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1 *develop.txt* For Vim version 7.0aa. Last change: 2006 Jan 12
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2
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4 VIM REFERENCE MANUAL by Bram Moolenaar
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6
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7 Development of Vim. *development*
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8
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9 This text is important for those who want to be involved in further developing
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10 Vim.
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11
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12 1. Design goals |design-goals|
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13 2. Coding style |coding-style|
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14 3. Design decisions |design-decisions|
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15 4. Assumptions |design-assumptions|
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16
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17 See the file README.txt in the "src" directory for an overview of the source
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18 code.
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19
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20 Vim is open source software. Everybody is encouraged to contribute to help
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21 improving Vim. For sending patches a context diff "diff -c" is preferred.
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22 Also see http://www.vim.org/tips/tip.php?tip_id=618.
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23
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24 ==============================================================================
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25 1. Design goals *design-goals*
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26
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27 Most important things come first (roughly).
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28
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29 Note that quite a few items are contradicting. This is intentional. A
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30 balance must be found between them.
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31
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32
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33 VIM IS... VI COMPATIBLE *design-compatible*
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34
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35 First of all, it should be possible to use Vim as a drop-in replacement for
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36 Vi. When the user wants to, he can use Vim in compatible mode and hardly
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37 notice any difference with the original Vi.
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38
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39 Exceptions:
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40 - We don't reproduce obvious Vi bugs in Vim.
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41 - There are different versions of Vi. I am using Version 3.7 (6/7/85) as a
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42 reference. But support for other versions is also included when possible.
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43 The Vi part of POSIX is not considered a definitive source.
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44 - Vim adds new commands, you cannot rely on some command to fail because it
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45 didn't exist in Vi.
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46 - Vim will have a lot of features that Vi doesn't have. Going back from Vim
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47 to Vi will be a problem, this cannot be avoided.
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48 - Some things are hardly ever used (open mode, sending an e-mail when
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49 crashing, etc.). Those will only be included when someone has a good reason
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50 why it should be included and it's not too much work.
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51 - For some items it is debatable whether Vi compatibility should be
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52 maintained. There will be an option flag for these.
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53
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54
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55 VIM IS... IMPROVED *design-improved*
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56
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57 The IMproved bits of Vim should make it a better Vi, without becoming a
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58 completely different editor. Extensions are done with a "Vi spirit".
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59 - Use the keyboard as much as feasible. The mouse requires a third hand,
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60 which we don't have. Many terminals don't have a mouse.
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61 - When the mouse is used anyway, avoid the need to switch back to the
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62 keyboard. Avoid mixing mouse and keyboard handling.
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63 - Add commands and options in a consistent way. Otherwise people will have a
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64 hard time finding and remembering them. Keep in mind that more commands and
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65 options will be added later.
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66 - A feature that people do not know about is a useless feature. Don't add
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67 obscure features, or at least add hints in documentation that they exists.
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68 - Minimize using CTRL and other modifiers, they are more difficult to type.
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69 - There are many first-time and inexperienced Vim users. Make it easy for
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70 them to start using Vim and learn more over time.
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71 - There is no limit to the features that can be added. Selecting new features
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72 is one based on (1) what users ask for, (2) how much effort it takes to
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73 implement and (3) someone actually implementing it.
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74
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75
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76 VIM IS... MULTI PLATFORM *design-multi-platform*
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77
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78 Vim tries to help as many users on as many platforms as possible.
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79 - Support many kinds of terminals. The minimal demands are cursor positioning
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80 and clear-screen. Commands should only use key strokes that most keyboards
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81 have. Support all the keys on the keyboard for mapping.
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82 - Support many platforms. A condition is that there is someone willing to do
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83 Vim development on that platform, and it doesn't mean messing up the code.
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84 - Support many compilers and libraries. Not everybody is able or allowed to
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85 install another compiler or GUI library.
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86 - People switch from one platform to another, and from GUI to terminal
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87 version. Features should be present in all versions, or at least in as many
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88 as possible with a reasonable effort. Try to avoid that users must switch
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89 between platforms to accomplish their work efficiently.
