Vim and the Web

A talk about Vim and the web from Vim London, January 2014

Transcript

1. Vim and the Web Ways to use Vim in ways you probably shouldn’t, but someone on Hacker News will convince you to buy a Chromebook, so…
2. Working in the cloud “A buzz from my iPhone tells me my build and tests are finished. I pull it out and glance at the push notification, courtesy of Prowl. New test failures. I finish jotting down my thoughts so far into the Pages document I’m using for the spec then swipe back to iSSH.” ! — Mark O’Connor
3. Great, but can I run Vim on it?
4. Cloud9 Open source GitHub integration ! Vim mode https://c9.io/
5. Cloud9 Vim Features • hjkl (phew) • Visual, Visual-block • Left-right and up-down motions, repeat motion • Commands (r, d), motions as arguments • Numerical arguments • Repeat with . • Yank, put • No named registers, no replace, :%s, no split windows…
6. Ace Open source, derived from Cloud9, used by GitHub ! GitHub trick: http://lauris.h-s.io/2013/12/13/github-vim-editor/
7. Vim.js • Real Vim! • Emscripten • 1,800 stars • HTML5 File API • .vimrc • https://github.com/coolwanglu/vim.js
8. Vim.js build process 1. Build Vim 2. Take the LLVM byte code and process it with Emscripten 3. Emscripten generates asm.js JavaScript 4. Transformed with Node programs 5. Closure Compiler Client-side code for keyboard DOM events and HTML5 filesystem API is added as well.
9. Browser support • Chrome: Fast • Firefox: Best support • IE: Average performance and support • Note: The online demo is built with a small feature set
10. Performance • Firefox on Mac OS X: Mavericks • Duck Duck Go: 260 MB • Cloud9, Vim mode: 446.1 MB • Running Vim.js: 592 MB
11. What can you do with Vim.js? • Help the author, because it would be a way of running everything (like plugins) on the web • You could technically drop it into a project • Imagine a combination of GitHub, Heroku, and Vim.js to make an online IDE
12. Chromebooks, Tablets • There are times when you don’t have access to a regular Linux, Mac OS, or Windows computer • NPD: 21% of laptop sales in 2013 were Chromebooks • Chromebooks can be cheap, ARM-based, with small storage • Android and iOS tablets have fast and capable browsers • Does Safari crash all the time for everyone else or is it just me?
13. But I can use ssh! • Experiments like Vim.js may open up new opportunities • Embed Ace with Vim mode in your own web apps! • Trick GitHub into using Vim • Education: Read an eBook on a tablet, edit code in Vim without leaving the book • Edit your projects from any browser… at least for browser and Node projects