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A Visual Walkthrough of New Features in Vim 7.0

An anonymous reader writes "Anybody who has used Linux or any other OS would be aware of the very powerful and feature rich text editor Vi. This interesting article takes a visual look at some of the new features in the latest version of Vim 7.0 — a Vi clone created by Bram Moolenaar. From the article: 'Just for once, I wouldn't mind siding with the beast if that is what it takes to use Vi. The modern avatar of Vi is Vim — the free editor created by Bram Moolenaar. Riding from strength to strength, this editor in its 7th version is a powerhouse as far as an editor is concerned. When ever I use Vim (or GVim for that matter), it gives me the impression of the Beauty and the Beast.'"

15 of 406 comments (clear)

  1. Emacs by arun_s · · Score: 5, Interesting
    I used to use Vim extensively, but have now switched to Emacs for the sheer joy of learning something new and interesting. Not trying to flame here, but this is one of the strongest quotes I've read on Emacs (Stepehenson, of course):
    I use emacs, which might be thought of as a thermonuclear word processor. It was created by Richard Stallman; enough said. It is written in Lisp, which is the only computer language that is beautiful. It is colossal, and yet it only edits straight ASCII text files, which is to say, no fonts, no boldface, no underlining. In other words, the engineer-hours that, in the case of Microsoft Word, were devoted to features like mail merge, and the ability to embed feature-length motion pictures in corporate memoranda, were, in the case of emacs, focused with maniacal intensity on the deceptively simple-seeming problem of editing text. If you are a professional writer--i.e., if someone else is getting paid to worry about how your words are formatted and printed--emacs outshines all other editing software in approximately the same way that the noonday sun does the stars. It is not just bigger and brighter; it simply makes everything else vanish.

    But vim is pretty cool too (I have windows ports for both the editors so I can use both in office). Arguing over which is better is a waste of time IMO, both do their job fantastically well.
    --
    I can explain it for you, but I can't understand it for you.
  2. Re:Its been decided. by SumoRoti · · Score: 5, Funny

    EMACS ? you mean Escape Meta Alt Control Shift ??

  3. Bill Joy by Brainix · · Score: 5, Informative

    For the younger ones in the audience, Vim is a superset of vi, which was originally written by Bill Joy.

    Yes, the same Bill Joy who heavily contributed to BSD, TCP/IP, NFS, and csh.

    Yet I still count vi as one of his top contributions. :-)

    --
    Raj Against the Machine! http://social-butterfly.appspot.com/
  4. Looks good by 1310nm · · Score: 5, Funny

    I can see myself using the tab and undo features, but the spillchucker adn autocomplete seme useliss 2 me.

  5. "later" command ... by martinmarv · · Score: 5, Funny

    From the Article:
    I realise that I have made a mistake. I can easily take the document to a point 10 minutes back by using the command :
    :earlier 10m

    Or for that matter, move to a point 5 seconds ahead by using the command:
    :later 5s


    ... So I don't need to actually do the work any more? I can just start a new file "Project Plan", enter the command ":later 7200s" then print it out?

  6. Re:No, it's *not* Moolenaar by Hal_Porter · · Score: 5, Funny

    Umulated is when you emulate an umlaut on an pure ASCII system by replacing ü with ue. Or ö with oe.

    #ifndef READER_IS_GERMAN

    An example
    E.g. Göring -> Goering, or Führer to Fuehrer.

    #else

    // can someone else think of some examples that don't make German's spit their coffee?

    #endif

    --
    echo -e 'global _start\n _start:\n mov eax, 2\n int 80h\n jmp _start' > a.asm; nasm a.asm -f elf; ld a.o -o a;
  7. When Pressed For Time... use VIM by chub_mackerel · · Score: 5, Funny

    FTFA:

    I can easily take the document to a point 10 minutes back by using the command :
    :earlier 10m
    Or for that matter, move to a point 5 seconds ahead by using the command:
    :later 5s

    AWESOME! Need to finish writing a paper? Normally take about 2 hours? Just type in

    :later 2h

    No muss, no fuss.

  8. While it may be free by also-rr · · Score: 5, Informative

    It is also charity ware. The website asks for donations to a charity that helps children in Uganda.

