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Should I switch my Neovim config from VimScript to Lua?

3 years ago by may_pretender to c/neovim

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So, I've been a Neovim user for a few years now. I started as most of you (I assume) with vim, and just kept on using and expanding that config file over the years.

I only recently realized there's quite a split between the Vim and Neovim plugins and that the Neovim community is pushing Lua as a better development platform. From what I can see, some users are switching their configs from Vimscript to Lua. To be honest all I know about Lua is that it means moon in Portuguese...

Should I too? What would the advantages be? What would the disadvantages be? For those who did switch, why did you switch and what was your experience? For those who didn't why did you not?

p.s. review (roast) my dotfiles

edit: thank you all for your input! I will consider slowly switching to lua by modifying only some parts of the config as some of you suggested.

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bennyp 3 points 3 years ago

It depends on what your expectations are and how you see your relationship to your editor (sorry for the cringe anthropomorphism)

If you want to tinker and think of tweaking your editor as a hobby, then sure dive in

If your config already works and you don't need the hassle, then don't

In between? Want to use a specific lua plugin but don't want to commit? You can do that too

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Neovim is a modal text editor forked off of Vim in 2014. Being modal means that you do not simply type text on screen, but the behavior and functionality of the editor changes entirely depending on the mode.

The most common and most used mode, the "normal mode" for Neovim is to essentially turn your keyboard in to hotkeys with which you can navigate and manipulate text. Several modes exist, but two other most common ones are "insert mode" where you type in text directly as if it was a traditional text editor, and "visual mode" where you select text.

Neovim seeks to enable further community participation in its development and to make drastic changes without turning it in to something that is "not Vim". Neovim also seeks to enable embedding the editor within GUI applications.

The Neovim logo by Jason Long is licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution 3.0 Unported License.

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