response 15 of 32:

Dec 11 18:22 UTC 2010

I use Vim/gVim as well because I've used vi and vi-work-alikes for
many years now.  As bellstar says, it works on both Unix-likes and
Windows (and Mac) so I can use it on just about any system I'm on in
my normal work day.  It works just fine from a usb drive, as well (see
http://portableapps.com/news/2010-09-20_-_gvim_portable_7.3 for one
such version).

Vim has its own internal scripting language and also can link to other
languages, like perl, python and ruby if compiled with that support,
so those languages can be used to operate on the files being edited.
The GUI version (there are several, including GTK) of vim has pull
down menus, syntax highlighting, built-in diff/compare capabaility,
etc.  You can add your own functions to the menus quite easily.  A
reasonably large community of users has formed around vim and this has
resulted in a lot of scripts, color schemes, usage tips, etc.  See
http://www.vim.org/ which is also the place to get the latest version.

The classic Internet editor war is between emacs and vi and there's
really no winner, although some people find ways of counting users to
show their editor is the winner.  The most useful position is use what
you like and what you can effectively use to do your work.

In the last 10 years many other editors have been developed that are
also usable.  At the same time, some editor projects cease development
if they don't get enough support. Thus, it can be quite confusing
looking at editors if you don't have a favorite already, and you can
spend a lot of time finding one you like.  There's quite often some
feature you'd like to have that's not in your current editor & that
leads you to try something else.  And of course, if you work for someone
else, you possibly are required to use an editor that is different from
what you like.  This is where having an editor that will run off a usb
drive is handy, if there is no prohibition against that form of usage.

A lot depends on how you got started in computing, whether on command
line or GUI or Windows/Mac or Unix.  Not all editors are cross-platform,
so if that is a criterion for you, you'll be somewhat limited in your
choice of a single editor (else, you'll switch editors when you switch
platforms which can be confusing).

response 17 of 32:

Dec 11 22:06 UTC 2010

resp:13 I thought you were an emacs user?

resp:15 I agree completely: the right tool for the right job.  Frankly,
I've always found it a little silly that people get into religious arguments
about things like text editors.

response 19 of 32:

Dec 12 04:27 UTC 2010

Vim has its own scripting language called, as you might think, Vim
Script.  It can be used to control the editor.  It's actually a pretty
full programming language, including variables, loops, functions, and
if/else logic.  It is also the language used in your .vimrc/.gvimrc
files.

vim script looks something like this:

    :echo "*** Running SAS..." 
    let returntxt = system("/usr/local/sas -nodms " .
    shellescape(expand("%:p")))

The last two lines should be all one line and come from a vim script
function I wrote for running SAS on the file being edited.  Run vim
and do :help usr_41.

Also there are commands built in when you compile vim with support for
a given language, say perl.  Thus, you can execute perl commands on the
buffer being edited (and btw, Vim/gVim have tabbed editing and multiple
buffer/file capability so you can switch buffers and stuff like that). 

A couple commands are :pe[rl] {cmd} and :[range]perld[o] {cmd}.  For
example, :perl VIM::Msg("hello world") will print the message (at the
bottom of the screen)--from the vim help.  Or :perldo s/My stuff/Your
stuff/ (which goes through every line of the current buffer and does
the perl command (perldo) s///.  Or :perldo $_ = reverse($_);1 (from
the vim help).  There are something like 32 functions provided, such
as VIM::Msg(), to help run perl commands in vim.  Run vim and do :help
if_perl and the scroll down to Using the Perl interface.

As in vi, in vim you can also call external commands like :r !date or
:!ls or external commands with movement !}sort.

So there are multiple ways to operate on a file being edited.  And if
you don't want to learn anything much about vim script, you can use
perl (or python 2/3, ruby, mzscheme, or lua) or unix commands.  And of
course, the usual vi and ex commands.

response 21 of 32:

Dec 13 15:20 UTC 2010

Aquamacs wasn't to your liking?

response 23 of 32:

Dec 13 16:33 UTC 2010

Huh.  Why not, if I may ask?  I find it's a comfortable environment for things
like that.

response 25 of 32:

Dec 18 15:38 UTC 2010

I am not a full-time programmer, and might work on 3 or 4 programming
projects per year. In between that time, I lose a lot of familiarity
with languages, and so for me an important feature of any programming
text editor is syntax checking, and text highlighting.

re 2: I've been checking out SciTE, and so far am liking it quite a bit.

response 27 of 32:

Dec 18 18:03 UTC 2010

What is nice is being able to "tweak" the syntax highlighting for a
language.  Again, emacs and vim do a pretty job of that, too.  Some
editors have syntax highlighting but it is very limited in what it can
do.  Having the ability to add a new language for highlighting is also a
good feature.  Not all editors support that.

response 29 of 32:

Jan 1 02:34 UTC 2013

When I am working in a text-only environment, such as an SSH session, or
if I am doing a quick edit that does not justify starting a full
programming editor, I tend to revert back to VI. When I am working on
something larger, I usually revert to Komodo (Active State). It works
well, is the same in Windows or Linux, and is language-aware, without
being the bloated monster that is Jedit/Eclipse/Rational RSA. I also
like that it doesn't force you into the model of a project, if all you
are working on is a single code or a single module. 

response 31 of 32:

Jan 6 22:25 UTC 2013

resp: 30 - The editor-only version (which is still pretty
fully-featured)  is free. The IDE version, which integrates debugging,
source code  management and a few other features is about 300$ as of Jan
2013. I have  been happy with the free version.   -DTK