Checks with pylint on every buffer write (optional) and displays errors in vim quickfix.

..

VIM as Python IDE | Alain M. Lafon…

For example, for exiting xml I like to use only 2 spaces for tabs as the nesting for xml tends to be deep. Python on the other hand has a coding standard, so I like to try to stick to to (not positive my config is currently correct in this regards but it’s close).

The auto file detection is best left down to vim if you can but in the following I’ll show how I use my own detection if necessary:

function! FixMurphy()
if g:colors_name == ‘murphy’
hi Folded guibg=Black
endif
endfunction

function! SetXMLFile()
set tw=100
set sw=2
set ts=2
“set guioptions+=m
set foldmethod=marker
call FixMurphy()
digraphs RE 8477 fc 402 bb 8226
” ℝ – set of real numbers
” ƒ – function
endfunction

function! SetPythonFile()
set omnifunc=pythoncomplete#Complete

“tasklist
map ttl :TaskList
“taglist
map ttt :TlistToggle
let g:Tlist_GainFocus_On_ToggleOpen = 1
let g:Tlist_Auto_Update = 1
let g:Tlist_Compact_Format = 1

set expandtab
set textwidth=72
set tabstop=4
set softtabstop=4
set shiftwidth=4
set autoindent
endfunction

function! SetMakoFile()
set tw=100
set sw=2
set ts=2
endfunction

autocmd FileType xml,xslt,html,xhtml,xsd call SetXMLFile()
autocmd FileType python call SetPythonFile()
autocmd FileType mako call SetMakoFile()
autocmd FileType java call SetJavaFile()

autocmd BufRead,BufNew,BufNewFile *.xsd,*.zcml,*.pt,*.kid set filetype=xml
autocmd BufRead,BufNew,BufNewFile *.mak set filetype=mako

I’ve seen quite a bit on this subject but this is what I do. Its flexible, uses vim where possible to detect file types and applys configuration changes dependent on what I’m working on.

” Buffer navigation (Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab)
nnoremap <C-Tab> :bnext<CR>
nnoremap <C-S-Tab> :bprevious<CR>

” Buffer navigation (Ctrl+Tab / Ctrl+Shift+Tab)
nnoremap :bnext
nnoremap :bprevious

http://code.google.com/p/exvim/

I used to use it to develop python.

There’s also some refactoring operations such as find usages and rename, assign expression to var, etc.

Or at least make some kind of central repo for an easier way of installing them, something like apt-get:

vim install package-name

Those bits are really really old (as in 6 months or more). There’s a lot of new functionality, and many fixes, since then. I think the development update centers have up to date bits, if not, you can grab a kit here:
http://deadlock.netbeans.org/hudson/job/python/

For some of the features added since then, see
http://blogs.sun.com/tor/category/NetBeans
(scroll past the first entry on JavaScript) — code coverage, test runner, type assertions, etc.

– Tor

augroup vimrc
au!
autocmd FileType css setlocal sw=4 sts=4 et
autocmd FileType eruby setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et
autocmd FileType haskell setlocal sw=4 sts=4 et
autocmd FileType htmlcheetah setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et
autocmd FileType html setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et
autocmd FileType javascript setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et
autocmd FileType java setlocal sw=4 sts=4 et
autocmd FileType mason setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et
autocmd FileType ocaml setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et
autocmd FileType perl setlocal sw=4 sts=4 et
autocmd FileType php setlocal sw=4 sts=4 et
autocmd FileType python setlocal sw=4 sts=4 et tw=72
autocmd FileType ruby setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et
autocmd FileType scheme setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et
autocmd FileType sql setlocal et
autocmd FileType text setlocal sw=2 sts=2 et tw=79
augroup END

Note, I set tw=72 for Python because the PEP 8 says that comments should be wrapped at 72 columns.

To use tags more completely:

Setup:
Install exuberant-ctags.
:cd project_root
:!ctags -R .
:set tags=tags
Jump to the definition of the symbol under the cursor:
^]
Go back to where you were:
^o

I still think NetBeans’ autocomplete is better and WingIDE’s is best, but to tell you the truth, one of my favorite things in Vim is ^n which will finish typing whatever word you were currently typing based on other words in the current buffer. ^n works everywhere. It’s super stupid, and super useful.

Yeah, NetBeans definitely works better for me than it does for you. It’s never crashed on me, and it doesn’t take a minute to start. Perhaps the difference is that I don’t use Jython–Jython’s slow.

As for the coolness of Vim, you don’t have to convince me! I’ve been using Vim as my main editor for years, and I consider myself a low-level expert. I only switched to NetBeans because I was burnt out and was looking for ways to “mix it up”.

As for your mouse problem, if I really needed to do that, I would do :tabnew and then drag the file to the window.

I agree that Python doesn’t need an IDE–which is one of the reasons I use it ;) I also use Vim when logging into remote servers. However, there’s nothing wrong with using something more friendly when editing locally.

Thanks for the heads up about pyflakes-vim. I knew about it, but had never tried it.

I use TagList, and it seems to work just fine with tabs.

One thing I really like about tabs in Vim on my Mac is that tabs work the same in the shell, in Vim, and in Firefox. That’s a huge win because I have the hot keys (Apple-Shift-{ and Apple-Shift-}) memorized.

I rarely use bNext, so I don’t encounter the problem you mentioned. If I do need to operate on multiple buffers instead of tabs (for instance if I pass multiple files on the command line), I open up another window. In general, I stick to the one buffer per one tab rule, so things make sense.

I haven’t tried to debug anything in NetBeans. I always use pdb in the shell for some reason, perhaps because I don’t know how to connect the debugger to my Web server process.

