I am looking for recommendations on using VIM as an IDE. I generally code in a number of programming languages, including C, C++, assembler, MATLAB, Maple, BASH scripts, to name a few.
In general, I like to use a single IDE for the bulk of my projects for the sake of consistency, and I have found that I perform about 90% of all my coding in VIM, and occasionally use Eclipse instead for certain projects in C/C++ (ie: projects people have already put together as an Eclipse project, or PIC24/32 projects from www.microchip.com).
I am already very familiar with the basic functionality of VIM (windows vs buffers, text manipulation, scripting), and would like to use it as my primary IDE. I have already taken a few tips from here:
http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Use_Vim_like_an_IDE#Writing_Code
I already use the nerdTree plugin for directory browsing in a project, etc, but I need to do something about code completion and symbol resolution, as those are my two greatest concerns.
Symbol resolution
I have some limited experience in the use of C-tags, and wanted a suggestion on what I should use if I am working with a VERY large code-base that changes frequently. The projects I work on typically are pulling in header files from at least a dozen other projects, and I would like to be able to jump to the file where a function, constant, or macro is defined quickly (ie: like the CTRL-G feature in Eclipse, "jump to definition"), as well as rapidly get a list of all calls/references to a function/macro/constant/etc (ie: like the CTRL-SHIFT-G feature in Eclipse, "Show all references in project or current working directory").
Tab completion
One of the features I really like in Visual Studio and Eclipse, for example, is when I type in a variable name (ie: pointer to struct) and it resolves the names and types of all structure members and gives me a tab completion list to choose the appropriate member. They also point out when I've incorrectly used "." vs "->" for member access. I've tried superTab in VIM, but I just couldn't get it working. I also want the tab-completion feature to use the same C-tags as generated by the symbol resolution plugin
Handling build output
The final concern of mine is having an auto-generated list of build warnings and build errors. When I, for example, just run "make all" at the command-line prompt, it is a pain to have to read through code listings to manually find all build warnings.
I realize this is a lot to ask, and that I could always just fall-back to Visual Studio or Eclipse, but I really want just a simple cross-platform console-capable modal editor for all my development needs, and none of the major IDE's out there fill this need.
Thank you all in advance.
http://eclim.org/ - bring Eclipse functionality to the Vim editor
https://github.com/scrooloose/syntastic - syntax checker warnings in quickfix list
I think (but haven't checked) that Eclim satisfies #1 and #2 while I'm sure that Syntastic satisfies #3. More things of interest:
https://github.com/Lokaltog/vim-powerline - just nice
https://github.com/kien/ctrlp.vim - quick file finder
https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen - plugin manager (to install the others)
And are you aware of omnicompletion via Ctrl-p and Ctrl-n (prev and next) in insert mode? That's not code completion, but frequently does the job.
For the auto-completion part (point 2), I am proficiently using clang_complete.
For a quick setup and reference, try this page: http://zwiener.org/vimautocomplete.html
EDIT: this is for C, C++ and Objective-C only.
I use the following configuration in vim:
zipped file
It has autocomplete based on tag list, ctags, nerd commenter and some more plugins.
Hope it helps.. :)
I have been using Vim as an IDE for about a year now. All of my customization is online at github.
That said, I don't think a Vim beginner should start using vim like this; rather I think the Vim beginner should learn vim incrementally. The only changes that I think are so essential I would make them from the very beginning are:
Remap ESC to jk
Switch : and ;
Set leader key to ,
Related
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
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".
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.
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.
I wanted a cross reference navigation similar to Source Insight.
Lets take simple example:
classA::MethodB()
{
...
m_variable = value;
}
In this example if I use Ctags / Cscope, then when I try to find m_variable, it will show me all the available m_variable. I need to go through each and then find which one is required.
Where as in Source Insight, it clearly gives me the Class delectation.
Is there any such Cross ref tools available for Vim?
Vim is not an IDE, it's a text editor.
