vim as an IDE

vim is good, so too is emacs. But I learnt the hard way why vim has one edge that emacs does not, size (I could be wrong anyone know of an emacs version thats <1Mb). If you know vim at command level you can pick up vi which allows you to edit all but the smallest systems that require tools like "ed" (installing openBSD http://goonmail.customer.netspace.net.au/2003OCT230736.html )

If you want to understand more about editors on Unix systems try reading "Raymond E., The Art of Unix Programming, Chapter 13, Complexity, A Tale of Five Editors" ~ http://www.faqs.org/docs/artu/ch13s02.html

vim is awesome. I discovered it after 8 years of Delphi, Eclipse and Visual Studio. After two months of a steep learning curve I could honestly say that indeed, vim alone can be as productive as any IDE.