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90 - That a feature is not possible on some platforms, or only possible on one
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91 platform, does not mean it cannot be implemented. [This intentionally
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92 contradicts the previous item, these two must be balanced.]
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93
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94
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95 VIM IS... WELL DOCUMENTED *design-documented*
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96
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97 - A feature that isn't documented is a useless feature. A patch for a new
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98 feature must include the documentation.
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99 - Documentation should be comprehensive and understandable. Using examples is
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100 recommended.
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101 - Don't make the text unnecessarily long. Less documentation means that an
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102 item is easier to find.
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103
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104
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105 VIM IS... HIGH SPEED AND SMALL IN SIZE *design-speed-size*
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106
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107 Using Vim must not be a big attack on system resources. Keep it small and
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108 fast.
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109 - Computers are becoming faster and bigger each year. Vim can grow too, but
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110 no faster than computers are growing. Keep Vim usable on older systems.
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111 - Many users start Vim from a shell very often. Startup time must be short.
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112 - Commands must work efficiently. The time they consume must be as small as
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113 possible. Useful commands may take longer.
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114 - Don't forget that some people use Vim over a slow connection. Minimize the
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115 communication overhead.
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116 - Items that add considerably to the size and are not used by many people
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117 should be a feature that can be disabled.
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118 - Vim is a component among other components. Don't turn it into a massive
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119 application, but have it work well together with other programs.
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120
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121
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122 VIM IS... MAINTAINABLE *design-maintain*
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123
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124 - The source code should not become a mess. It should be reliable code.
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125 - Use the same layout in all files to make it easy to read |coding-style|.
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126 - Use comments in a useful way! Quoting the function name and argument names
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127 is NOT useful. Do explain what they are for.
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128 - Porting to another platform should be made easy, without having to change
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129 too much platform-independent code.
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130 - Use the object-oriented spirit: Put data and code together. Minimize the
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131 knowledge spread to other parts of the code.
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132
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133
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134 VIM IS... FLEXIBLE *design-flexible*
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135
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136 Vim should make it easy for users to work in their preferred styles rather
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137 than coercing its users into particular patterns of work. This can be for
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138 items with a large impact (e.g., the 'compatible' option) or for details. The
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139 defaults are carefully chosen such that most users will enjoy using Vim as it
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140 is. Commands and options can be used to adjust Vim to the desire of the user
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141 and its environment.
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142
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143
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144 VIM IS... NOT *design-not*
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145
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146 - Vim is not a shell or an Operating System. You will not be able to run a
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147 shell inside Vim or use it to control a debugger. This should work the
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148 other way around: Use Vim as a component from a shell or in an IDE.
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149 A satirical way to say this: "Unlike Emacs, Vim does not attempt to include
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150 everything but the kitchen sink, but some people say that you can clean one
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151 with it. ;-)"
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152 - Vim is not a fancy GUI editor that tries to look nice at the cost of
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153 being less consistent over all platforms. But functional GUI features are
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154 welcomed.
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155
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156 ==============================================================================
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157 2. Coding style *coding-style*
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158
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159 These are the rules to use when making changes to the Vim source code. Please
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160 stick to these rules, to keep the sources readable and maintainable.
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161
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162 This list is not complete. Look in the source code for more examples.
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163
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164
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165 MAKING CHANGES *style-changes*
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166
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167 The basic steps to make changes to the code:
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168 1. Adjust the documentation. Doing this first gives you an impression of how
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169 your changes affect the user.
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170 2. Make the source code changes.
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171 3. Check ../doc/todo.txt if the change affects any listed item.
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172 4. Make a patch with "diff -c" against the unmodified code and docs.
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173 5. Make a note about what changed and include it with the patch.
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174
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175
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176 USE OF COMMON FUNCTIONS *style-functions*
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177
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178 Some functions that are common to use, have a special Vim version. Always
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179 consider using the Vim version, because they were introduced with a reason.
