For python programming, usually the environment is a terminal, unicode-rxvt or konsole, screen, and the python interactive environment. I doubt whether ctags or any other regex-based tool would handle the complexity of the dynamic language. For example, the suds library I am playing with recently dynamically generate the SOAP method call objects, there is no way to get the knowledge of the signatures without loading and executing the code.

BTW, in MSFT, Vim7.0 is also available in our toolbox besides Visual Studio.

The downside to Vim is the learning curve. If you’re doing that just to hack Python, it’s probably not worth it. If you’re doing it to have access to a good and powerful general purpose editor, you probably aren’t going to start by seeing it in the context of Python IDEs.

I did not set up a lot of language specific features, like class browsing or template replacement (insertint ‘)’ after cursor when I type ‘(’ but anyway I’m happy with it.

I mainly use vim for flexibility, I’m not very fast with it for basic tasks (but coding is not about typing fast IMO) but for complex tasks like regexp search and replace, automating repeatitive tasks and such it’s definitively windderfull, I know more and more tips with it (I dont actively learn vim, I know the bare minimum sice a long time but I’m discoreving new features in no particular order).

Exemple of a killer feature I found recently? in insert mode ctrl-y type the same thing as the same place on the line just above… just change the variable considered and continue the line. neat…

I’m happy with the syntax color, things like autoindent and code folding. Things that other editors had for years obviously, but vim as so much more usefullness from time to time…

Also I _often_ work over ssh… so being familiar with one of the most powerfull (well THE most ;)) text editor usable out of X is a good thing.

ps: your blog suck on small screen, near unusable, I fired vim to finish the typing of this post, as I did not see half of my sentences…

I think really that “IDE” suggests a lot of features that aren’t very
well supported in Emacs or vim. There are plugins for autocompletion,
mechanisms for searching for definitions (etags), etc. But I think
that hardcore IDE users would look at Emacs or vim and hold their
noses in disgust: they are simply too ‘different’.

I used Komodo for a very short period, many years ago, and I was
astonished by how heavy and slow it felt. (And Emacs is famous for its
bloat!) I also found that I didn’t use most of the included features,
and that many of the “metaphors” they used (such as the Project
concept, I think that’s what it was called) did not map onto my normal
way of working. It was after Komodo that I became a serious Emacs
user, and for me it was the right decision. Emacs is an excellent
environment for editing code if you are willing to accept the learning
curve. (And so is vim).

There are also some things that are so easy to do with an editor, and
so difficult with an IDE. I do a lot of development work over SSH, in
a GNU Screen session, with Emacs running on the server side. My
development is all done on the server, from my desktop. That is a
powerful way to work, and is very cumbersome to imitate with an IDE.

Personally I think there will always be people who prefer IDEs, and
others who will always be annoyed by IDEs. There is much room here for
varying tastes and working styles.