You can't reasonably expect it to understand your code as well or as deeply as an IDE.
IDEs typically keep a dynamic internal representation of your code which makes them able to track declaration and usage even when you have dozens of methods or variables with the same name. Vim, like most text editors, is not able to do that on its own: it must rely on external tools for indexing/navigating through your code. Now, because of architectural constraints, Vim is incapable of running any background process which is the absolute prerequisite for a real "code intelligence" to be added to Vim.
Given all that, you are left with code indexers like ctags, cscope or GLOBAL. These tools do their best trying to give you accurate results but they are not as smart and as specific as the tools used in IDEs.
To compensate, Vim has a bunch of different commands like :tselect or g] which open a list of possible tags to chose from. Read :h tags, :h ctags and :h cscope for how to deal with those limitations.
I've not tried this myself. But sounds like eclim is what you're looking for. http://eclim.org/
It provides eclipse features to be accessible from Vim, including code searching and auto-completion.
Pre:
I've been working in VIM for like a year already. Lots of great things: combinations, scripts. Whenever I'm editing something in a different editor, I feel sluggish/uncomfortable without VIM's navigation.
The problem:
The thing that really bothers me most of all is source code navigation using existing tools (ctags, cscope). Often, ctags can't find the declaration of a variable, cscope as opposed to ctags finds all definitions with the same variable name. Same craziness with call tree navigation, finding forward declarations along with a single class definition etc.
Compared to MS Intellisense, Visual Assist or even source code navigation in Eclipse, Exuberant Tags/cscope seems to be deprecated for at least 10 years.
I know there are tools like ViEMU, but they don't really solve the problem, since you lose lots of VIM's functionality.
The question:
I was wondering if there is a tool that does the source parsing better, or there is some way to integrate source parsing engines like Intellisense into VIM ?
Maybe there are commercial solutions or there are people who are ready to implement one ?
All the benefits of VIM seem to save less time than is being wasted while navigating to class definition, compared to Visual Assist, where it's done by a single Alt-G shortcut.
Search and Call tree
You could try eclim, which is a way to use some Eclipse features in Vim.
For C/C++, it provides :
Context sensitive completion (although it is disabled on Windows because it is buggy)
Context sensitive search in Project files (through :CSearchContext)
Call tree for functions/methods (:CCallHierarchy)
Code Validation (:Validate)
It is not great, but it can help in some cases.
Code Completion
Regarding automatic code completion, I primarily use OmniCppComplete, which is using tags to provide Context aware code completion. It is not that bad.
As advised by Luc Hermitte, you can also use clang_complete which does not need ctags, but needs clang installed.
Unfortunatelly, it is a real problem. ctags or cscope can hardly compete with Visual Studio code browsing - it actually uses a C++ compiler front-end to parse the code for the editor.
Can VIM do auto code completion like what Eclipse does? Usually I connect to my Linux developing server through Putty from my Windows laptop. So, I hope I can find a plugin for VIM which can do drop-down menu like auto completion when I can type variable names in Putty, is this possible?
Thanks!
Yes, in a sense - Vim has Completion commands that can help you automatically find the completion text for partial variable names.
In a nutshell, type a partial variable name and then press CtrlP to search for a matching name.
Yes, it's possible. Vim already features that general style of code completion built-in, under the name of Omni completion.
The default installation doesn't allow for auto-invocation, but if you install this script, that allows it to happen.
Note that, depending on the language you'll be working with, you may need additional scripts to handle auto-completion for that language, and may even need to change the auto-invoke script to recognize when to invoke the completion. Since you haven't said what programming language you'll want to work with, it's a bit hard to say if you need more than this, but I recommend checking the help file.
Try to use http://eclim.org/ - using eclipse core with VIM via plugins.
To not start the complete ecplise core but have a C/C++ member completion, try
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=1520
- Complete namespaces, classes, structs and union members.
