Can someone explain what an IDE does that vim does not? Please arrange your responses into bullet points, so they can be individually addressed.

-it doesn't suck all of your time in setting up vim instead of actually programming

-For the main languages IDE's can do everything vim can. So neither has a real advantage

-The learning curve is 1000 times smaller

-It's actually possible to exit an IDE

1.Can you call git from vim?
2. Can you use a mouse in vim?
3. How many tabs can you open in vim?
4. Auto complete in vim?
5. Language extension?
6. Autosave in vim?

0. Interactive debugging

…is really the only reason to use an IDE I think.

@8BitOverdose

I don't think anyone would claim that vi doesn't have a learning curve, but I personally don't know of any worthwhile piece of productivity software that doesn't.

That said, once the learning curve is for the most part overcome(which can be accomplished by doing vimtutor for 30 minutes), "setup" takes seconds, and use is fast and powerful.

@kaloxy

1.Yes.

2. Yes, but..... why?

3. Just one, but vim leans on the shell and terminals, which can handle all that much better than any individual piece of software anyway.

4. Yes.

5. Yes.

6. Yes, but blech!

Well I guess its each one with their own daemons.

- showing warnings/errors before compiling the code

- debugging and profiling utilities

- showing API documentation over the code

- integration with build tools (e.g. Maven, Gradle)

- integration with servers (e.g. autodeploy of an application)

- integration with version control systems

- code autocompletion

- shortcuts for navigating to method definitions

- right click on class -> "Refactor" ...

I hate documentation and presentations

Automatically generating a RESTful web service 😁

@xonya

A number of the things you listed are doable with vi/vim, but very good points nonetheless.

@bahua The learning curve of vim is not 30 minutes. It takes days if not weeks. It's like learning touch typing all over again.

Setup a couple of seconds? Are we living in the same universe?

Actually the vim way of handling tabs is one of the key things I miss in IDEs. I like to keep source and header in a split and many of those source/header splits in tabs.

@8BitOverdose

Sure it is. You learn the fundamentals, and then you practice. You don't master it right away(as with anything) but you learn well enough to be able to use it on your own.

And copying a .vimrc file into your home directory from another place where you've set your preferences, yes, takes seconds.

Well I dont know vim that well but heres what I think:
- smart refactoring. And no I dont mean just search and replace.
- built in debugger
- autocompletion / templates built in
- linter/warning about unused code...
- autosave / hence auto refresh

I guess most of this is doable with plugins but i dont see a reason. I rarely reach for my mouse and Im at least as fast as the vim guys I worked with. I guess especially fof static typed languages ides can do a lot of magic

@AlexDeLarge

BAM

📌

Refactoring

@AlexDeLarge My point #5 is referred to this:

@AlexDeLarge the "Refactor" menu in Netbeans