README.norg

* Welcome to my nvim config!

  - Plugin manager: Lazy
  -- Plugin spec: `./lua/plugin_spec.lua`
  -- Modular plugin configuration: `./lua/plugins/*.lua`
  - LSP & Completion
  -- `lsp-config`, `lspkind`, `lsp_signature`
  -- `nvim-cmp`
  -- Treesitter: context + textobjects
  - Status line: NONE
  -- Ruler area when there's only one window
  -- Together with incline.nvim when there are splits
  - Theme: Tundra
  - File explorer: NvimTree

** Files

   - `init.lua`: Entry point, sets some primitive settings and calls modular
     configuration in `./lua/`
   - `./lua`
   -- general: Your usual vimrc content (`set blah`)
   -- mappings: Keymaps that unrelated to plugins
   -- autocmds: Also unrelated to plugins
   -- loadlazy: Bootstrap and set up Lazy.nvim (Lazy)
   -- plugin_spec: List of plugins used by Lazy
   -- `./lua/plugins`- Some plugins that require slightly more configuration
      than a ~5 liner `.setup()` call.

** A note regarding Emacs

   Let's talk about neovim as an emacs user.

*** The good

    I miss Vertico and Consult from emacs!

    Telescope.nvim is far from a consult-equivalent for the time being.

    Neogit, however, is good enough a replacement for magit for my needs.

    Neorg is not as mature as Org-mode, but I like the ideas there and is
    currently enough for my needs.

    SVG-based icons and SVG latex previews are both wonderful things that just
    cannot be replicated in neovim as a terminal program. It feels rather bloat
    to have to install the entire symbol set as Nerd Fonts and having to
    configure your terminal correctly so they can be displayed. SVG icons, on
    the other hand, offer much more flexibility and predictability.

    I also miss Emacs's calc.

*** The not so good

    As someone who prefers C-like syntax over the Lisp/Scheme-family's, lua is
    a breeze to write and configure. Lazy.nvim and neovim-lua plugins are
    easier and more predictable to configure than emacs use-package, for me.

    With people's mixed feeling on Custom.el and the ins and outs of face
    attributes, it's much easier to work with Vim/Neovim's `highlight` command
    instead. However one could argue that this may in part be due to emacs being
    a GUI program, hence more complex to configure the UI side of things.

    Vim/Neovim buffers are easier to work with.

    Terminal emulation in Neovim just, well, works. In emacs we have various
    different options each with their advantages and disadvantages, then
    there's eshell, which IMO is pretty cool but I'm still failing to have
    eshell work with EAT as of writing. Is this also due to Emacs being GUI and
    Vim/Neovim being TUI?

**** Emacs for everything?

     I'm personally more used to the workflow where one operates primarily on
     the command line, and when file editing is needed, launch an editor, then
     close it when editing is complete.

     I see how the possibily of being able to replace many of our common apps
     with emacs could be attractive, however I didn't really see any immediate
     benefits of using emacs-equivelents over more "mainstream" apps that "just
     do their thing", other than being available on emacs. In other words, IRC
     on erc, emails on mu4e, gemini/gopher on elpher don't really have much of a
     problem in terms of usability, but they aren't as good as say weechat,
     aerc, lagrange respectively since they require extra configuration to work
     properly and I don't really see a need to have the ability to check my
     mails along side a coding buffer.

     Maybe I'll understand the benefits or have the needs someday, but for now
     they are extra cherries on top and not must-haves.


** Philosophy / Choices / UI

   Anyway, let's get back to discussing neovim.

   neovim version: 0.9

   - UI
   -- No fancy UI like message popups. What are we in? GUI?
   -- Area of main source (code) should be as tall as possible on a laptop,
      this means sparingly little tabline/winbar or high cmdheight.
   -- Completion is turned off by default. This allows distraction free
      typing. The menu can be triggered with TAB. Unfortunately, nvim-cmp does
      not yet support ghost text + manual completion, unlike my emacs config
      (with corfu-candidate-overlay).

   - Icons
   -- Icons make things concise, but they shouldn't be overused!
   -- Strive for a balance between conciseness and compatibility

   - Colors
   -- No fancy colors nor eye candy, only colors for semantics (see
      `lua/plugins/tundra.lua`)
   -- Not too many variations of colors, we can use different shades instead.
   -- Enough contrast where applicable to discern UI elements

   - Plugins
   -- Preferably plugins with enough customizability but without feature-creep

** Meta todo

   - Emacs
   -- ( ) Talk about lazy.nvim/packer vs elpaca/straight + use-package

** Neovim todo

   - 'Statusline' set up
   -- ( ) Add diagnostics to incline and ruler
   -- ( ) Find a way to make ruler behave properly
   -- ( ) Look into nougat