But, getting into optimal setup in neovim/vim involves lot of configuration. Here is mine if you want to refer:
https://github.com/varbhat/dotfiles/tree/main/dot_config/nvi...
- 34 lines to set up plugin manager/install plugins
- 43 for keybinds
- 35 for documentation
- 50 for autocompletion
- 20 for customizing one language server for plugin development (sumneko)
It adds up for sure, and neovim/vim/emacs are not ever likely going to be as plug & play as vscode/intellij, but I would argue the target user for vim/neovim/emacs is someone who wants more customization, which is almost always going to mean the configuration is more verbose.
If you have concrete suggestions on cutting down this config in particular, you can file an issue/PR. The main reason I created this, was because we (core neovim team) get a lot of "I just want something that works" type feedback (which to many includes autocompletion and default keybinds, which are almost 1/3 of the config)
Neovim has already integrated many of the "obvious defaults" (see :help nvim-defaults), but if you're a user and feel that something is missed you should file an issue.
I personally don't mind that the defaults may not be what I'd like, as once they are set, I spend very little time modifying my system configuration. I realize this can be a barrier to new users though.
Now, some off-topic musings:
I switched to Emacs from vi in the 80's, and I put up with it for the many powerful packages it has. Lisp as a configuration language has served Emacs well for decades, but I've always been aware that it narrows the number of contributors to those that are comfortable with Lisp. Progress towards modernizing the Emacs extension language has been slow...and it will still be a Lisp like language (Scheme).
I'm rooting for Neovim and I'd like to see a project like this for Emacs that would modernize it's UI, UX and underlying extension language. This will likely never happen while I'm still programming. Imagine the difficulty of recreating just the org-mode package!
No affiliation and haven’t even used it - but it seems to have legs.
With that said, you can build things quite nicely with it. For example, I have a custom linter setup, custom loclist/quickfix list formatting and populating from LSP data, and a bunch of other things; all using the foundational work coming in NeoVim 0.5.
If anybody is curious, you can find my NeoVim configuration here: https://gitlab.com/yorickpeterse/dotfiles/-/tree/master/dotf...
p.s. In case anybody wonders "why Lua?", for me this mostly comes down to this: I hate Lua, but I hate Vimscript even more.
I actually was surprised to see the state of the LSP docs in general. Maybe I was missing it, but all the docs I could find only had C# examples of the various objects. I was surprised I couldn't find an exhaustive list of the JSON documents and JSON-RPC endpoints which make up the standard.
I haven't found this to be true. I've basically copied the configs from READMEs and have everything working.
Honestly the thing I like best about vim are the keybindings, and while many other editors try to reproduce them, they rarely get it right. The only one I’ve found that comes close enough is vs code and it doesn’t search properly (case insensitive) and it uses a sane regex language instead of whatever regex language vim uses.
I specifically dislike the vim philosophy that defaults should be insane and the user should have to configure things to their liking with all of the expertise that entails. VS code does a much better job in this regard (though it has its own quirks).
I think emacs is more likely to have breaking changes, but I haven't used it a terrible amount, so I can't really say.
Matter of fact - stuff in Emacs breaks all the time. Frankly, Emacs simply defies any logic - sometimes you feel it shouldn't work at all, yet it does.
You see, when talking about differences of configuring Emacs and any other text editor or IDE, one has to understand - there's really no "configuration" in common sense. Emacs is a Lisp environment where you run your programs. You can download, import, and use other programs. Very often those programs "talk" to each other. Sometimes (of course), the line of communication breaks, and then you have to step in and patch them up so they can continue working together.
That's the biggest headache and confusion for beginners. They shy away from learning Emacs Lisp, and they think they can focus on learning Emacs fundamentals by using some "minimal configuration".
But only after understanding the basics of Lisp - structural editing, evaluating s-expressions, macro-expansion, etc., one could appreciate the enormous capabilities of Emacs. And when something breaks, it's quite simple to spot the problem and put a workaround.
1. First you start numbering with 1.
2. Then you start numbering with 0.
3. You provide links for all but the first element in the list, which, combined with my first 2 points, results in a juxtaposition of "2" and "0", suggesting to my subconscious that I missed something.
Well done.
FireNvim [1] is a browser plugin which embeds a Neovim editor window in HTML textareas