I'm learning Vim...

[Gilbo]

I'm installing it now. I need a basic text editor for programming, which I've just started learning. I decided to go with Vim over emacs. Mostly because of Mercutio honestly. I have no experience with either.

I'm starting with Java. As far as I understand it, Vim is modified with scripts you put in your plugin directory (for 6.0+). Mercutio (and anyone else who knows vim) do you have any recommendations for where to look for Java syntax highlighting scripts and other java related stuff? Or is this going to be installed automoagically and I'm jumping the gun by worrying about it. I went to the vim.org scripts page. 1380 is a little daunting :-?.

 

[Will Rickards]

It will probably automatically syntax highlight for you, if the files have the correct extension. But if you are learning Java, an IDE like Eclipse might better suit you. I use Vim only because there isn't an IDE for the language I use a lot, Informix 4GL. I also use it when I need to manipulate text quite a bit in specific patterns.

 

[Mercutio]

I know that vim does syntax highlighting. I don't generally use it, myself (I actually prefer a mono terminal for a lot of things. I don't even use color-ls).

Looks like all you've got to do is make sure the highlighting scripts are in the right place and set up something in your .vimrc to tell them to load when you open the appropriate file type.