The first example of grep-ing source code is not great. It's trivial to install something like Telescope to have functionality similar to the Helix screenshot.
Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
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Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#82> crashes: every week or so there’s a segfault and the editor crashes. ... This doesn’t bother me that much though, I can just reopen it. Strange approach to data loss, since it doesn't have persistent undo, you can't just reopen it to the same editing state? > After using Vim/Neovim for 20 years, I’ve tried both “build my own custom configuration from scratch” and “use someone else’s pre-buld configuration system” a…
I think you completely missed the context for the configuration issues in vim:
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.
Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#83The first example of grep-ing source code is not great. It's trivial to install something like Telescope to have functionality similar to the Helix screenshot.
But how much do you have to find, vet (how much do you trust Telescope to not steal your credit cards one day), and install for all the features of helix?
Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#84The bloat of the neovim distributions are real and what I would suggest for anyone who is a long time vim user is to check out kickstart. https://github.com/nvim-lua/kickstart.nvim , specifically the modular fork https://github.com/dam9000/kickstart-modular.nvim which will give you a great (minimal) starting point
Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#85I tried to switch from neovim to helix for a couple weeks, but noted down the following things that were essential to me and not implemented yet: - Code actions on save, for example adding Go imports: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/pull/6486 - Fuzzy search with a filepicker like telescope+rg, seems to have been added earlier this year: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/pull/11285 - Automatically updating b…
I rebuild from HEAD using homebrew quite regularly and have maybe had a single crash in years using Helix, so I'm shocked to see Julia report she's had crashes.
But because I run HEAD, I can tell you what's actually merged which might not be released yet:
> Code actions on save
There are command on save hooks which solve the problem for Go, but I could see this being not as applicable for other languages.
> Fuzzy search
Man, I'm pretty sure this shipped before telescope was particular stable or popular. Although, I don't recall if Helix originally used the ripgrep backend at first. They reworked it earlier this year and it was a massive improvement.
> Automatically updating buffers
+1 to this. I constantly suspend (ctrl+z) my editor and sometimes forget about it and could really use this prompt.
> File tree in browser
Space+e or Space+E opens a hierarchical file explorer on HEAD, but this is definitely relatively new
Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#86I cannot express how liberating it feels to opt out of "advanced" editor tools like lsp. I program in neovim with no plugins, no syntax highlighting and no autocomplete of any kind. There is a discipline that this imposes that I believe leads to better quality programs. It's not for everyone I suppose, but I really recommend trying it.
Why neovim for this? Why not nvi? Even less distractions that way!
Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#87I tried to switch from neovim to helix for a couple weeks, but noted down the following things that were essential to me and not implemented yet: - Code actions on save, for example adding Go imports: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/pull/6486 - Fuzzy search with a filepicker like telescope+rg, seems to have been added earlier this year: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/pull/11285 - Automatically updating b…
> I tried to switch from neovim to helix for a couple weeks
I bounced off after a couple of hours because 35 years of muscle memory for vim commands meant I was making constant infuriating mistakes[0]. Which is a shame because I'd really like to use helix and avoid the neovim config faff.
[0] I did try one of the "vim keybindings for helix" but they were only partially correct and that annoyed me even more.
Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#88I tried to switch from neovim to helix for a couple weeks, but noted down the following things that were essential to me and not implemented yet: - Code actions on save, for example adding Go imports: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/pull/6486 - Fuzzy search with a filepicker like telescope+rg, seems to have been added earlier this year: https://github.com/helix-editor/helix/pull/11285 - Automatically updating b…
Although the file explorer you link there was abandoned, a vim-telescope style explorer was merged earlier this year.
However, when you already have a fuzzy-search based file picker built in, an explorer doesn't bring much extra utility.
Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#89Skimmed 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…
Kakoune's problem is the bad UI (eg LSPs hover), and that scripting it is simply too complicated.
Re: Notes on switching to Helix from Vim
#90The one time I tried Helix, I could find no way to switch from noun-verb syntax to vim's noun-verb syntax, is it possible now?
No. Noun-verb is central to the design. Everything is built around it.
The best writing about this is "Why Kakoune" (Kakoune inspired Helix): https://kakoune.org/why-kakoune/why-kakoune.html