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Neovim vs Notepad++: What are the differences?
Comparison between Neovim and Notepad++
Neovim and Notepad++ are both popular text editors, but they have several key differences that set them apart from each other.
Customization: One major difference between Neovim and Notepad++ is the level of customization they offer. Neovim is highly extensible and allows users to customize every aspect of the editor through Vimscript and plugins. On the other hand, while Notepad++ does provide some customization options, it is not as extensive or flexible as Neovim.
Cross-platform Support: Neovim is designed to work on multiple platforms, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring consistency across different operating systems. Notepad++, on the other hand, is primarily built for Windows and lacks native support for macOS and Linux, limiting its cross-platform compatibility.
Modal Editing: Neovim follows the Vim philosophy of modal editing, where the editor has different modes for inserting text, navigating, and executing commands. This approach allows for efficient editing once mastered but has a learning curve for new users. In contrast, Notepad++ follows the traditional modeless editing style, which may be more familiar to users who are not accustomed to Vim-like editors.
Plugin Ecosystem: Neovim has a vibrant and active plugin ecosystem, with a wide range of community-developed plugins available to enhance functionality. These plugins can add features like code autocompletion, syntax highlighting, and integration with external tools. Notepad++ also supports plugins, but its plugin ecosystem is not as extensive as Neovim's.
Command Line Interface: Neovim can be accessed and used from the command line, making it suitable for scripting and automation tasks. Notepad++, on the other hand, is primarily a graphical application and lacks a command line interface, limiting its usability for command line-oriented workflows.
In summary, Neovim offers greater customization options, cross-platform support, and a powerful modal editing paradigm compared to Notepad++. However, Notepad++ may be more accessible to users who prefer a modeless editing style and a simpler setup without extensive customization options.
For a Visual Studio Code/Atom developer that works mostly with Node.js/TypeScript/Ruby/Go and wants to get rid of graphic-text-editors-IDE-like at once, which one is worthy of investing time to pick up?
I'm a total n00b on the subject, but I've read good things about Neovim's Lua support, and I wonder what would be the VIM response/approach for it?
Neovim can basically do everything Vim can with one major advantage - the number of contributors to the code base is just so much wider (Vim is ~100% maintained only by B. Mooleanaar). Whatever you learn for Neovim you can also apply to Vim and vice versa. And of course there is the never ending Vim vs Emacs controversy - but better not get into that war.
Actually, the biggest advantage with Neovim (as a VS user) is that you can embed REAL Neovim as the editor UI, rather than using a "Vim emulation", you're using actual NVIM, embedded in VS!
"asvetliakov.vscode-neovim" is the extension you are looking for:
- Install the 'vscode-neovim; extension (https://marketplace.visualstudio.com/items?itemName=asvetliakov.vscode-neovim)
- Install Neovim version 0.5+ nightly
- Start winning.
(You can install neovim-nightly separately for just vscode, I usually build and install it to /opt/nvim - it's enough enough to do - let me know if you need help).
Works wonderfully. It might not work out of the box if you have some 100K epic nvim initialization file, but the plugin documents a workaround for having an embedding/VS specific configuration.
I don't actually notice much of a difference between the two, as the end result looks identical. If you use Vim and are switch to Neovim it's an extremely easy 1-minute process. I switched from Vim to Neovim. I can't say I found much of a difference, but the key points where Neovim could be better than just vim is that first, there are much more people maintaining Neovim compared to vim, which means fewer bugs and a modern code base. It also has a smaller code base which might result in a small speed improvement. Another thing is that it's basically just a fork of vim, so what harm can it do? ;)
I recommend using vim 8+
it has native plugin support
if you need language supports you can install the package vim-nox
which will come with support for python, lua, ruby, etc
The hints on the codebase's contributors and the VSCode integration helped me make up my mind.
I really appreciate all comments, though.
Thanks a bunch!
It truly depends on whether you want to completely avoid GUI and stick to TUI and command lines. If you want to edit all of your codes within a terminal, then Vim or neovim would be the choice. Emacs can be run in a terminal, but the functionality is limited. Most people use Emacs using GUI and emacs-client not to use too much memory.
My general preference is to use an independent text editor, which is better if it is highly customizable and programmable. So, I have used Emacs for several years. For beginners, I guess Emacs requires significant time to learn to fully enjoy its wonderful functionalities. In that sense, using atom would be a recommendable option.
Regardless of all the situations, learning basic vim in the terminal will help you in any case. In summary, I recommend 1. vim as a default editor in the terminal 2. atom if you are a beginner, or 3. Emacs if you have a long-term plan to master a programmable editor
Other editors like sublime text, VS code, and so forth are also worth learning and using. But, no matter which editor you choose, stick to one or two until you become an advanced user. Being able to use most text editors at an intermediate level is waste of time.
I hope it helps.
Since communication with Github is not necessary, the Atom is less convenient in working with text and code. Sublim's support and understanding of projects is best for us. Notepad for us is a completely outdated solution with an unacceptable interface. We use a good theme for Sublim ayu-dark
Pros of Neovim
- Modern and more powerful Vim31
- Fast27
- Asynchronous plugins22
- Stable20
- Edit text fast18
- Great community15
- Vim plugins work out of the box15
- Embedable9
- Unix-like8
- Built-in terminal support8
- Plugins in any language4
- External GUIs2
- Great Colorschemes2
- Extremely customizable2
Pros of Notepad++
- Syntax for all languages that i use104
- Tabbed ui60
- Great code editor56
- Fast and lightweight54
- Plugins38
- Nice GUI28
- Regex & Special Character Search & Replace26
- Fast startup16
- Application is free, and plugins are too9
- Themes9
- Free6
- Very Lightweight4
- 100% Free3
- Column selection2
- Awesome autocomplete1
- Easy edit on FTP servers (NppFTP)1
- Cos it's seck1
- Nice gui. are you kidding me?1
- Open Sourced1
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Cons of Neovim
Cons of Notepad++
- No default plugin manager3
- Can't install more advanced packets2