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asciiflow VS Vim

Compare asciiflow VS Vim and see what are their differences

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asciiflow logo asciiflow

Infinite ASCII diagrams, save to Google Drive, resize, freeform draw, and export straight to text/html.

Vim logo Vim

Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing
  • asciiflow Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-04-28
  • Vim Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23

asciiflow features and specs

  • Ease of Use
    AsciiFlow provides a user-friendly interface that allows users to quickly create ASCII diagrams without needing extensive technical knowledge.
  • Browser-Based
    Being an online tool, AsciiFlow requires no installation and can be accessed from any device with an internet connection.
  • Free
    AsciiFlow is available for free, making it accessible to users who need a quick and easy ASCII diagramming tool without incurring additional costs.
  • Collaboration
    Users can easily share diagrams with others, which facilitates collaboration and feedback.
  • Simple Export Options
    Diagrams created in AsciiFlow can be easily exported to plain text, which can be included in code comments, documentation, or emails.

Possible disadvantages of asciiflow

  • Limited Features
    AsciiFlow offers basic diagramming features, which may not be sufficient for users requiring advanced functionalities such as complex node management or extensive customization.
  • Dependency on Internet Connection
    Since AsciiFlow is a web-based tool, it requires an internet connection to use, which can be a limitation in offline environments.
  • Performance Issues
    Large or complex diagrams may lead to performance issues, including lag or slower response times, especially on lower-end devices.
  • No Version Control
    AsciiFlow lacks built-in version control capabilities, making it difficult to track changes or revert to previous versions of diagrams.
  • Limited Integration
    The tool has limited integration with other software and platforms, which may be a drawback for users who need seamless workflows with other applications.

Vim features and specs

  • Efficiency
    Once learned, Vim can significantly speed up text editing with its modal editing, keyboard shortcuts, and commands that allow for quick navigation and manipulation of text.
  • Lightweight
    Vim is a very lightweight editor, consuming minimal system resources, making it highly performant even on systems with lower specifications.
  • Customizability
    Vim is highly configurable and extensible through plugins and user-defined settings, allowing users to tailor the editor to their specific needs.
  • Ubiquity
    Vim is available on almost every Unix-like system and even on Windows, making it a ubiquitous tool that you can rely on being available in most environments.
  • Support for Multiple Programming Languages
    Vim supports a wide range of programming languages out of the box and offers syntax highlighting, which can be enhanced through plugins.
  • Powerful Search and Replace
    Vim offers robust searching and replacing functionalities, including support for regular expressions, which can be a powerful tool for developers.

Possible disadvantages of Vim

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Vim's modal editing and extensive set of commands can be daunting for new users, requiring significant time and effort to master.
  • Minimal Default Config
    The default configuration of Vim is quite minimalistic, which may necessitate additional setup and customization to meet modern development needs.
  • Limited GUI
    Vim primarily operates in a terminal, and while there are graphical variants like GVim, they are not as feature-rich or user-friendly as modern GUI editors.
  • Plugin Management
    While Vim is highly extensible, managing and configuring plugins can be cumbersome compared to more modern editors that offer integrated plugin management.
  • Inconsistent Behavior Across Platforms
    There may be inconsistencies in behavior or available features of Vim across different operating systems, which can complicate its use in certain environments.
  • Lack of Integrated Modern Features
    Vim lacks some modern IDE features like integrated debugging, advanced code introspection, and refined autocompletion, which often require third-party plugins to achieve.

Analysis of asciiflow

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Asciiflow is generally considered a good tool, especially for those who need to quickly create and share text-based diagrams without the need for complex software.

Why this product is good

  • Asciiflow is a useful tool for creating simple ASCII diagrams and flowcharts. It is appreciated for its ease of use, accessibility through the web, and the ability to export diagrams in multiple formats. It is particularly useful for developers, system architects, and anyone who values simplicity and clarity in visual representations.

Recommended for

    Asciiflow is recommended for software developers, system architects, educators, and technical writers who need to create or share simple flowcharts and diagrams using ASCII art.

Analysis of Vim

Overall verdict

  • Yes, Vim is a good text editor, especially for users who invest the time to learn its powerful commands and features. Its steep learning curve may be challenging initially, but once mastered, it significantly enhances productivity.

Why this product is good

  • Vim is considered a powerful text editor because of its efficiency and versatility. It offers extensive features, such as syntax highlighting, a robust plugin system, and support for numerous programming languages. Vim is highly configurable, enabling users to customize its environment to fit their needs. It is particularly appreciated for its speed and the ability to perform complex text manipulations using simple commands.