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180
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181 NORMAL NAME VIM NAME DIFFERENCE OF VIM VERSION
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182 free() vim_free() Checks for freeing NULL
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183 malloc() alloc() Checks for out of memory situation
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184 malloc() lalloc() Like alloc(), but has long argument
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185 strcpy() STRCPY() Includes cast to (char *), for char_u * args
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186 strchr() vim_strchr() Accepts special characters
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187 strrchr() vim_strrchr() Accepts special characters
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188 isspace() vim_isspace() Can handle characters > 128
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189 iswhite() vim_iswhite() Only TRUE for Tab and space
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190 memcpy() vim_memmove() Handles overlapped copies
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191 bcopy() vim_memmove() Handles overlapped copies
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192 memset() vim_memset() Uniform for all systems
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193
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194
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195 NAMES *style-names*
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196
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197 Function names can not be more than 31 characters long (because of VMS).
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198
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199 Don't use "delete" as a variable name, C++ doesn't like it.
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200
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201 Because of the requirement that Vim runs on as many systems as possible, we
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202 need to avoid using names that are already defined by the system. This is a
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203 list of names that are known to cause trouble. The name is given as a regexp
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204 pattern.
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205
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206 is.*() POSIX, ctype.h
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207 to.*() POSIX, ctype.h
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208
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209 d_.* POSIX, dirent.h
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210 l_.* POSIX, fcntl.h
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211 gr_.* POSIX, grp.h
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212 pw_.* POSIX, pwd.h
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213 sa_.* POSIX, signal.h
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214 mem.* POSIX, string.h
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215 str.* POSIX, string.h
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216 wcs.* POSIX, string.h
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217 st_.* POSIX, stat.h
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218 tms_.* POSIX, times.h
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219 tm_.* POSIX, time.h
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220 c_.* POSIX, termios.h
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221 MAX.* POSIX, limits.h
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222 __.* POSIX, system
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223 _[A-Z].* POSIX, system
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224 E[A-Z0-9]* POSIX, errno.h
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225
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226 *_t POSIX, for typedefs. Use *_T instead.
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227
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228 wait don't use as argument to a function, conflicts with types.h
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229 index shadows global declaration
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230 time shadows global declaration
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231 new C++ reserved keyword
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232 try Borland C++ doesn't like it to be used as a variable.
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233
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234 basename() GNU string function
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235 dirname() GNU string function
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236 get_env_value() Linux system function
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237
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238
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239 VARIOUS *style-various*
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240
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241 Typedef'ed names should end in "_T": >
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242 typedef int some_T;
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243 Define'ed names should be uppercase: >
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244 #define SOME_THING
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245 Features always start with "FEAT_": >
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246 #define FEAT_FOO
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247
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248 Don't use '\"', some compilers can't handle it. '"' works fine.
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249
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250 Don't use:
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251 #if HAVE_SOME
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252 Some compilers can't handle that and complain that "HAVE_SOME" is not defined.
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253 Use
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254 #ifdef HAVE_SOME
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255 or
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256 #if defined(HAVE_SOME)
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257
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258
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259 STYLE *style-examples*
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260
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261 General rule: One statement per line.
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262
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263 Wrong: if (cond) a = 1;
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264
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265 OK: if (cond)
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266 a = 1;
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267
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268 Wrong: while (cond);
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269
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270 OK: while (cond)
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271 ;
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272
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273 Wrong: do a = 1; while (cond);
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274
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275 OK: do
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276 a = 1;
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277 while (cond);
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278
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279
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280 Functions start with:
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281
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282 Wrong: int function_name(int arg1, int arg2)
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283
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284 OK: /*
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285 * Explanation of what this function is used for.
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286 *
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287 * Return value explanation.
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288 */
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289 int
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290 function_name(arg1, arg2)
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291 int arg1; /* short comment about arg1 */
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292 int arg2; /* short comment about arg2 */
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293 {
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294 int local; /* comment about local */
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295
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296 local = arg1 * arg2;
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297
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298 NOTE: Don't use ANSI style function declarations. A few people still have to
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299 use a compiler that doesn't support it.
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300
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301
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302 SPACES AND PUNCTUATION *style-spaces*
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303
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304 No space between a function name and the bracket:
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305
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306 Wrong: func (arg);
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307 OK: func(arg);
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308
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309 Do use a space after if, while, switch, etc.
