Live data from Hacker News

Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

helix-editor.com

131–140 of 169 posts

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#131
post #14

I gave this a couple of tries but my vim muscle memory is actively hurting me the longer I try... I would love if this had a - at least somewhat closer to - vim-mode, because all the rest, LSP, startup speed, etc, is excellent.

I think there is a config that maps more to vim, try this https://github.com/LGUG2Z/helix-vim/raw/master/config.toml

Why is it not the default?

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#132
post #56
post #54

I'm using alacritty all the time, and I'm thinking of switching to starship from powerline because powerline has noticeable startup time (I think it is python-based). Unfortunately neovim+plugins does too, probably as a result of plugins more than neovim. I tried this and it is much nippier than my current neovim+plugins setup. I'll have to plug in a bunch more language servers to fully compare. In a way I'm almost h…

Alternatively Powerlevel10k[0] makes for a fast powerline implementation, especially with instant prompt enabled. [0] https://github.com/romkatv/powerlevel10k

Note: this only supports Zsh.

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#133

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're planning to support multiple frontend too. The terminal one is just the main client.

Oh, this is good to know! May I suggest putting that in the FAQ? I looked for this information but didn't see it browsing the docs (perhaps I missed it though).

Under "Features", in the readme:

> It's a terminal-based editor first, but I'd like to explore a custom renderer (similar to Emacs) in wgpu or skulpin.

You're right though, it's nowhere to be found in the FAQ.

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#134
post #64

Long-time Vim/NeoVim user here...about 20 or so years with it being my daily driver for the last 8. As soon as I found Helix, I was unsure whether it would become my new editor, but I've been using it every day for a few months and haven't really looked back. The only thing I still use Vim for is `vimdiff` with Git, but I don't think I need to, just been lazy about configuring Helix to do the same thing. Helix does e…

Is lua considered an esoteric language?

Yes. It uses 1 as the start of an array.

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#135
post #75

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I’m the same way- my MacBook trackpad is closer to my fingers than the escape key! Not to mention, in VSCode I can do anything with the command palette with cmd+P without the need for separate modes and without the need to memorize a million shortcuts. If I know the first letter or two of the command, then it’s only 3 keystrokes away. For example, “Evaluate Math Expression” is “cmd+shift+p”+”ev”+”enter”. The command…

It is really great that your workflow works for you, and you enjoy working that way! It seems like you've spent time getting used to this workflow, and now get to reap the benefits. Be careful though, just because you are used to doing something in a specific way, doesn't mean that your way of doing it is superior!

This comment comes off as extremely patronizing. All they were saying is that vim is a step backwards in workflow, for them.

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#136

I see a lot of vim-to-helix comments, but I have been a helix user for a little while and decided to try neovim seriously for the first time. I've used it, but I never got into it. I like the extensibility and customizability of neovim. I do not like the action-subject (verb-noun as some put it) model flow, but that could be just muscle memory and bias. I'm going to keep at it and see if I like it better, it might tu…

Even in neovim you can select a region first (via 'v') and act on it later. E.g. to change till the end of the word: 'vec' (where idiomatic vi would be 'ce'), to delete the content of a block: 'vibd' (idiomatic: 'dib'), etc.

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#137
post #52
post #25

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Remap capslock to CTRL when held and ESC when tapped. Good idea for vim too

Looks interesting. I've always remapped capslock to CTRL myself, of course, but haven't thought of remapping tap-capslock to ESC. It looks like you need external software to do this though (like Karabiner Elements on mac, or xcape on linux, etc). (That being said, if you're used to jk/kj/fd/jj/jf, many years of muscle memory would still take a while to erase...)

Actually, MacOS can do this out of the box with no extra software installed. It's in the keyboard settings

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#138

I'm a huge fan of Helix, use it everyday. LSP works out of the box(if you install it with a package manager, otherwise you need to do a bit of config) .My configuration file has 5 lines or so, great defaults. No need for overly complicated configuration, or installing dozens of plugins, etc.. Did I mentioned is crazy fast? Opens in ms, and everything feels very snappy. The only thing I noticed, when I use it with tmu…

What language(s) do you program in?

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#139
post #130
post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is LSP support for Python better than PyCharm's? My assumption has been JetBrains' implementations are better for languages that they support deeply since they have so many more man-hours of polish, but e.g. Rust is going to be better with LSP than JetBrains' plugin implementation.

I have not used the LSP directly, but Python's LSP uses Jedi under the hood, the same code as VS Code's official Python extension - it is very good. JetBrains put in lots of effort but they are just one company - the power of LSP is that the whole community (including companies like Microsoft) are building a single tool that all IDEs and editors can use. Granted I hit a couple of bugs as it is under heavy development…

That may be true but at least for JVM languages, intellij is better than LSP.

Re: Helix: Post-Modern Text Editor

#140

Earlier quoted context omitted.

We're planning to support multiple frontend too. The terminal one is just the main client.

Oh, this is good to know! May I suggest putting that in the FAQ? I looked for this information but didn't see it browsing the docs (perhaps I missed it though).

In addition, the developer of Neovide proposed collaboration a while back: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/issues/39
Post reply on HN