My .vimrc

I’ve had a few requests for my Vim settings recently. I might as well share it in a blog post. So here’s my .vimrc.

Why is the iPhone a big deal?

I know this. Put an iPhone into my hands, and I want to build software for it. There is just something about this device that compels me. I want to write something for it, even if I end up being the only user of my creation.

I never have this reaction when I interact with Windows Mobile & co. I wouldn’t even bother downloading the SDK unless I’m working for a shop that builds applications for one of these platforms.

So I do download the iPhone SDK and I check it out. And I go wow, I can do all this with minimal fuss? This thing makes me look good! But wait it gets better. They give me an app store that allows me to reach millions of customers. Sign me up!

And ladies and gentlemen, this is why the iPhone is a big deal. There are thousands and thousands of developers out there who are thinking the exact same thing.

Topre Realforce 86U

I’ve had the Topre Realforce 86U tenkeyless (no numeric keypad) board for several months now. It is my all time favorite when it comes to keyboards. It’s got a superlative key feel and a fantastic build quality. Plus it comes with a red esc key. That has to count for something ;)

The tactile feedback; the soft, rhythmic thock thock of the keys on the way back up; the sheer poetry of cutting code in Vim while I’m in the zone. That’s the drug I live on. The creative high that I keep chasing. The reason why I program.

New Vim colour scheme – vylight

If you like this colour scheme, check out vydark, the dark background version.

I have recently started playing with Objective-C and Cocoa. One of the first things that I did was to tell Xcode to use MacVim as my default code editor. In the past, I have mostly been using Vim colour schemes with dark backgrounds.

However, I now wanted a colour scheme with a light background. Something that would fit in well within the Xcode environment and OS X in general. It had to be subtle and easy on the eyes. I looked around, and couldn’t find one that I liked. So I made my own. I’m calling it vylight.

Here’s a screenshot showing syntax highlighting for Objective-C. Search strings are highlighted in light yellow. Selected text is in light blue to fit in with aqua. TODOs and FIXMEs are highlighted in light green in comments.

This is what omni completion looks like:

Syntax highlighting in PHP:

And JavaScript:

Installing vylight

1. Download the latest version of vylight.vim from vim.org
2. Copy the file to your ~/.vim/colors/ directory
3. In Vim, do :colorscheme vylight