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310
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311 Wrong: if(arg) for(;;)
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312 OK: if (arg) for (;;)
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313
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314 Use a space after a comma and semicolon:
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315
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316 Wrong: func(arg1,arg2); for (i = 0;i < 2;++i)
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317 OK: func(arg1, arg2); for (i = 0; i < 2; ++i)
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318
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319 Use a space before and after '=', '+', '/', etc.
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320
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321 Wrong: var=a*5;
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322 OK: var = a * 5;
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323
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324 In general: Use empty lines to group lines of code together. Put a comment
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325 just above the group of lines. This makes it more easy to quickly see what is
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326 being done.
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327
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328 OK: /* Prepare for building the table. */
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329 get_first_item();
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330 table_idx = 0;
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331
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332 /* Build the table */
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333 while (has_item())
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334 table[table_idx++] = next_item();
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335
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336 /* Finish up. */
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337 cleanup_items();
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338 generate_hash(table);
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339
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340 ==============================================================================
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341 3. Design decisions *design-decisions*
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342
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343 Folding
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344
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345 Several forms of folding should be possible for the same buffer. For example,
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346 have one window that shows the text with function bodies folded, another
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347 window that shows a function body.
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348
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349 Folding is a way to display the text. It should not change the text itself.
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350 Therefore the folding has been implemented as a filter between the text stored
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351 in a buffer (buffer lines) and the text displayed in a window (logical lines).
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352
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353
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354 Naming the window
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355
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356 The word "window" is commonly used for several things: A window on the screen,
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357 the xterm window, a window inside Vim to view a buffer.
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358 To avoid confusion, other items that are sometimes called window have been
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359 given another name. Here is an overview of the related items:
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360
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361 screen The whole display. For the GUI it's something like 1024x768
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362 pixels. The Vim shell can use the whole screen or part of it.
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363 shell The Vim application. This can cover the whole screen (e.g.,
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364 when running in a console) or part of it (xterm or GUI).
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365 window View on a buffer. There can be several windows in Vim,
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366 together with the command line, menubar, toolbar, etc. they
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367 fit in the shell.
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368
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369
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236
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370 Spell checking *develop-spell*
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371
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372 When spell checking was going to be added to Vim a survey was done over the
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373 available spell checking libraries and programs. Unfortunately, the result
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374 was that none of them provided sufficient capabilities to be used as the spell
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375 checking engine in Vim, for various reasons:
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376
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377 - Missing support for multi-byte encodings. At least UTF-8 must be supported,
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378 so that more than one language can be used in the same file.
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323
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379 Doing on-the-fly conversion is not always possible (would require iconv
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380 support).
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236
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381 - For the programs and libraries: Using them as-is would require installing
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382 them separately from Vim. That's mostly not impossible, but a drawback.
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236
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383 - Performance: A few tests showed that it's possible to check spelling on the
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384 fly (while redrawing), just like syntax highlighting. But the mechanisms
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385 used by other code are much slower. Myspell uses a hashtable, for example.
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386 The affix compression that most spell checkers use makes it slower too.
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300
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387 - For using an external program like aspell a communication mechanism would
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388 have to be setup. That's complicated to do in a portable way (Unix-only
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389 would be relatively simple, but that's not good enough). And performance
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390 will become a problem (lots of process switching involved).
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236
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391 - Missing support for words with non-word characters, such as "Etten-Leur" and
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392 "et al.", would require marking the pieces of them OK, lowering the
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393 reliability.
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394 - Missing support for regions or dialects. Makes it difficult to accept
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395 all English words and highlight non-Canadian words differently.
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396 - Missing support for rare words. Many words are correct but hardly ever used
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397 and could be a misspelled often-used word.
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323
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398 - For making suggestions the speed is less important and requiring to install
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399 another program or library would be acceptable. But the word lists probably
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400 differ, the suggestions may be wrong words.
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401
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625
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402
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403 Spelling suggestions *develop-spell-suggestions*
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404
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405 For making suggestions there are two basic mechanisms:
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406 1. Try changing the bad word a little bit and check for a match with a good
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407 word. Or go through the list of good words, change them a little bit and
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408 check for a match with the bad word. The changes are deleting a character,
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409 inserting a character, swapping two characters, etc.
