Vim (full name is Vi IMproved) is a text editor first released by Bram Moolenaar in 1991 for the Amiga computer. Vim was created as an extended version of the vi editor, with many additional features designed to be helpful in editing program source code. While Vim is cross-platform, it is most popular on Unix-like operating systems. Released under a software license compatible with the GNU General Public License, Vim is free and open source software. The program's license includes some charityware clauses.
2. Like vi, Vim's interface is based not on menus or icons but on commands given in a text user interface. Its GUI mode, gVim, adds menus and toolbars for commonly used commands but the full functionality is still expressed through its command line mode.
3. As a descendant of vi, Vim is modal — a design choice which tends to confuse new users. All editors are modal in the general sense of having to distinguish insert and command inputs, but most others implement that modality through very different methods: command menus, meta keys, and mouse input. Vim, following vi, is unique in that the entire keyboard is switched into and out of these modes. This allows, but does not require, one to perform all editing functions with no use of the mouse or menus and minimal use of meta keys. For touch-typists and those averse to the mouse, this can be a great benefit in power and efficiency. Vim is almost fully vi compatible when in compatible mode.
4. For many users, Vim may present a steep learning curve, meaning that learning is slow initially but once the user gets a grasp of the basics they progress quickly and their editing becomes more efficient. To facilitate this, Vim has:
- a built-in tutorial for beginners;
- the Vim Users' Manual that details the basic and more advanced Vim features. This manual can be read from within Vim, or found online; and
- a built-in help facility (using the
:help command) that allows users to query and navigate through commands and features.
5. Part of Vim's power is that it can be extensively customized. The basic interface can be controlled by the many options available, and the user can define personalized key mappings — often called macros—or abbreviations to automate sequences of keystrokes, or even call internal or user defined functions.
6. There are many plugins available that will extend or add new functionality to Vim. These complex scripts are usually written in Vim's internal scripting language vimscript. Vim also supports scripting using Perl, Python, Ruby, Tcl, and other languages. There are projects bundling together complex scripts and customizations and aimed at turning Vim into a tool for a specific task or adding a major flavour to its behaviour. Examples include Cream which makes Vim behave like a click-and-type editor or VimOutliner that provides a comfortable outliner for users of Unix-like systems. more... at Wikipedia
