Is Neovim Your Next Favorite Development Tool?

If you’ve ever utilized Linux, you mightiness person heard of Vim.

Don’t tally distant conscionable yet.

Yes, Vim is not precisely nan easiest matter editor successful nan world, but it is 1 of nan astir powerful available. Vim isn’t conscionable a matter editor; it’s a highly configurable and powerful text editor that’s celebrated among programmers because it’s a very businesslike instrumentality for coding successful nan bid line.

Vim allows users to rumor analyzable commands via keyboard shortcuts, truthful your fingers ne'er person to time off nan keys. Vim tin besides beryllium extended pinch plugins to adhd IDE functionality.

But what is Neovim?

Neovim is an extensible fork of Vim that is designed to simplify managing nan app, amended usability, connection amended plugin support and see built-in Language Server Protocol (LSP) and support for modern GUIs and UIs. Neovim maintains halfway compatibility pinch Vim, but offers a overmuch much streamlined experience.

If nan thought of processing from a terminal app and nan bid statement sounds up your alley, Neovim mightiness beryllium nan correct instrumentality for you.

Neovim includes features like:

• Better default settings than Vim.
• A sleek API for plugins.
• Focus connected out-of-the-box usability.
• A powerful Lua API and nan expertise to break configurations into modules to make analyzable setups much manageable.
• Handles tasks for illustration linting, syntax checking and record indexing.
• A built-in, afloat scriptable terminal emulator.
• Supports astir existing Vim plugins.

Let’s get Neovim installed and configured.

Installing Neovim

Neovim tin beryllium installed connected Linux, macOS (using brew) and Windows. Here’s really it’s done:

Note: To usage nan plug-in system, you person to instal nan nightly type (more connected that successful a bit).

Configuring Neovim

Once you person Neovim installed, you tin surely usage it arsenic is. Of course, fixed really elastic and extensible nan instrumentality is, you’ll want to create your ain config file.

To create a config file, you must first create nan basal directory. I’m going to show this connected Linux. If you’re utilizing either macOS aliases Windows, you’ll request to change nan location of nan config record accordingly.

Create nan caller directory with:

Create nan config record with:

In that file, you’re going to adhd each your configuration options. A sample config mightiness look for illustration this:

You tin find a complete listing of options successful nan Neovim documentation.

Once you’ve created your config file, prevention it pinch Ctrl+X.

Plugins

Neovim tin usage vim-plug arsenic a plug-in manager. The only problem is that a batch of plugins won’t usability decently unless you’re utilizing nan nightly build, which tin beryllium recovered here.

To instal nan nightly type connected Ubuntu, travel these steps:

With that taken attraction of, instal vim-plug, which is done pinch nan command:

Now that those steps are taken attraction of, let’s usage a small cheat to make things easier. There’s a book called Kickstarter that makes it really easy to group up Neovim. To usage Kickstarter, you’ll want to move nan init.vim record retired of your nvim directory and past rumor nan pursuing command:

After that, commencement Neovim to load Kickstarter. The bid to tally nan app is:

Once it loads, you’ll find yourself successful nan Neovim window, wherever you tin statesman utilizing nan editor.

To load a plugin, you usage nan :packadd bid for illustration this:

After that, you past invoke nan plugin for illustration this:

The DiffTool plugin compares 2 directories aliases files broadside by side, and supports directory diffing, rename discovery and highlights changes.

Use nan Built-in Tutorial

At this point, I would highly urge utilizing nan interactive tutorial, which will greatly thief pinch your preamble to Neovim. To commencement nan tutorial, exit retired of Neovim pinch nan pursuing command:

Back astatine your terminal window, rumor nan command:

This interactive tutorial will really thief you understand really to get up to velocity pinch Neovim, and fixed really overmuch location is to learn, this should beryllium an absolute must for anyone conscionable getting started.

Seriously, nan tutorial is simply a must.

Neovim is simply a very powerful matter editor that, pinch immoderate upfront configurations, could switch your existent editor for programming and overmuch more. Yes, it has a measurement learning curve, but nan built-in tutorial will spell a agelong measurement to helping you out.

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