I have used Vim/vi for 35+ years. One problem in the (rather religious) discussion of editors is that folk only compare editors. Vim/vi isn't merely an editor; it is a full, raging text processor! Mere editors, even really fine ones like Notepad++, typically don't walk very far down the road of text processing. They're present as editors only.
Until comparatively recently, IDEs that offered vi compatibility really only offered the skin-deep face of modeful editing--that part of vi that is what puts people off. They did not offer .exrc or .vimrc support nor keystroke power much deeper than the mode. A lot of people were and still are left perplexed as to why anyone would ever be masochistic enough to learn Vim/vi just so they can switch it on in their IDE.
Fortunately today, while exhibiting some annoying practices in terms of integration, first-rate IDEs like JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA offer more complete Vim integration than the silliness early IDE attempts made two decades ago. Personally, and because I grew up a UNIX command-line guy, I am not the least bit bashful about popping up a console outside my IDE to run Vim/gVim even though I know that IDEA's vi emulation is probably up to it.
Last, I generally never install any plug-ins despite recognizing their utility. I'm not hostile to plug-ins, it's that, just as vi/Vim is everywhere nowdays (and the only game in town on freshly brought-up Linux systems), plug-ins are not ubiquitous, so I don't even think about them until I'm doing something really specialized, not a frequent situation.
Wow!
These are some deep insights I'd be happy to add to the post's body (if you're in).
I've never thought about it in the extent you described, also for lacking the experience and familiarity with recent history I guess.
So first, thank you for that!
Second, you made me recall a very good Vim talk about using it "vanilla" - "How to Do 90% of What Plugins Do (With Just Vim)": youtube.com/watch?v=XA2WjJbmmoM
I have used Vim/vi for 35+ years. One problem in the (rather religious) discussion of editors is that folk only compare editors. Vim/vi isn't merely an editor; it is a full, raging text processor! Mere editors, even really fine ones like Notepad++, typically don't walk very far down the road of text processing. They're present as editors only.
Until comparatively recently, IDEs that offered vi compatibility really only offered the skin-deep face of modeful editing--that part of vi that is what puts people off. They did not offer .exrc or .vimrc support nor keystroke power much deeper than the mode. A lot of people were and still are left perplexed as to why anyone would ever be masochistic enough to learn Vim/vi just so they can switch it on in their IDE.
Fortunately today, while exhibiting some annoying practices in terms of integration, first-rate IDEs like JetBrains IntelliJ IDEA offer more complete Vim integration than the silliness early IDE attempts made two decades ago. Personally, and because I grew up a UNIX command-line guy, I am not the least bit bashful about popping up a console outside my IDE to run Vim/gVim even though I know that IDEA's vi emulation is probably up to it.
Last, I generally never install any plug-ins despite recognizing their utility. I'm not hostile to plug-ins, it's that, just as vi/Vim is everywhere nowdays (and the only game in town on freshly brought-up Linux systems), plug-ins are not ubiquitous, so I don't even think about them until I'm doing something really specialized, not a frequent situation.
Wow!
These are some deep insights I'd be happy to add to the post's body (if you're in).
I've never thought about it in the extent you described, also for lacking the experience and familiarity with recent history I guess.
So first, thank you for that!
Second, you made me recall a very good Vim talk about using it "vanilla" - "How to Do 90% of What Plugins Do (With Just Vim)": youtube.com/watch?v=XA2WjJbmmoM
Sure, no problem!
Done. Thank you!