Boston Vim Meetup December 5, 2011 Talk Notes

BostonVimMeetup_12_05_2011_talknotes.txt

Boston Vim Meetup December 5, 2011
----------------------------------
Title    : Harmonizing your text editing and shell work in vim
Speaker  : Darcy Parker
  github : @darcyparker
  gmail  : darcyparker at gmail.com

( Friendly reminder for new users when reading this in Vim:
  :help fold-commands
  :set foldmethod=marker
  then use zo and zc to open and close the folds respectively... )

Overview Short Description: {{{

Editing text is an important piece of work that we
do. But we also need to efficiently interact with other tools outside
our favourite text editor, vim.  In this talk I will survey and
compare different methods for integrating your text editing work
inside vim with other types of tools you may use in your daily work. }}}

A little more detail for the overview... {{{
- Common use cases involving OOTB shell functionality built into vim
- Running  a terminal inside a vim buffer using the ConqueTerm plugin
- Running vim and other tools inside a terminal multiplexer
  such as tmux or screen
- Specialized integrations with plugins like Fugitive (for git) and
  Syntastic (for checking syntax and code standards) }}}

Talk Notes: {{{

Vim OOTB shell related functionality{{{
  ! filter {{{
    variants for ex and vi modes
      filter command ! in ex mode: {{{
        :!command
        :!wc %
        :n,m!command   //lines n to m
        :'a,'b!command //mark a to mark b
        :%!command     //current buffer

        :r !command    //reads result of command and inserts it
        :.!command     //like above, but inserts in current line
      }}}

      filter operator ! in vi/vim: {{{
        !<motion>command
        !!command //current line
        n!!command
      }}}

      Some example commands to try with !: {{{

        sort  // usually prefer vim sort command :h :sort
        date
        wc
        awk  // awk is great for transforming/filterings data
             // example: awk '{print $1}'
        grep

        beautifiers: {{{
          fmt -n      //reformat text to fit n columns wide
          xmlformat   //nice program for formating xml...
                      //configurable too. Side note: I find it
                      //better than xslt approach because it
                      //doesn't it doesn't loose doctype/dtd
                      //info via the xml parser on os x, brew
                      //install xmlformat, otherwise look at
                      //http://www.kitebird.com/software/xmlformat/

          uglifyjs -b //beautify javascript (strips comments...) consider other beautifiers too

          :%!nl -ba   //Number all lines
          :%!cat -n   //Number all lines

          tr '[a-z]' '[A-Z]' //there are other methods to do this in vimscript, but

          nroff/groff
          }}}
     }}}
  }}}

  system()  vimscript function (like using backticks ` in bash) {{{
    Examples:
      :echo system("wc -w ".expand("%"))

      :let @a=system("ls -l")  // assign result to the a register

      note: vim also supports backticks ` in ex in some situations :help backtick-expansion
    }}}

  Shell commands in Insert mode: {{{
    Ctrl-R =   //access vimscript while in insert mode... can call system() and other vimscript functionality

    Note: = is the special expression register.  Very cool way to evaluate vimscript expressions on the fly
          Can also use it as a simple calculator.
          In insert mode, try:
            Ctrl-R = system('ls -l')
  }}}

  Shell commands output to a scratch buffer: {{{
    :R
    http://vim.wikia.com/wiki/Append_output_of_an_external_command
  }}}

  Comment about OOTB ! filter and system() functionality:
      Filter command and system() are useful for transforms/filters or reading in results
      but not useful for interactive commands.
}}}

Accessing a shell with OOTB functionality: {{{
  :sh
    open a subshell
  :!bash

  Ctrl-Z, fg
    when you are running vim in a terminal... does not apply to gvim/mvim
}}}

  Terminal inside vim {{{
    ConqueTerm plugin {{{
      http://code.google.com/p/conque/

      Conque NerdTree plugin example
        See my gist: https://gist.github.com/1441083, a fork of an example by scrooloose

