What improvements can I do to my .vimrc to improve my experience in NeoVim?

Question

Here's my .vimrc

call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')
Plug 'dart-lang/dart-vim-plugin'
Plug 'natebosch/vim-lsc'
Plug 'natebosch/vim-lsc-dart'
Plug 'tpope/vim-sensible'
Plug 'vim-airline/vim-airline'
Plug 'w0rp/ale'
Plug 'pearofducks/ansible-vim', { 'do': './UltiSnips/generate.sh' }
Plug 'ncm2/ncm'
Plug 'roxma/nvim-yarp'
Plug 'ncm2/ncm2-bufword'
Plug 'ncm2/ncm2-path'
Plug 'iamcco/markdown-preview.nvim', { 'do': 'cd app && yarn install'  }
Plug 'codota/tabnine-vim'
Plug 'Chiel92/vim-autoformat'
Plug 'neoclide/coc.nvim', {'branch': 'release'}
Plug 'jiangmiao/auto-pairs'
Plug 'autozimu/LanguageClient-neovim', {
      \ 'branch': 'next',
      \ 'do': 'bash install.sh',
      \}
" Plug 'valloric/youcompleteme'
let g:lsc_server_commands = {'dart': 'dart_language_server'}
call plug#end()
let g:ale_fixers = {
      \ 'javascript': ['eslint']
      \}
let g:ale_sign_error = '❌'
let g:ale_sign_warning = '⚠️'
let g:lsc_enable_autocomplete = v:true
let g:lsc_auto_map = v:true
let g:ale_fix_on_save = 1
let g:ale_javascript_prettier_use_local_config = 1
let g:ale_javascript_eslint_options = '-c ~/.eslintrc'
let g:ale_lint_on_enter = 0
let g:ansible_unindent_after_newline = 1
autocmd BufEnter * call ncm2#enable_for_buffer()
set completeopt=noinsert,menuone,noselect
" set softtabstop=2
" set shiftwidth=2
" set expandtab

set expandtab
" show existing tab with 2 spaces width
set tabstop=2
set softtabstop=2
" when indenting with '>', use 2 spaces width
set shiftwidth=2
nnoremap <A-Down> :m .+1<CR>==
nnoremap <A-Up> :m .-2<CR>==
inoremap <A-Down> <Esc>:m .+1<CR>==gi
inoremap <A-Up> <Esc>:m .-2<CR>==gi
vnoremap <A-Down> :m '>+1<CR>gv=gv
vnoremap <A-Up> :m '<-2<CR>gv=gv
set statusline=%<%f\ %h%m%r%{kite#statusline()}%=%-14.(%l,%c%V%)\ %P
set laststatus=2
let g:python3_host_prog='/home/thebozzkg/anaconda3/bin/python3'
au BufWrite * :Autoformat
let g:airline#extensions#tabline#enabled = 1
let g:airline_detect_spell=1
let g:airline_left_sep = ''
let g:airline_left_alt_sep = ''
let g:airline_right_sep = ''
let g:airline_right_alt_sep = ''
let g:airline_symbols.branch = ''
let g:airline_symbols.readonly = ''
let g:airline_symbols.linenr = '☰'
let g:airline_symbols.maxlinenr = ''
let g:airline_symbols.dirty='⚡'
nnoremap <ALT-Left> :tabprevious<CR>
nnoremap <ALT-Right> :tabnext<CR>

Some notes about me:

I don't use hjkl I use the arrow keys (pls don't insult me)
I write Javascript, Dart, Markdown, YAML, JSON, C, & C++ (so far) in neovim (I'm switching from VSCode)
Most of the stuff I have I literally copied from GitHub and some Vim wikis
I have Anaconda installed
I'm using Ubuntu Linux 20.04 (if that matters)

For some reason, I don't know which plugins are doing it but my autocompletion keeps messing up my files (editing YAML files and saving them are absolute torture, some indentation is lost with almost all files) and also crashing (TabNine)

Can someone help me with this mess?

mattb · Accepted Answer · 2021-07-25T13:54:50.397

Welcome to Vim!

