How Does M Vim Compare To Neovim For Plugins?

Pathogen.vim was one of the first plugin managers I ever used for Vim, and it felt like a game-changer at the time. It simplified plugin management by loading each plugin into its own runtime path, which was a huge step up from manually dumping files into .vim directories. Now, with Neovim becoming my daily driver, I was curious if Pathogen could still hold its own. Turns out, it works just fine! Neovim maintains backward compatibility with most Vim plugins, and Pathogen is no exception. You just drop it into your autoload directory like before, and it handles the rest. That said, Neovim’s native package management and newer tools like packer.nvim or lazy.nvim offer more features, like lazy loading and dependency management. But if you’re nostalgic or prefer Pathogen’s simplicity, it’s still a solid choice. I sometimes switch back to it for smaller configs where I don’t need the bells and whistles. It’s like using an old, reliable tool—sometimes, you just want things to work without fuss.

If you're running MacVim (the mvim command) on macOS, the simplest, most reliable route for me has been vim-plug. It just feels clean: drop a tiny bootstrap file into ~/.vim/autoload, add a few lines to ~/.vimrc, then let the plugin manager handle the rest. For vim-plug I run: curl -fLo ~/.vim/autoload/plug.vim --create-dirs https://raw.githubusercontent.com/junegunn/vim-plug/master/plug.vim. After that I edit ~/.vimrc and add: call plug#begin('~/.vim/plugged') Plug 'tpope/vim-sensible' Plug 'junegunn/fzf', { 'do': { -> fzf#install() } } call plug#end() Then I launch MacVim with mvim and run :PlugInstall (or from the shell mvim +PlugInstall +qall) and watch the plugins clone and install. A few handy things: if a plugin needs build steps, check its README; some require ctags, ripgrep, or Python support. Also remember MacVim reads your ~/.vimrc (and you can put GUI tweaks in ~/.gvimrc). If you prefer built-in package management, the pack/start method works too: mkdir -p ~/.vim/pack/vendor/start && git clone ~/.vim/pack/vendor/start/, then restart mvim.

If you’re trying to wrangle marks in Vim and keep losing your mental map of where you left stuff, you’re not alone — marks are insanely useful but a little clumsy out of the box. I used to set a bunch of lowercase and uppercase marks, then spend five minutes hunting for the one I actually needed. Over the years I picked up a handful of plugins and tiny tricks that make mark management smooth: visualizing marks in the gutter, persisting bookmarks between sessions, and giving quick keybindings to jump or list marks. The suggestions below are what I reach for when a project gets messy and I want my navigation to feel deliberate again. First up, plugins that make marks obvious and manageable: 'vim-signature' (shows marks in the sign column and offers lightweight mappings for toggling/removing marks), a bookmarks plugin (many are called 'vim-bookmarks' or simply 'bookmarks' on GitHub) which gives a persistent set of bookmarks you can toggle and list, and newer Neovim-focused tools like 'marks.nvim' that offer richer APIs in Lua (persistence, visual indicators, and nicer listing commands). If you do more file-level navigation than line-level, 'harpoon' (by ThePrimeagen) is fantastic for pinning frequently edited files and jumping to them instantly—it’s more file-bookmark than line-mark, but it complements marks nicely. There are also older helpers simply named 'vim-marks' or 'marks' that give :Marks-style listings and quick operations; search GitHub for any of those names and you’ll find several maintained forks and variants. Practical tips that helped me the most: get a plugin that visually marks lines in the sign column (so your eyeballs stop playing hide-and-seek), and pair that with an easy list command (many plugins offer :Marks or :Bookmarks which opens a quickfix or location list). For session persistence, either use a plugin that explicitly saves marks/bookmarks or rely on Vim’s session/mksession features to store your location info when you close a project. I also map a couple of ergonomic keys: one to toggle a bookmark on the current line, one to jump to the next/previous bookmark, and one to open the bookmark list in a quickfix window. Small mappings like that turn marks from an afterthought into a core part of my workflow. Honestly, once I split responsibilities (line marks + visual signs via a signature-style plugin, file marks via 'harpoon' or a bookmarks plugin, and session persistence via the plugin or mksession), my navigation felt way more intentional. If you want, tell me whether you’re using plain Vim or Neovim and which plugin manager you use (vim-plug/packer/ Dein/etc.), and I can sketch exact install lines and a tiny config snippet that matches your setup. I love tinkering with these little UX improvements—they’re the tiny tweaks that make long editing sessions much less painful.

