Top Vim Alternatives

A reliable text editor is one of the basic necessities that should be present on every computer. It comes in handy for many tasks, including simple note-taking and even code editing. Vim is such a handy open-source text editor, which is designed with simplicity, utility, and customizability in mind. It is actually an extension of the vi text editor, which was one of the earliest text editors created for the UNIX system and is still widely used in form of clones. Vim is one such open-sourced clone that is considered as a huge improvement of the original vi. It was initially devised as a vi port for Amiga, but is now extended for every major operating system there is, including mobile OS like iOS and Android. It is also a charityware, making it an application that serves a noble cause as well.  

What can Vim do?

Vim is incredibly useful for users from all spheres of life. It offers all the basic features required from a text editor, while also providing some more advanced features for power users and developers. It also features extensions that can extend its capabilities to an incredible degree. Interface customizability is also a very popular feature of Vim. It offers GUI and CLI both, and the GUI can be modified by the user through extensions. It is, in essence, a command-line text editor like its predecessor. Thus some of its more advanced features can only be accessed through the CLI. This makes it extra useful for developers.

Support and extendibility

Vim is very easy to use, which is due to two main reasons. The first reason is that it depends on keystrokes and combinations a lot, so features can be quickly accessed from the keyboard itself. The second reason is that it offers an in-build tutorial program, called vimtutor, which familiarizes the user with all the necessary commands. Along with accessibility, customizability is also a big reason why Vim is used by developers around the world. Plugins are present, which can be used to color codes, use Git features and even change the interface of the application entirely, making all its features accessible through a simple GUI interface.