I think most new vim users have been there. I certainly have! I wanted a 'vim as python IDE' and copied a whole bunch of stuff from every blog under the sun into my vimrc almost immediately after installing vim.

After some time spent fighting with all the settings, plugins and remaps I didn't understand, I decided to go through my vimrc, line by line and comment out anything I didn't understand (nearly all of it).

Then I used this more minimal vim for a while and whenever I decided I had a need for a certain feature, I checked the largely commented vimrc for anything that looked related, and/or googled for that particular feature only. Often you find that there is a built in method to do it with the core vim commands, and if not, then there are a lot of solutions for the problem (and often, you find that there is an even more powerful way that didn't occur to you - these are good days).

But the key is to not try and coerce vim into a huge IDE overnight! Let it happen gradually and things will make more sense, and you'll end up with a vimrc that you understand and therefore be in a position to add to it and tweak it.

The last thing I'll say is to recommend the following books:
'Learn VimScript the Hard Way' by Steve Losh
'Practical Vim' by Drew Neil, and his accompanying screencast series.
(Also there is The Primagean who does high quality youtube tutorials)

Having said all that, and acknowledging that an objective answer can't be given for your question, here is a minimal vimrc which has a few plugins and settings that do simple but very useful things (but do read up on them to understand how they work!):

"==== PLUGINS =================================================================
set nocompatible " don't try to be compatible with Vi
filetype plugin indent on " use default plugins

call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged')

" plugins I would put in a new vimrc
Plug 'tpope/vim-sensible'
Plug 'tpope/vim-repeat'
Plug 'tpope/vim-surround'
Plug 'tpope/vim-commentary'
Plug 'vim-scripts/ReplaceWithRegister'
Plug 'flazz/vim-colorschemes'

"==== CUSTOM CONFIGURATIONS ===================================================
"- general settings -----------------------------------------------------------
set encoding=utf-8
set linebreak " wrap long lines at char in 'breakat' (default " ^I!@*-+;:,./?")
set nowrap " don't wrap lines by default
set expandtab " expand tabs into spaces
set tabstop=4 " a tab is the same as 4 spaces
set softtabstop=4 " when I hit <tab> in insert mode, put 4 spaces
set shiftwidth=4 " when auto-indenting, use 4 spaces per tab
set autoindent " when creating a new line, copy indent from line above
set incsearch " show matches for patterns while they are being typed
set smartcase " with both on, searches with no capitals are case insensitive...
set ignorecase " ...while searches with capital characters are case sensitive.
set spell spelllang=en
set nospell " don't hightlight misspellings unles I say so
set lazyredraw " don't redraw screen during macros (let them complete faster)
set t_Co=256 " use full colours
syntax enable " highlight special words to aid readability

colorscheme zenburn
 


" THIS NEXT BIT I DEBATED INCLUDING - IT'S MY PERSONAL PREFERENCE AND BY
NO MEANS 'NECESSARY' AND COULD SAFELY BE EXCLUDED... BUT I JUST HATED THE
BLOCK CURSOR IN INSERT MODE SO MUCH...

"- cursor behaviour (make cursor blink for insert mode, block for normal mode)
augroup cursor_behaviour
    autocmd!
    " reset cursor on start:
    autocmd VimEnter * silent !echo -ne "\e[2 q"
    " cursor blinking bar on insert mode
    let &t_SI = "\e[5 q"
    " cursor steady block on command mode
    let &t_EI = "\e[2 q"
    " highlight current line when in insert mode
    autocmd InsertEnter * set cursorline
    " turn off current line hightlighting when leaving insert mode
    autocmd InsertLeave * set nocursorline
augroup END

Good luck!

What improvements can I do to my .vimrc to improve my experience in NeoVim?

1 Answers1