Vi / Vim for project of more than a few files

Question

I typically use an ide for large projects and vi for small single file scripts temporary files etc.

Lately I have heard of people using vi for larger projects too - actually, quite defensive and particular proud to do so.

I have tried, but i found it very cumbersome. Do any other programmers here use vi for and medium - large projects? If so, are there any tips/tricks you can offer for navigating source, looking at multiple files etc?

I have tried using tmux to see if it made things easier - but it still felt quite cumbersome

Answer 1

Just a few pointers: I like NERDTree and CtrlP for easy/powerful file navigation and splits for keeping several files visable and navigatable at the same time.

Answer 2

What do you find cumbersome? What works for you? What doesn't? What kind of feature do you need to be able to work efficiently with multiple files? How many are multiple files anyway?

Some people use Vim for working on quite large projects: the Linux kernel, Firefox, Vim itself… I guess that you need to know Vim pretty well to pull that off but it's all very doable, even without many plugins.

But I tend to think "complexity" rather than "quantity".

When I work with "complex" languages+projects (quotes because it is all very subjective) I'll use a more suited IDE with a Vim-emulation plugin: Flash Builder+Vrapper for Actionscript 3, Eclipse+Vrapper (then) Android Studio+IdeaVim (now) for Android.

When I work with "simple" (quotes, again) languages+projects I'll use Vim: that's any project involving HTML/CSS/JavaScript/PHP, from 3 to 50+ files.

• File/buffer navigation

  Vim is very good at opening files (which sounds funny), even without plugins. :sp **/foo<Tab>, for example, is quick and easy. :Ex foo/bar as well.

  Switching buffers is also very easy, if a bit awkward at first. :bn, :bN and :b <Tab> will get you a long way.

  And if you don't like those built-in methods, you can create your own cool mappings or choose from many plugins.

• "Semantic" navigation

  I like to think about my project in class/method names rather than in file names. With an up-to-date tags file (generated with ctags or some compatible program), :tag foo is a very efficient way to move around, <C-]> jumps to the definition of the tag under the cursor and <C-w>} opens that definition in a small preview window. That's more than enough for my needs.

  I don't particularly like them but you can also use TagBar or TagList to have something that resembles the class browser of your IDE.

I'd suggest you make your needs more clear and ask more specific questions or look around on SO. The subjects above are pretty well covered.

Answer 3

There is no magical tool that can make everything perfect. Vim is an editor, and it's pretty good at it, but it's not and will never be an IDE.

There used to be the pida project that made an IDE around vim, for better interaction when using python, but it got abandonned.

There is eclim which is a really neat tool that can use eclipse as a backend IDE accessible in a few keystrokes from within vim, while having all the power of eclipse for tagging, refactoring, debugging etc.. But you have to want running eclipse in background, which is like hiding an elephant under the carpet...

There are many little plugins you may want to use, and I'm pretty sure everyone has his favorite set of plugins, that helps navigate easily in the code and help tagging (like fugitive, nerdtree, etc..)

Finally, there is vim, a shell and that's all. Vim does a lot of things correctly, like navigating in the source, launching compilations and parsing the errors etc.. And for what vim is not good at, you can use your shell, to execute, to do git stuff, to open more vim windows to edit code..

Anyway, there's no perfect answer to your question, and I bet your question will be closed because of being "non constructive".