Learning the vi and Vim Editors, 7th Edition

Chapter 14. Vim Enhancements for Programmers

Text editing is only one of Vim’s strong suits. Good programmers demand powerful tools to ensure efficient and proficient work. A good editor is only a start and, by itself, isn’t enough. Many modern programming environments attempt to provide comprehensive solutions when all that is really necessary is a strong editor with some extra smarts.

Programming tools offer extra features ranging from editors with syntax coloring, auto indentation and formatting, keyword completion, and so on, to full-blown Integrated Development Environments (IDEs) with sophisticated integration that build up complete development ecosystems. These IDEs can be expensive (e.g., Visual Studio) or free (Eclipse), but their disk and memory requirements are large, their learning curves steep, and their demand for resources immense.

Programmers’ tasks vary, and so do their technology requirements. Small development tasks are easily completed with simple editors that offer little more than text editing capabilities. Large, multicomponent, multiplatform, and multistaff efforts almost demand the heavy lifting IDEs provide. But from anecdotal experience, many veteran programmers feel that IDEs offer little more than extra complexity with no higher probability of success.

Vim strikes a nice compromise between simple editors and monolithic IDEs. It has features that until recently were available only in expensive IDEs. It lets you do quick and simple programming tasks without ...