These are my VIM settings, mostly targeting development with C, C++ and Python. I wrote a blog post about them here.

Here is a Vimeo-hosted video showing some of the things I can do when I work in C or C++. You can also download a high resolution version of the video for offline playback, using MPlayer or VideoLAN.

I use a small number of plugins, and did some minor customization for keyboard shortcuts. The plugins are maintained with pathogen, and are placed under bundle/ via Git submodules (so I always have the latest plugin versions).

Installation

In any new machine/account I need to work on, I clone from the repository:

cd
git clone https://github.com/ttsiodras/dotvim .vim
cd .vim
git submodule init
git submodule update
cd ..
ln -s .vim/.vimrc

I therefore use the same VIM environment in all my machines.

For C/C++ development

I create /usr/include/tags:

(become root via su/sudo)
cd /usr/include
ctags -R --c++-kinds=+p --fields=+iaS --extra=+q .

My .vimrc is set to use these, as well as any local "tags" I build in my project-specific Makefiles:

set tags+=/usr/include/tags

I use clang complete to get Intellisense-like autocompletion (see the video above).

The 'A' plugin allows me to quickly switch between .h/c{c,pp} with ':A'

Pressing 'K' shows manpages on the symbol under the cursor in an "inner window" (which allows me to copy/paste). I quickly close the manpage "window" with Ctrl-F12.

F8 shows taglists (macros/types/variables/functions/classes).

For Python development

I've mapped F7 to invoke flake8 (install it with: "easy_install flake8") to get static analysis error reports from "pyflakes" and style issues from "pep8", navigating from error to error in the usual way (":cn", ":cp")

I've also added a "screen" based SLIME-like environment. Here's a demonstration of the process on Vimeo and an HD version that you can download for offline playback, using MPlayer or VideoLAN.

Basically, spawn a screen session via...

screen -c python.screenrc

(or "python.screenrc.for.ArchLinux" if your screen doesn't support the "split -v" command) and you will get two screen windows: one with a VIM, one with a python instance. Navigate to whatever function/class you want in VIM, and hit Ctrl-c Ctrl-c (i.e. Ctrl-c twice). This will send the function/class to the running python instance. You can switch between VIM and python via Alt-[ and Alt-]

Generic stuff

I've mapped:

• NERDTreeToggle to F10, for direct access to "file manager" interface
• TAB and Shift-TAB (in normal mode) cycle buffers
• Ctrl-cursors to navigate windows (or create them, if missing)
• Ctrl-L to clear search results (hate seeing yellow stuff after search)
• Ctrl-F12 to quickly close "window" (buffer)
• I also have easy motion in, so I can navigate to any place in the screen with a simple \\w followed by a character. Amazing plugin.

Am I insane to use VIM?

No, I am not.

How to add more plugins?

Just... git submodule add https://.... bundle/something