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Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

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Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

#11

Post by MangoToupe »

phplovesong wrote: post #5

Skimmed only. Most titles was like "i use X for that" then scrolled down for the next one. And thats the thing. Neovim (vim) is about the unix way, use existing tools and use them from vim. Last time i checked this was not an option in helix, and some very trivil things was impossible, like populating the quickfix (is it a thing n helix?) from a makefile command. Bottom line is helix is basically a stipped down versi…

`ed` is really much more in the spirit of unix. `vi` culture popped up since then, and the idea of driving other tools from an editor is more of an emacs/lisp lineage.

Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

#12

Post by Karrot_Kream »

nikolay wrote: post #7

Helix wants to be Emacs. Ever since they decided to use a built-in Lisp dialect called "Steel" for scripting and become the next Emacs, not the next Neovim, I stopped following it. I love Lisp, I wrote so much code in Lisp in the '80s and early '90s, but that was another millennium! It's 2025 now, and just because it's easy to write Lisp interpreters doesn't mean we should use them. In fact, maybe Forth is even easie…

I'm not sure why you think Lisp makes this "emacs" unless you're worried it'll fall flat because most Lisp-interested folks would find emacs more full featured? I'm not sure if a Scheme is particularly different than neovim's Lua. I'll be honest though I'm not sure how deeply Steel is integrated into Helix.

Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

#15

Post by deadbabe »

jbrooks84 wrote: post #14

Vim is life, no need to change

It’s true. Once you master Vim, your journey to find the perfect editor will have come to an end. For the rest of your career, you can rest assured you will be using some form of vim.

But some people don’t actually want to find the perfect editor, they would rather stay on the journey forever, trying to master a new tool every few years. Sounds miserable, never knowing true mastery and enlightenment.

Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

#16

Post by ikety »

celrod wrote: post #10
phplovesong wrote: post #5

Skimmed only. Most titles was like "i use X for that" then scrolled down for the next one. And thats the thing. Neovim (vim) is about the unix way, use existing tools and use them from vim. Last time i checked this was not an option in helix, and some very trivil things was impossible, like populating the quickfix (is it a thing n helix?) from a makefile command. Bottom line is helix is basically a stipped down versi…

I use kakoune, and don't understand why helix seems to be taking off while kakoune (which predated and inspired helix) remains niche. Kakoune fully embraces the unix philosophy, even going so far as relying on OS (or terminal-multiplexer, e.g. kitty or tmux) for window management (via client/sever, so each kakoune instance can still share state like open buffers). A comparison going into the differences (and embracin…

I think the easy setup is exactly the reason Helix has taken off compared to Kakoune. It probably has the most simple onboarding experience I've had with any text editor. Things just make sense, and tools that should be built in are.

I think the philosophy of delaying the plugin system as long as possible is one of the reasons helix has achieved that.

With Helix I just have to learn selection first, and few different binds compared to vim. With Kakoune, I have to onboard into a more complex ecosystem, in addition to that. A lot of people already have vim/neovim config fatigue so that's not very compelling.

Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

#17

Post by jvican »

I've fallen in love with Helix and now use it for everything. Moved from neovim and VS Code to Helix for the majority of my coding.

For me, after trying the Lazy neovim plugin distro and being a long-time vim user, Helix fills a unique need:

- It's beautiful (lots of attention to detail) - It's fast (meaning: at no point did I think Helix is slower than it should) - It's hugely ergonomic (each default keystroke resonates with me and the modal selection is a boon for my brain and productivity) - It requires almost no configuration out-of-the-box

I can't be bothered to use neovim and configure it, and vim doesn't cut it. I need something in the middle between nvim and VS Code, and that's Helix for me. This might have been different had I been a vimscript wizard, which I'm not.

I don't need Helix to be more modular or UNIXy, I simply need it to keep on the direction they've taken. There's a thriving ecosystem of tools around it, and I can use it with Claude Code (by simply refreshing the buffer when there's a new edit). What else can I ask for?

Helix is a great editor, one of the very best I've ever used. As a result, I started chipping in monthly money to keep the project going.

In terms of future improvements, the only one I'm missing the most is the ability to render images or math formulas from the editor, which I hope can at some point be done through a plugin using Kitty's terminal protocol or sixel. This is especially handy when working on Markdown files for notes or blog posts.

Long live Helix.

Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

#18

Post by pheggs »

celrod wrote: post #10
phplovesong wrote: post #5

Skimmed only. Most titles was like "i use X for that" then scrolled down for the next one. And thats the thing. Neovim (vim) is about the unix way, use existing tools and use them from vim. Last time i checked this was not an option in helix, and some very trivil things was impossible, like populating the quickfix (is it a thing n helix?) from a makefile command. Bottom line is helix is basically a stipped down versi…

I use kakoune, and don't understand why helix seems to be taking off while kakoune (which predated and inspired helix) remains niche. Kakoune fully embraces the unix philosophy, even going so far as relying on OS (or terminal-multiplexer, e.g. kitty or tmux) for window management (via client/sever, so each kakoune instance can still share state like open buffers). A comparison going into the differences (and embracin…

I genuinely don't like the concept of the keyboard interaction in helix and kakoune, selecting things to modify them. I don't know what it is, but it somehow just feels much less satisfactory to me personally compared to the vim way.

Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

#19

Post by ar_lan »

> I think what motivated me to try Helix is that I’ve been trying to get a working language server setup (so I can do things like “go to definition”) and getting a setup that feels good in Vim or Neovim just felt like too much work. After using Vim/Neovim for 20 years...

I think this is catching me off guard. Especially in the past 5 years there are Neovim distributions that make this extremely easy to configure.

I am not disagreeing that many (most?) developers don't want to spend time debugging their editor - they just want it to work batteries included (or a simple button click to install). I think this is why JetBrains products are so popular (I still don't understand VS Code - it's the worst of all worlds between vim/emacs and Jetbrains).

But if you've been a (neo)vim user for 20 years, it sounds very odd that you haven't successfully gotten LSP to work in a way that feels comfortable. I don't want to assume things about the author because I do not know them, but it feels unfair to say for vim and doesn't strike me as honest.

Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim

#20

Post by ikety »

deadbabe wrote: post #15
jbrooks84 wrote: post #14

Vim is life, no need to change

It’s true. Once you master Vim, your journey to find the perfect editor will have come to an end. For the rest of your career, you can rest assured you will be using some form of vim. But some people don’t actually want to find the perfect editor, they would rather stay on the journey forever, trying to master a new tool every few years. Sounds miserable, never knowing true mastery and enlightenment.

I use both helix and vim every day. After a while your brain just adjusts. It's like playing on playstation and nintendo for a long time. Eventually as soon as your hands touch the controller it switches to the appropriate mode.
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