  9. Re:Its been decided. by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny
    EMACS ? you mean Escape Meta Alt Control Shift ??
    Nope, as in Generally Not Used / Except by Middle Aged Computer Scientists.
  10. Ed, man! by Anonymous Coward · · Score: 5, Funny

    Vim is nothing compared to Ed, the greatest WYGIWYG editor of all.

    http://www.gnu.org/fun/jokes/ed.msg.html

  11. Burn him! by kahei · · Score: 5, Funny


    Recently, Richard Stallman gave a speech in which he illustrated an academic point about programming history by quoting a guy who described vi as 'an editor spread at sword-point and which is really hard to use'.

    I think I speak for all moderate vi(m) users when I say -- DEATH and DAMNATION (in that order) to this Cardinal of the CTRL key! Needless to say my own local vim user group has dispatched assassins to kill Mr. Stallman, but this is hardly the end of the story. The fact is that a man has referred to another man who in turn expressed some often-voiced reservations about OUR EDITOR! On behalf of all editors of text everywhere, I implore EMACS users to return to the true path, lest you be burned at the stake and then go to hell, the Buffer From Which There Is No Unloading. We'll see how productive you are then, with your ctrl-meta-alt and your ELISP and your 'ring buffer', whatever THAT is.

    Peace and love to all.
    ^C
    ^X
    quit
    q
    QUIT
    exit :exit
    zz
    ZZ

    --
    Whence? Hence. Whither? Thither.
  12. Re:Default mode by TheBogBrushZone · · Score: 5, Informative
    Does Vim still default to starting in command mode? I suppose it does (...) It's a text editor, it should start in insert mode like every other editor.

    It has something called 'Easy mode' for those who dislike the mode distinction or just want to use a dubmed-down editor interface. And why should starting in insert mode be the 'right' thing to do just because other editors do it? 99% of the time when I first open a text file I don't want to start inserting text. I want to navigate somewhere, usually by searching for a string or a line number.

    Pressing some key to start typing is bloody annoying, then pressing Esc to insert commands is also annoying.

    You seem to be very easily annoyed. Use vi or ViM for a while and the dual mode system becomes second nature and you miss it in other applications.

    Ctrl-sequences are much better, and the default insert mode means I can do simple text editing and slowly learn other commands of the editor.

    I don't see any major disadvantage here. You can do the same with ViM. All you need to start with are 'i', 'ESC' and 'ZZ'. The cursor keys and most of the navigation keys work in the same way as other editors until you learn to use the more advanced navigation available.

    To be honest, I also find Vim's shortcuts extremely unintuative. Want to go to the end of the document? 99% of editors, Ctrl-end. Vim, G. Sorry, that's retarded.

    Did you actually try doing that in ViM? CTRL-END works just the same as G. Has done for a long time. And why should using one arbitary key combination be more 'retarded' than another? CTRL-END could just as correctly be used to terminate the application or insert the letters 'E', 'N' and 'D'. You are entitled to your opinion but it's just arrogance to assume your interpretation is the only valid one.

    Maybe it's based in the days of legacy terminals that didn't have arrow keys or even control sequences, but we're not in those days anymore; it's the text editor equivalent of still using a green-on-black text-only monitor.

    It's called Vi iMproved. It takes the features that people found useful with vi (and its predecessors) with newer features added (not that the Control key you seem to have an obsession with is exactly a cutting-edge invention). Most developers I know, myself included, prefer ViM because it contains a wealth of practical features and a fast, efficient user interface for those with the patience to learn a little and get past the preoccupation with Microsoft-prescribed keyboard shortcuts.
    --
    And behold, a command prompt and he who sat upon it, his name was shutdown and -h 3:11 followed with him
  13. Re:editors are for wimps by Armer+Hund · · Score: 5, Funny

    Real men just input the entire program at the command line using cat>myprog.c
    A real man writes directly to the disk with a magnetised paperclip.

  14. Re:editors are for wimps by include($dysmas) · · Score: 5, Funny

    a disk? you luck pucker.

    in my day we had to arrange stones monoliths on hills to store data.

  15. Re:editors are for wimps by roystgnr · · Score: 5, Funny

    So you're the one who littered a bunch of tiny 40 ton monoliths all over the database hills I arranged, huh? Jerk. Now I have to wait for the next glaciation to reformat.