vim 5.1 - at home on many platforms

			     Extended Standard

			      Garry Glendown

	vim has had a couple years of developement. In this time, the 
	vi-imitator became the "improved vi". The current version 5.1 
	includes features that probably let vi(m)-enthusiasts' eyes glow 
	and that tempt doubters to change to it.

One big advantage of free unix-tools over commercial software is
availability. While applications like MS-Word or Corel Draw hardly ever
make it to other operating systems, programs like vim exist on many
platforms - usualy without any differences in the number of functions.
Users can currently - apart from 16 Unix-derivatives - use vim on Amiga,
Mac, Archimedes, Atari, Mint, BeOS, MSDOS, OS/2, QNX as well as Windows
(3.1/95/NT). For hints on which binary distributions exist and for which
compilation of sources is required, see the web-site www.vim.org. Vim is
distributed as charity-ware, which means the author asks for support of
orphans in Uganda.

Contrary to common belief vim has long since left the realm of pure
console/ASCII-applications. Under Unix as well as under other operating
systems graphical versions are available. With Windows 95/NT4 this is
essential, as the console-support by Microsoft is more than poor.

	Comfortable Additions

Many programmers and power users of vim have long been missing it:
Syntax highlighting (see picture), which is commonly available in the
PC-area. While applications like Visual C++ or Delphi usually limit
their abilities of syntax recognition to their own language, vim
presents itself a lot more flexible. Currently there are definitions for
about 50 different file formats like C, Pascal, Shell scripts or TeX,
which make working on the screen easier. Extending the definitions by
own structures or creating new formats can be done anytime. Vim makes
this easier by providing many functions that - e.g. - visualize errors
in bracket placement.

The second big extension is its own script language. It allows users to
create new functions inside vim, which up to now have only been - very
limited - available through the map-command. The function elements are
simple and not complex at all; anyway, there are many dozens of internal
instructions for program flow control, tests and modification available,
making even complex functions possible.

Autocommands allow automatic execution of operations or function under
certain circumstances (e.g. loading files or quitting vim). This
function is used by vim to load syntax definitions for highlighting when
loading files. By using scripts, features like creation of backup copies
of files once a day or once per hour can be implemented.

If the features of vim are not numerous enough, even more complex
operations can be realized using the available Perl- and
Python-interface. Function can be written using operations for text
modification that are made available by vim.

Not quite new but worth mentioning non the less is the command line
history and editing. This reduces turn-around times in edit/compile
cycles. Likewise, working without multiple views or multiple files at
one time inside vim is hardly imaginable for programmers anymore. View
size can be altered on a per-view-basis, e.g. to show more lines of a
"more important" file.

A "life-saver" for users that don't even want to start understanding
(much less using) cryptic things like "5yy" or "d10G" are visual blocks
made available by vim. Using these, text can be selected either
character-, line- or blockwise and then modified using the regular
functions. Especially helpful is the vertical block function, e.g. to
modify tables - a function that is far from being widely available even
on high-prized editors.

A description of the many little things that have made an efficient
development tool out of a simple text editor (if vi can be called that
at all) has to be omitted due to space limitations. Just alone the large
number of configuration options (version 5.1 has more than 170 settings)
gives an impression of what all is possible with this editor. People
interested in vim should take the time to read the approximately 1MB of
text which come with the program as documentation. Even when only using
a fraction of VIM-functions, the user will quickly get used to and
appreciate the advantages of this editor.

(C) 1998 Heise-Verlag, Hannover/Germany; translation by G.Glendown
    Published in:   IX Magazin  9/1998, page 67
    Translation made available for distribution on vim mailing list         
    and vim archive distribution with permission from Heise Verlag