Vim's autocomplete functionality is super flexible, and yes, it can absolutely work with Neovim and LSP! Neovim has built-in LSP support, which means you can ditch the old-school plugins and let the Language Server Protocol handle your completions. I've been using it for months, and it's like having a coding buddy who knows everything. The key is setting up 'nvim-cmp' or 'coc.nvim'—they bridge the gap between Vim's native completion and LSP's intelligence. One thing I love is how Neovim's LSP integration feels seamless. You don’t need a ton of plugins cluttering your config. Just install 'nvim-lspconfig' and pair it with a completion engine. The autocomplete suggestions pop up instantly, with context-aware intelligence that puts vanilla Vim to shame. It even handles fuzzy matching and snippets! If you’re coming from Vim, it might take a minute to adjust, but once you do, there’s no going back. Performance-wise, Neovim’s LSP support is a game-changer. It’s faster than most traditional autocomplete plugins because it leverages the language server directly. No more laggy suggestions or outdated indexes. Plus, since Neovim’s LSP client is built-in, updates and maintenance are way smoother. I’ve used it for Python, TypeScript, and Rust, and it’s consistently brilliant. If you’re on the fence, just try it—your workflow will thank you.

integrating 'netrw' with other plugins can be a game-changer for workflow efficiency. One approach is to pair it with 'fzf' for faster file navigation. By mapping 'netrw' to open directories and 'fzf' for fuzzy file searches, you get the best of both worlds. Another handy combo is 'nerdtree' alongside 'netrw'—though they serve similar purposes, 'nerdtree' offers a sidebar view while 'netrw' excels in built-in simplicity. I also recommend 'vim-vinegar' to enhance 'netrw' with more intuitive keybindings. For Git integration, 'vim-fugitive' works seamlessly with 'netrw' for version control without leaving the editor. The key is to customize your '.vimrc' to avoid conflicts and ensure smooth interoperability.

Vim plugins feel like little power-ups that transform my coding sessions from tedious to turbocharged. For 2024, 'coc.nvim' still reigns supreme in my setup—it’s like having an IDE’s intelligence without the bloat. The way it handles LSP integrations for languages like TypeScript or Rust makes me wonder how I ever coded without it. Pair that with 'vim-fugitive' for Git wizardry (I can stage hunks or blame lines without leaving the keyboard), and suddenly I’m 50% more productive. Then there’s 'telescope.nvim', which turns file navigation into a speedrun. Fuzzy finding files, grepping code, even browsing recent Git commits—it all feels instantaneous. I’ve also fallen hard for 'nvim-treesitter', which paints syntax highlighting with such granularity that even obscure languages look readable. Bonus points for 'vim-surround', a tiny plugin I use literally every hour to wrap/unwrap text in brackets, quotes, or HTML tags. It’s the kind of tool that feels frivolous until you try it, then wonder how you ever lived without it.

I can confidently say that 'vim-plug' is the easiest plugin manager to install. It's literally a single file you drop into your autoload directory, and boom, you're ready to go. The simplicity is beautiful—no external dependencies, no convoluted setup. Just copy-paste one line from their GitHub into your vimrc, and you can start adding plugins immediately. What I love about 'vim-plug' is how it handles updates and lazy loading effortlessly. Unlike some other managers that feel like over-engineered solutions, 'vim-plug' stays out of your way while providing all the features you'd want. The syntax for adding plugins is clean and intuitive, making it perfect for beginners who don’t want to wrestle with configuration files. Plus, it’s lightning-fast, which is a huge win when you’re managing dozens of plugins.

Totally doable — and honestly, if you care about startup speed and responsiveness, moving Lua into your editor config is one of the cleanest moves I’ve made. I switched much of my setup to a Lua-first workflow (using Neovim) and noticed two big wins: faster plugin startup because plugin managers written in Lua can lazy-load better, and less overhead in your config because Lua is just faster than complex Vimscript. If you’re asking about "m vim" specifically (like MacVim or an ordinary Vim build called mvim), it comes down to how that binary was compiled. Vim can support Lua or LuaJIT if it was built with +lua or +luajit; Neovim, on the other hand, has first-class Lua from 0.5 onward and feels designed around it. Practical tip: check vim --version for +lua or +luajit, or just try :lua print('hi') inside the editor. If you want the smoothest, fastest Lua experience, I recommend trying Neovim and using an init.lua plus a Lua plugin manager like packer.nvim or lazy.nvim. Also profile startup with --startuptime and trim autocommands — that’s where speed really shows. It made editing feel snappier for me, especially when juggling many plugins.

Oh wow, trimming 'mvim' startup is one of those tiny joys that makes the whole day smoother. I usually start by profiling so I know what's actually slow: run mvim --startuptime ~/vim-startup.log and open that log. It quickly shows which scripts or plugins dominate time. Once I know the culprits, I move heavy things into autoload or optional plugin folders so they only load when needed. Next, I use lazy-loading with a plugin manager like 'vim-plug' (Plug 'foo', { 'on': 'SomeCommand' } or 'for': ['python', 'javascript']). Put plugins you need immediately in 'start' and everything else in 'opt' or load by filetype. Also disable unnecessary providers (let g:loaded_python_provider = 0, let g:loaded_ruby_provider = 0) if you don't use them — that shave off seconds. Finally, keep UI tweaks minimal for GUI start: font fallback, complex statuslines and external helpers (like large LSPs) can wait until you open a project. After a few iterations of profile → defer → test, 'mvim' feels snappy and more pleasant to use.