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410 2. Perform soundfolding on both the bad word and the good words and then find
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411 matches, possibly with a few changes like with the first mechanism.
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412
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413 The first is good for finding typing mistakes. After experimenting with
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414 hashtables and looking at solutions from other spell checkers the conclusion
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415 was that a trie (a kind of tree structure) is ideal for this. Both for
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416 reducing memory use and being able to try sensible changes. For example, when
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417 inserting a character only characters that lead to good words need to be
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418 tried. Other mechanisms (with hashtables) need to try all possible letters at
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419 every position in the word. Also, a hashtable has the requirement that word
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420 boundaries are identified separately, while a trie does not require this.
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421 That makes the mechanism a lot simpler.
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422
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423 Soundfolding is useful when someone knows how the words sounds but doesn't
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424 know how it is spelled. For example, the word "dictionary" might be written
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425 as "daktonerie". The number of changes that the first method would need to
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426 try is very big, it's hard to find the good word that way. After soundfolding
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427 the words become "tktnr" and "tkxnry", these differ by only two letters.
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428
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429 To find words by their soundfolded equivalent (soundalike word) we need a list
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430 of all soundfolded words. A few experiments have been done to find out what
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431 the best method is. Alternatives:
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432 1. Do the sound folding on the fly when looking for suggestions. This means
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433 walking through the trie of good words, soundfolding each word and
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434 checking how different it is from the bad word. This is very efficient for
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435 memory use, but takes a long time. On a fast PC it takes a couple of
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436 seconds for English, which can be acceptable for interactive use. But for
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437 some languages it takes more than ten seconds (e.g., German, Catalan),
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438 which is unacceptable slow. For batch processing (automatic corrections)
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439 it's to slow for all languages.
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440 2. Use a trie for the soundfolded words, so that searching can be done just
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441 like how it works without soundfolding. This requires remembering a list
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442 of good words for each soundfolded word. This makes finding matches very
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443 fast but requires quite a lot of memory, in the order of 1 to 10 Mbyte.
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444 For some languages more than the original word list.
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445 3. Like the second alternative, but reduce the amount of memory by using affix
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446 compression and store only the soundfolded basic word. This is what Aspell
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447 does. Disadvantage is that affixes need to be stripped from the bad word
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448 before soundfolding it, which means that mistakes at the start and/or end
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449 of the word will cause the mechanism to fail. Also, this becomes slow when
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450 the bad word is quite different from the good word.
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451
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452 The choice made is to use the second mechanism and use a separate file. This
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453 way a user with sufficient memory can get very good suggestions while a user
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454 who is short of memory or just wants the spell checking and no suggestions
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455 doesn't use so much memory.
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456
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457
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458 Word frequency
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459
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460 For sorting suggestions it helps to know which words are common. In theory we
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461 could store a word frequency with the word in the dictionary. However, this
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462 requires storing a count per word. That degrades word tree compression a lot.
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463 And maintaining the word frequency for all languages will be a heavy task.
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464 Also, it would be nice to prefer words that are already in the text. This way
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465 the words that appear in the specific text are preferred for suggestions.
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466
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467 What has been implemented is to count words that have been seen during
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468 displaying. A hashtable is used to quickly find the word count. The count is
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469 initialized from words listed in COMMON items in the affix file, so that it
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470 also works when starting a new file.
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471
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472 This isn't ideal, because the longer Vim is running the higher the counts
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473 become. But in practice it is a noticable improvement over not using the word
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474 count.
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475
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7
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476 ==============================================================================
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477 4. Assumptions *design-assumptions*
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478
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479 Size of variables:
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480 char 8 bit signed
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481 char_u 8 bit unsigned
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625
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482 int 32 or 64 bit signed (16 might be possible with limited features)
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483 unsigned 32 or 64 bit unsigned (16 as with ints)
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7
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484 long 32 or 64 bit signed, can hold a pointer
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485
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486 Note that some compilers cannot handle long lines or strings. The C89
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487 standard specifies a limit of 509 characters.
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488
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489 vim:tw=78:ts=8:ft=help:norl:
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