that matters so long as you're methodical in your approach to learning it. It's important to master the basics and then add new tools one at a time. The amazing thing about vim is that each new command can be composed with your existing knowledge set, so just learning what, say, 's' does gives you a whole lot more power. Also, while the discoverability might suck, the built in manual is just incredible.
- lfowles 12y agoThis doesn't apply to plugins however, which constitute most of what would make Vim an IDE. Most of the core commands are pretty well thought out and I have a nice keyboard map printed out just in case.
- MetaCosm 12y agoWay more than half, everything except great refactoring support really.