Jon Cairns

This isn't a blog about why you should use Vim. That's obvious. If it isn't, read Why do those nutheads use Vi? Instead, this a tutorial about using Vim as a fully-fledged IDE, and specifically for PHP projects. Many Vim users would only use it for dipping in and out of the odd file on their computer, or maybe just on a remote server during an SSH session. I'm here to tell you that it can be configured to be more efficient and productive than your favourite IDE.

Vim is a lot more powerful than people think. Many people who use it would do so just for quickly editing a single file, but would use an IDE for their main development. But I've discovered recently that Vim is so extensible that it can do all the things that you thought it couldn't: code completion, syntax checking, project management, debugger integration and more.