Recommended for

    Vim is recommended for programmers, developers, and system administrators who require a highly efficient and customizable text editing experience. It is especially useful for those who work extensively in terminal environments or need a quick, resource-light text editor for remote systems.

asciiflow videos

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Vim videos

What Vim Is and Why You Should Learn It

More videos:

  • Review - JAC Vapour VIM Review - JAC does a side by side mod...
  • Review - Jac Vapour VIM - Quick Look

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to asciiflow and Vim)
Diagrams
100 100%
0% 0
Text Editors
0 0%
100% 100
Flowcharts
100 100%
0% 0
IDE
0 0%
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare asciiflow and Vim

asciiflow Reviews

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Vim Reviews

Boost Your Productivity with These Top Text Editors and IDEs
Vim offers a variety of features like split windows, macros, and extensive customization options. It has a steep learning curve, but once you master it, you’ll be amazed at the speed and productivity it brings to your coding workflow. Vim is a favorite among experienced developers who value speed and efficiency above all else.
Source: convesio.com
13 Best Text Editors to Speed up Your Workflow
It’s tough to say which developers would enjoy Vim as a text editor. It’s an old system with an outdated interface. Yet, it still has the charm and powerful feature-set that the average developer needs. I would recommend it to more advanced developers who enjoy using open source software and being a part of a community–like the one you can find behind Vim.
Source: kinsta.com
12 Best LaTeX Editors You Should Use
The entire installation process is perfectly documented on their Sourceforge page, which you must definitely pay a visit. There is another standalone Vim software, known as the gVim that brings a GUI-based interface to the Vim document editor. Vim-LaTeX has been developed specifically for the programmers and it is so highly configurable that it can function anyway, ranging...
Source: beebom.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Vim is a totally free Notepad++ alternative. It is available to use on Windows, Mac and Linux computers and it is very powerful. I was able to customize Vim to get it to look and function just how I want it. There is really good help support with Vim so if you are new to programming it will get you through most issues.
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Vim is an advanced text editor open source tool which is also considered to be an IDE in its way. This tool allows managing your text editing activities with vim editors and UNIX System which can be used on-premise or online.
Source: www.guru99.com

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, asciiflow should be more popular than Vim. It has been mentiond 32 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

asciiflow mentions (32)

  • Building and deploying a custom site using GitHub Actions and GitHub Pages
    I've used GitHub Pages for a long time to serve sites for free, notably https://asciiflow.com, however I have recently moved it and other sites to CloudFlare Pages - it's also got a very generous free tier and many other useful features that GH pages lacks. Setup is simple - https://github.com/lewish/asciiflow/blob/main/.github%2Fworkflows%2Fdeploy.yaml GitHub Actions is just great, and I think people overlook... - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • ASCII Silhouettify
    I'll still use https://asciiflow.com/# over figma. - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • Monodraw
    Https://asciiflow.com/#/ works pretty well. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Monodraw
    I maintain a list [1] of main web based text to diagram tools including ascii drawing tools like these. Web alternatives for this are probably https://fsymbols.com/draw/ or https://textik.com/ or https://asciiflow.com/#/ or https://web.archive.org/web/20210503172024/https://fatiherikli.github.io/archetype/ or https://app.monosketch.io [1]: https://xosh.org/text-to-diagram/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
  • Monodraw
    Yeah, I'm known as the ASCII diagram guy at work because I use ASCIIFlow a lot. Still not sure if people think I'm a joke. https://asciiflow.com/#/. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
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Vim mentions (10)

  • regular Vim has lua?!
    Lua is quite small, encouraging distros to include it. The ubuntu gvim has, and the gvim AppImage linked from vim.org does. The default Makefile from github is set up to not include it, but you can uncomment one line there to get it. Source: over 2 years ago
  • is there a way to make highlighted text persistent after quit when using something like [match Search /\%'.line('.').'l/] ?
    I've not used vimwiki locally (tho I'm old enough to remember the Vim wiki on vim.org :), but I think what you are wanting to do is extend vimwiki's syntax file. I presume it installs one at $VIMRUNTIM/syntax or or ~/.vim/syntax. If this sounds right, then create a ~/.vim/after/syntax/vimwiki.vim file and place your match command in there. Then everytime you open a vimwiki file it should apply your... Source: over 2 years ago
  • vim.org - Is there a reason for this 1800s-esque design?
    Vim.org has 242k total visitors, tailwindcss.com has 4.4m, planetscale.com has 412k, jpl.nasa.gov has 2.6m, all built with Tailwind, all several years younger than Vim's website. Unnecessary comparison, unnecessary defence. It's a valuable tool, fine, but a complete disregard for anyone who doesn't love a crappy website and would like to navigate a website like a normal human is not something to be defended. Maybe... Source: over 2 years ago
  • What is YOUR process of writing ?
    I write in Vim with some customizations in my vimrc to gear it more towards prose writing than code editing. It's not pretty, but Normal Mode and Ex commands are the most powerful text editing tools out there, so that means I spend less time on making corrections and other edits. Source: about 3 years ago
  • Why developers need to know about Vim
    If you are open minded and would like to try it out, click me for more information! Cheers. - Source: dev.to / over 3 years ago
View more

What are some alternatives?

When comparing asciiflow and Vim, you can also consider the following products

Core2D - A multi-platform data driven 2D diagram editor.

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Lekh Diagram - Lekh Diagram empowers you to express your idea on iPad and iPhone simply by sketching shapes with...

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

Monodraw - Monodraw allows you to easily create text-based art (like diagrams, layouts, flow charts) and...

Notepad++ - A free source code editor which supports several programming languages running under the MS Windows environment.