Archive: 2013

Vim: checking PHP code (and Python and...)

Do you hate it as much as I do when you are writing some PHP (or Python or whatever) code in your favorite editor, hit 'save', reload the page in the browser in the hopes that you will see the new most awesome feature you ever wrote, but instead you are greeted by an unfriendly PARSE_ERROR_YOU_FORGOT_A_CLOSING_BRACKET_YOU_STUPID-error? Right, it feels like you just built a rocket, but upon launch you discover you didn't foresee a doorknob and can't get in anymore...

Luckily, if you are using Vim there is a nice plugin to quickly catch these errors (and more). The plugin I'm talking about is Syntastic. The plugin is built as a generic framework to run and process the result of a syntax checker. The syntax checkers themselves are specific for each language. Most of the syntax checkers start an external syntax checker or linter and return the output to Syntastic, telling it how to parse it.

By default Syntastic will automatically run the correct checker every time you save the …

Belgian Vim user group for meetups

A while ago, after reading about some of the meetups organized by VimBerlin and VimLondon, I started wondering if there would be any interest in a similar group for Belgium / Antwerp. Today I asked the question on Twitter and I'd like to ask it here again:

Would there be any interest in a Belgian or Antwerp usergroup for Vim with regular meetups?

Since there are already some good communities for Vim online, such as the vim_use mailinglist, I don't want to start an online community. The idea would be to organize a meetup every once in a while. At first 2 or 3 months, to avoid rushing stuff. During such a meetups we can organize to have a few people give short (15 - 30 minutes) talks about a specific topic related to Vim. These talks can cover a very wide range of topics. such as:

  • core Vim commands (for new users)
  • more exotic commands (such as advanced :g-usage)
  • a presentation of a specific plugin
  • how to efficiently navigate code …