- Complete inherited members for classes and structs
(single and multiple inheritance).
- Complete attribute members eg: myObject->_child->_child etc...
Currently vim has no of plugins for the auto code completion feature, I am using youcompleteme plugin, combined with vim-snippets, ultisnips and supertab plugins. You can tab complete the code using snippets (a small text which can be expanded for full code), and a large number of languages are supported.
For simple text files also a drop down menu comes for the words you have typed earlier.
I have spent lot of time doing research on VIM. I am Windows guy since last 6 yrs and was using VS.
Now started working on Linux. I want to make VIM as close as possible to VS.
I want features like
Project Navigation
Files in Different Tabs
Search in Project
AutoCompletion
I have found plugins for the above requirements
Project Pligin
MiniExplore
Taglist
OmniComplete
I am not able to correctly set vimrc script.
When I try to open file from Project it gets open in different tabs.I want to get it open in different buffers.
Also when I want to close file in buffer , complete window gets closed.
Open taglist and project window makes all mess.
Has any one done settings with these plugin..
Could you guys please post your vimrc files??
It will save lot of time for newbies like me..
Vim is a very different tool than Visual Studio. Plugins may help you get certain bits of functionality you desire, but do not expect them to work exactly like VS, work well together, or even work at all.
If you are looking for a programming environment more like Visual Studio, there are many good graphical IDE's you can use such as NetBeans, Eclipse, Code::Blocks, KDevelop, Anjuta, etc. Some of these tools are, IMHO, better heavyweight IDE's than Visual Studio, and all are available on Linux for free.
You should either learn to use Vim the way it was built to be used, or find a different tool that suits you better. Shoehorning Vim into a surrogate for Visual Studio will probably cause you more pain than it's worth.
Yes it's different to VS, but that doesn't mean it can't be used in the same way. It's just not as easy to do it :)
Personally I go the other way and use ViEmu to get VS to behave like VIM. But I'm not in the same situation as the author of this question.
Why not have a dig through some uploaded vimrc files on dotfiles.org?
You can use the following script, Trinity.
http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2347
It will require 3 more scripts, and Vim will look like an IDE.
The TagList at left, a file exporer (NERDTree) at right, and Source Explorer at bottom.
Also, you can find some very useful blog entries at
http://kevin-berridge.blogspot.com/search/label/vim
The author, Kevin, explains how to compile solutions form inside Vim. He also shows interfacing and jumping between them which is very useful too.
Furhermore, there is the script vim-visual-studio which can be found at
http://code.google.com/p/vim-visual-studio/
This script is using Python extension. I have Python 2.5 installed in Windows. I am using Gvim 7.2 which is compiled with Python 2.4. So, I have replaced the executables of Gvim as explained here:
http://www.gooli.org/blog/gvim-72-with-python-2526-support-windows-binaries/
So, Gvim became compatible with Python 2.5 and raised no problems. Also, a menu entry "Visual Studio" has appeared as expected. It connects to Visual Studio itself, and it works perfectly. It does not just compiles a file, it can compile a solution containing more than one project as in Visual Studio. You can even use the Vim's 'quickfix' feature. Hope this helps.
If you really want to have vim as the front end, try Eclim. It uses Eclipse as a backend daemon for code completion and project management, and vim as the interface.
If you only like vim because of the vi key bindings, but want it to be more IDE like, you could try the latest MonoDevelop that has it built in.
These plugins used to exist long before vim had tabs. I'd be quite surprised there isn't a way to tune these plugins to split windows instead of opening tabs.
Now I can't help you much as I don't use these specific plugins but other ones. You should look at their help (:h project, :h taglist, etc)
PS: in vim terminology (it will help you browse the help files), what you call "buffer" is actually called "window", while a "buffer" is just the text you are working on, it may be associated to a file, or not. For a given buffer, there may be no or several window displaying parts of the buffer.
you can give a try to eXvim
http://code.google.com/p/exvim/