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Vim VS Prezto

Compare Vim VS Prezto and see what are their differences

Vim logo Vim

Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

Prezto logo Prezto

Prezto is the configuration framework for Zsh; it enriches the command line interface environment...
  • Vim Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-10-23
  • Prezto Landing page
    Landing page //
    2022-11-02

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.

Prezto features and specs

  • Improved Performance
    Prezto is designed to be faster than other Zsh configuration frameworks, providing improved performance through its efficient configuration files and caching mechanisms.
  • Modular Design
    Prezto's modular architecture allows users to enable or disable specific parts of the configuration, making it flexible and adaptable to various needs.
  • Extensive Theme and Plugin Support
    Prezto comes with a variety of themes and plugins, allowing users to customize their shell environment extensively and enhance their workflow.
  • Active Community and Contributions
    With an active community and numerous contributors, Prezto offers regular updates, bug fixes, and a robust support network.

Possible disadvantages of Prezto

  • Complex Setup
    For beginners, setting up Prezto can be complex and overwhelming due to its modular nature and extensive configuration options.
  • Learning Curve
    Users new to Zsh may face a steep learning curve to understand and effectively utilize all the features and customizations offered by Prezto.
  • Overhead for Simple Needs
    For those with simple needs, Prezto might be overkill and introduce unnecessary complexity compared to using a minimal configuration.
  • Compatibility Issues
    Prezto might have compatibility issues with some lesser-known plugins or custom scripts, requiring additional tweaks to integrate smoothly.

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.

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

Prezto videos

Prezto: Try out new apps and win prizes!

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Vim and Prezto)
Text Editors
100 100%
0% 0
Programming
0 0%
100% 100
IDE
100 100%
0% 0
Developer Tools
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 Vim and Prezto

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

Prezto Reviews

We have no reviews of Prezto yet.
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Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Prezto should be more popular than Vim. It has been mentiond 21 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.

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
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Prezto mentions (21)

  • Carapace: A multi-shell completion library and binary
    Beyond zprof (https://www.bigbinary.com/blog/zsh-profiling) not really I'm afraid. I did the majority of my zsh-prompt hacking 10 years ago and haven't thought about it since. That snippet could be from anywhere. You could peek at something like zprezto https://github.com/sorin-ionescu/prezto for tips. Fetching git/hg/... Info is always slow, so try and speed that up where you can (as to how to do that,... - Source: Hacker News / about 1 year ago
  • I think Linux might be the superior platform for gaming at this point.
    Is the command line really so scary? I enjoy using it from time-to-time (usually not for gaming related reasons) and I like things like Prezto to make it look pretty. Source: almost 2 years ago
  • Best terminal app for MacOs
    I switched from Oh My Zsh to Prezto years ago. OMZ at the time was excruciatingly slow, but that may have changed. Maybe I should take another look at it, but Prezto has been great. Source: over 2 years ago
  • I was frustrated with the way Windows handles Hebrew on Latin keyboards, so I wrote an open-source IME for Hebrew to make it easier! You download it, type in the phonetics, and it gives you the Hebrew.
    I installed iTerm2 and zsh shell with Prezto and I love my command line on OSX I use homebrew to install any tools that are missing and use pyenv to manage my python version (which I also do on Linux) that and the clang/gcc from the OSX command line tools and I pretty much have a full Un*x shell for anything I need to do. Source: over 2 years ago
  • Reasons to change the default terminal to Warp
    Moreover, there are tools were made on top of those to provide more functionalities, and fill some of the gaps, for instance, oh-my-zsh, Prezto, oh-my-fish, and much more. However, the default embedded terminal in macOS is still lacking something. That's why iTerm and other terminal like Hyper. It provides you a set of customization to boost your productivity. - Source: dev.to / over 2 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

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

Oh My Zsh - A delightful community-driven framework for managing your zsh configuration.

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.

zgen - A lightweight plugin manager for Zsh inspired by Antigen. Keep your .zshrc clean and simple.

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

Antigen - The plugin manager for zsh.