I’ve used Vim for about 10 years now at a pretty advanced level. However, as part of my plan to recover from burnout, I decided to open my mind a bit. As much as I like Vim, the fact of the matter is that you’re better off using Emacs for Lisp, Erlang, and Oz. You’re better off using IntelliJ or NetBeans for Java. I think editing CSS and JavaScript in NetBeans is nicer than in Vim. Fortunately, Python is easy to work with in a range of editors and IDEs. I still use Vim as my main editor and for editing my TODO file which I keep in outline form (I love the VimOutliner plugin).

I’m trying to be less religious about it these days and be more pragmatic. That’s why I like the jVi plugin so much. It was written by a fellow Vim fanatic, so I can use NetBeans without having to learn a new keyset. Although, apparently, it works better for me than for you.

Happy Hacking!
-jj

http://ed.cranford.googlepages.com/vimrc if you’re really interested in seeing my vimrc. I’m not fond of plugins.

:nnoremap :w !python

Also works for PHP

:nnoremap :w !php

You put these in the respective ftplugin files.

http://www.viemu.com/a_vi_vim_graphical_cheat_sheet_tutorial.html

With pyflakes-vim, vim will check your code on the fly for obvious errors. You never have to check in a NameError typo again :p

http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=2441

Also I found out today you can do :set mouse=a which gives you the ability to click to position the cursor and visual selection with the cursor which is very cool.

This aught to be posted to the Vim reddit purely so it “lives longer” there and becomes a better knowledge base for vim,

I’ll certainly give it more tries in the future, because I really like Netbeans and feel very comfortable using it in my J2SE, J2EE and RoR apps. But for the moment, I will respect the tag “early access”.

Your article seems to imply that it works for you better, than it did for me, though. I haven’t read it yet – I should get ready for work where I will have the time to do so^^

But even if it did work, the features you named (autocomplete, preview pydoc, unused imports..) are all available in VIM, too. Autocomplete and preview via OmniComplete and unused imports via PyFlakes, for example.
I don’t know fore sure as of now, but probably I’ll stick with VIM for Python even if Netbeans will support Python as it does Ruby. Imho Python doesn’t need as much IDE comfort as other languages(like Java). I think I gain more performance in being able to completely configure my IDE – use custom snippets, chose a well suited color scheme for the current daylight, even write my own Vimscripts using Python(;

Besides, my last reasoning will always be, that I can use VIM on servers(my own as well as from clients). My server is running Solaris 10 and my prefered access is via SSH. And on a clients server, there’s always the need for a quickfix(yeah, I know it’s bad practice – but it’s not always my code or choice^^).

I think you are perfectly right, VI emulation in commercial editors is especially bad implemented – there’s no way I could use them seriously. And while jVi might not be a bad implementation, Netbeans felt obstructed to me anyway. I just felt the workflow being interrupted by it, even though I really gave it a weeks try. Personally, I didn’t experience that much a gain, but limited in the use of Netbeans’ internal features. Certainly that’s a very personal opinion – maybe boosted, because I prefer VIM over VI, too.

The MiniBuf over Tabs preference, however, is a objectively measurable reason. If you work with legacy software (like TagList which I have described in the article), they will most likely work with buffers, not tabs. Of course tabs share a buffer namespace(I wrote they didn’t, but I chose this phrasing to not confuse a beginner even more), but in a very jumbling way.
Say you open file A and B in tabs. While still working in tab A, you do :bNext. You will have your second buffer/file opened, but your tabs will now display B and B – buffer/file A isn’t lost, but you can’t see or click it anymore.
Of course this example is constructed, because the right way to change tabs is :tabNext, but when you use Vimscripts, they often use buffers and will therefore produce a lot of confusion on the screen.

The -remote-tab feature is certainly nice, indeed. But I try to get along and use the mouse sometime. In GVim dragging a new file in the GUI will result in opening it in a new buffer – MiniBuf will create a new tab for me and everything moves along smoothly.

Why do you say that? See http://www.netbeans.org/features/python/index.html.

I think it works fairly well with Python. See http://jjinux.blogspot.com/2009/01/ide-netbeans.html. Autocomplete, tags, previewing documentation, etc. all work. It’s not perfect yet, since Python support is fairly new, but it’s definitely workable. I like the way it even tells me when I’m doing stupid things like unused imports, etc.

Why do you say that? http://www.netbeans.org/features/python/index.html

It might not be quite as polished as WingIDE (which really, really understand Python), but it’s not bad at all. (I prefer NetBeans over WingIDE because I also have to code HTML, CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Ruby, etc.

IntelliSense, warnings, documentation, etc. all work: http://jjinux.blogspot.com/2009/01/ide-netbeans.html

jVi is definitely not perfect, but it’s the best Vi emulation that I’ve ever used. Most Vi emulators drive me nuts (for instance, the Vi emulation in WingIDE or KomodoEdit), perhaps because I prefer Vim. I guess jVi is close enough that it doesn’t drive me nuts.

I like all the other goodies I get with NetBeans. I still use Vim in those cases where NetBeans isn’t helpful.

Can you tell me more about why you prefer MiniBufExplorer over tabs? I used to use MiniBufExplorer, but when tabs came out, I switched to those instead. I create a new tab for every file (using :tabedit filename), and I even have a shell alias (gvim –remote-tab filename) so that I can open up a file in a new tab from the shell. Hence, I follow the one tab for every file rule, and I never get confused. Can you walk me through why MiniBufExplorer is better?

> Thanks for your comment and congrats to the storks present(;

Thanks! :)

http://jjinux.blogspot.com/2009/01/ide-netbeans.html

http://jjinux.blogspot.com/2009/01/vim-jvi.html

much respect for ur article, u really didn’t need to complete studies with the rest of us like it seems :)

Good luck for ur future

Manuel

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