Vim—The Charitable Code Editor

In this day and age, it’s not uncommon to find extremely complex code editors and IDEs. For example, Microsoft Visual Studio is one of the most advanced (if not the most advanced) IDEs that you can use.

But what if you just want a super lightweight code editor for Unix, C, or some other language/system where you don’t need all the bells and whistles? Enter Vim!

One quick thing: before we jump into this info on Vim, it’s important to note that this page does contain affiliate links. This means if you choose to purchase web hosting from one of the companies on this page, we may receive a modest commission. This doesn’t affect our recommendations in any way at all—in fact, if we think a hosting company is bad, we’ll tell you regardless of any type of incentive (you can read more about that here).

What is Vim?

Vim is an improvement on the original text editor for Unix, Vi (Vim is actually an acronym that stands for Vi iMproved—hence the letters V-I-M). Vim was created in 1991 by Bram Moolenaar and is still updated to this day.

In fact, not only is still updated, but according to a variety of sources, it’s one of the most popular code/text editors today (a 2019 Stack Overflow developers survey listed Vim 4th most popular text editor in existence, narrowly getting beat out by Visual Studio and Notepad++). So, needless to say—Vim is super popular among developers and those who code.

What Makes Vim Unique?

There are a few, really cool features that Vim has—these features stand out and are things that developers definitely appreciate. Here are a few examples:

1. Vim runs on a GUI interface, but it doesn’t have a standard GUI menu. The reason for this is that Bram wanted Vim to be intuitive and for developers to be able to keep their fingers on the keyboard. Because of this, all of the Vim menu commands are done via the keyboard, not with a mouse (which isn’t usual for a GUI-based editor).
2. Vim is SUPER configurable—you can literally customize just about anything. This is a really cool feature to have in a code editor as many IDEs don’t allow you to change certain settings. Presumably, this is because they want the user experience to be the same for everyone, but it’s really just a pain in the butt when it comes to coding.
3. While Vim works great with Unix and C, you can actually use it with any language. This is always a nice feature to have in a code/text editor, and somewhere that Vim really shines. However, it’s important to note that just because you can use Vim with any language doesn’t mean that you We love Vim, seriously, but when you’re programming in an object-oriented language like Java, you should probably use a proper IDE.
4. Vim has it’s own language (called VimScript, or VimL) that’s built into the editor. This language is similar to the language of the Vi editor that Vim replaced, but it’s got a variety of things added to it like lists, dictionaries, and a simple/rudimentary form of object-oriented programming.
5. Vim has a robust library of plugins. Any coder/developer wort their salt knows that having good libraries can cut your time down extensively instead of having to write a variety of functionality from scratch. Vim does well here, and that’s another reason it’s so popular.

Are There Any Other Versions of Vim?

Not officially—Vim is maintained at Vim.org and there’s really just the single version there that you can download. There is, however, an extension of Vim called NeoVim that offers some scripting support absent from the original Vim text editor. Some people prefer to use NeoVim, while others like that old-school standard version of Vim.

Bram Moolenaar’s Story

Without Bram, we certainly wouldn’t have Vim—so we have to take a moment to give a shout out to the man. Bram is a Dutch computer scientist, and an active member of various open source software communities.

Unlike most people who design a piece of software and abandon it, Bram actively maintains Vim and oversees releases for the software. If you’re familiar with the software industry, you know how rare this is—most software, especially open source software, just goes off to die at some point and is not maintained—let alone by the original author. This just goes to show how Bram really cares about Vim and is a passionate developer.

Bram’s Charity Endeavors for Children in Uganda

Bram is incredibly active with the International Child Care Fund (ICCF) in Holland. It’s a small nonprofit that works to support the children of Kibaale, a small village in southern Uganda. The main aim of this project is helping HIV and AIDS patients during the time of the AIDS epidemic in Africa.

The sad truth of this problem is that children often is that children often lose their parents to HIV/AIDS and this leaves them orphaned. The aim of the project is to help children in this position so they’re not left fending for themselves.

One of the neatest things about Vim is that it’s free, and in exchange for being free, Bram simply asks that people donate to the ICCF to help the cause.

At Web Hosting Buddy, we proudly support Bram and the ICCF to assist children in need throughout southern Uganda.