      FYI my vimrc settings for ConqueTerm: {{{
      "ConqueTerm
        "I found ConqueTerm only works with 32bit version of python on windows
        "If you have a 64 bit version installed, point to the correct python executable
        "explicitly. (If it's in the path and it is 32bit version, no need for this)
        if has("gui_running") && has("gui_win32")
          let g:ConqueTerm_PyExe='d:\opt\Python27\python.exe'
        endif
        let g:ConqueTerm_CloseOnEnd = 1 " close ConqueTerm buffer and delete it when the program inside it exits
                                        " if you don't set this, then you have to manually :bw to wipe the buffer
        let g:ConqueTerm_ReadUnfocused = 1 " Necessary if you want dynamic updates when you move to a new window
        let g:ConqueTerm_ExecFileKey = '<F11>'
        let g:ConqueTerm_SendFileKey = '<F10>'
        let g:ConqueTerm_SendVisKey = '<F9>'
      }}}

      Comments about ConqueTerm: {{{

      - you can manipulate the buffer and yank from ConqueTerm
      - you can send text from other vim buffers into ConqueTerm
      - descent but not perfect terminal emulation (handles color, but not always)
      - Function keys... and ESC key... Ctrl-C... Ctrl-O in insert mode, others?
      - slower than other terminals
      - not dynamic when it is not the active buffer
          - unless you let g:ConqueTerm_ReadUnfocused = 1
          - as an example, try running top or tail a log file
      }}}
    }}}

    ConqueTerm alternative: http://www.wana.at/vimshell/  {{{
        I haven't tried this, but it could be interesting. I am mentioning it as an fyi...
     }}}
  }}}

  vim inside a Terminal Multiplexer (Screen or Tmux) {{{

    slime {{{
      http://technotales.wordpress.com/2007/10/03/like-slime-for-vim/
      Note: Only demoed tmux and tslime. Did not look at slime.
    }}}

    tslime {{{
      http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=3023
      https://github.com/kikijump/tslime.vim

      Note: to make it work with pathoden etc, put I put tslime.vim in bundles/tslime/plugin folder...
            The git repository didn't have it in a plugin folder...

      FYI: useful function and cmap for tslime users {{{
        " see http://www.candland.net/2011/11/23/send-commands-from-vim-to-tmux-pane/
        " (A small syntax error in the url above is fixed below...)
        function! To_Tmux()
        let b:text = input("tmux:", "", "custom,")
        call Send_to_Tmux(b:text . "\n")
        endfunction
        cmap tt :call To_Tmux()<CR>
      }}}
    }}}

    screen.vim (an alternate to slime and tslime) works in both tmux and screen {{{
      I haven't tried it... but it looks interesting.
      https://github.com/vim-scripts/Screen-vim---gnu-screentmux
    }}}

    Comments about terminal multiplexers like tmux/screen: {{{
        - Can access tmux/screen from both vim and gvim/mvim but note tmux/screen will be in a separate
          window in your OS.  So you need to manage switching windows in your OS, and then windows/panes
          in tmux/screen in your terminal, and also windows mvim/gvim...
          Too much to juggle around in my opinion.
        - seems to be best when vim is running inside tmux.  This way you only have to manage moving around
          inside tmux and vim.
        - a terminal inside vim seems nicer when in mvim/gvim... but unfortunatley ConqueTerm isn't a perfect
          terminal.  As a result, I am leaning towards only using vim inside a terminal with tmux.

      }}}
  }}}

  Specialized plugins {{{
    A shell in a terminal is more general of course, but Vim has some well designed plugins that in
    many ways are better than going to a shell. So be sure to look for specialized plugins

    Examples:
      fugitive https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive
        Be sure to look at the many screencasts on fugitive here:
        http://vimcasts.org/
      syntastic  github.com/scrooloose/syntastic.git

  }}}

}}}

There was a question about some of my favourite onilne resources for keeping up on vim and plugins. {{{

I monitor a number of RSS feeds. Here are some of my favourites {{{
  http://www.reddit.com/r/vim/
  http://stevelosh.com/blog/
  http://got-ravings.blogspot.com/
  http://technotales.wordpress.com/
  http://lococast.net/?s=vim
  http://vimcasts.org/feeds/ogg/
  https://github.com/vim-scripts.atom
  http://stackoverflow.com/questions/tagged/?tagnames=vim&sort=active
  http://groups.google.com/group/vim_mac/topics?pli=1
}}}

Some plugins I was using/talked about: {{{
  https://github.com/kenkov/openurl.vim
  https://github.com/kana/vim-fakeclip

  Side note...If you use snipmate, have a look at this fork.
   https://github.com/garbas/vim-snipmate

}}}

}}}