golf VS nvim-config

I'd probably use Helix if it had 1:1 Kakoune keybindings. Or even Vim bindings.

Vim bindings are not the most consistent, but they are ubiquitous. Every program that offers Vim mode has very similar keymap. If modal text editor deviates from them, it better be for good reason.

Kakoune bindings are very different from Vim, but they are provably and objectively [1] better, so that's fine. They are also more consistent and there is a clear idea behind the whole design. It's written down in documentation. You might prefer Vim or Emacs, but at least you can see that changes from well known Vim scheme are not made at whim.

Helix keymap feels like it was improvised without any thought behind it. „Let's take Kakoune binds and add back visual mode cuz I feel like it.” Currently, they are designed by committee in this GitHub issue[2]. I don't see any design notes and explanations why should I spend time learning Helix keymap.

[1]: https://github.com/mawww/golf

People claim that their new(er) modal text editor is better/faster/requires fewer keystrokes than vi/vim/neovim, but I have yet to see some clear, objective, concrete data to back these claims up (like a benchmark of the editors for the same tasks). Is there anything of this sort? I know there's this, but it's only about kakoune/vim and it seems a little biased.

Judging by https://github.com/mawww/golf kakoune is capable of completing the majority of the same editing tasks as vim in a very similar amount of keystrokes. The main advantage of multiple selections is that you can see which text you will operate on ahead of time, rather than having to first select which operation you want (delete/yank/change/etc) and then which text it will affect. I think pointing out that vim's selections aren't as capable as kakoune's is a fair response, and saying that you can accomplish similar things without selections is a bit of a deflection.

I've used all except Kakoune. For me, Neovim is the one that stuck. Helix is cool, but having no plugins is a deal breaker (for now!) The onboarding experience is much nicer for sure, and Helix's LSP is way easier to set up than Neovim's.

That being said, Neovim, once you get it set up, is great. The biggest hurdle for me was the config, but if you just start from scratch and make a light config (mines about 200-300 lines, with LSP, hints, etc) you can get through it. And you never have to touch it again, since most likely you configured it in a way you like. Well unless you wanna add the occasional plugin. There are also distros of Neovim that contain a fully baked IDE-lite experience, but honestly those have extremely complicated config, and often IME don't feel nice and light.

It's definitely not for everyone. There is that time investment to get started, but it's definitely been worth it for me.

My config: https://github.com/wrapperup/nvim-config