vim-table-mode VS nushell

While not built around CSV, two terminal spreadsheet tools I have successfully used in the past are sc-im and the (neo)vim plugin vim-table-mode:

https://github.com/andmarti1424/sc-im/

https://github.com/dhruvasagar/vim-table-mode

Back then I stopped using sc-im because it could not import/export XLSX, if I remember correctly. Apparently it can today!

vim-table-mode always felt a little fragile and I don't want to be bound to vim anymore. That said, it still feels like a small miracle to me to have functional spreadsheet formulas inside markdown documents – calculation and typesetting all in one place.

Use the grid_table extension of markdown, which many renderer such as pandoc support. You can also use Vim Table Mode in conjunction. I regularly use it to keep my tables human readable.

vin table mode. Creating tables in markdown file.

This plugin works pretty well too: https://github.com/dhruvasagar/vim-table-mode

I use vim-table-mode, very good plugin.

On its own it does very little -- not much else besides making the links work. I use the author's wiki-ft.vim alongside vim-table-mode to accomplish more or less what Vimwiki used to. Wiki.vim is far more supportive of other filetype plugins than vimwiki is.

I do this in markdown with vim-table-mode.

"basic visual settings set number set linebreak "text type settings set encoding=utf-8 "Remapping keys inoremap jk nnoremap j gj nnoremap k gk "to quickly open NERDTree filebrowser. nnoremap :NERDTree "to open files with external programs from paths written in vim. nnoremap gF :!xdg-open "to make Y behave similar to D and C nnoremap Y y$ "to make a new line after the word without entering insert mode nnoremap e a "insert a new line without entering insert mode nnoremap o ok nnoremap O Oj "search settings set hlsearch set incsearch "clipboard settings set clipboard=unnamedplus "for use of Vim plug plugin manager. call plug#begin() " To change the surroundings a text. Plug 'https://github.com/tpope/vim-surround' " A Vim Plugin for Lively Previewing LaTeX PDF Output " Use this command to start the previewer :LLPStartPreview Plug 'xuhdev/vim-latex-live-preview', { 'for': 'tex' } Plug 'https://github.com/vimwiki/vimwiki' "It is a file browser and does basic file ops. Plug 'preservim/nerdtree' "It highlights most movement commands like w,j,f,t,/ etc.Triggered by "leader twice plus the movement key. Plug 'https://github.com/easymotion/vim-easymotion.git' "enables completion with tab instead of control p. Plug 'https://github.com/ervandew/supertab' "To edit csv files in vim and display them nicely. Plug 'chrisbra/csv.vim' "To make org mode like tables in vim with spreadsheet capabilities. Plug 'https://github.com/dhruvasagar/vim-table-mode' "To use org mode of emacs in vim, but tables not supported and not maintained. Plug 'jceb/vim-orgmode' "It opens a calendar in vim which is read only, like in emacs. Plug 'https://github.com/mattn/calendar-vim' call plug#end() "settings required by plugins. "to use markdown in vimwiki instead of learning vimwiki syntax let g:vimwiki_list = [{'path': '~/vimwiki/', \ 'syntax': 'markdown', 'ext': '.md'}] "to make markdown compatible tables in vim-table-mode plugin. let g:table_mode_corner='|' "Self defined commands which can be executed on vim command line.(must start "with caps) "This is shortcut for quickly sourcing vimrc. command Src source ~/.vimrc "shortcut to delete entire file. command Dal norm ggdG "shortcut to copy entire file. command Yal norm ggyG command Erc vsplit ~/.vimrc "to make presentations with pandoc using source markdown and then opening the pdf through external viewer. command Mkppt :!pandoc % -t beamer -o output.pdf ; xdg-open output.pdf "changing the default leader key which is "\" let mapleader = "\" "auto commands to do stuff based on certain events "This inserts # when leader + c key is pressed in a python file. autocmd filetype python nnoremap c I# autocmd filetype python nnoremap C ^x "saving macros or registers. "macro for anki cloze deletion let @b="f:a{{c1::jkA}}jkj0"

These are just three small examples of what this shell written in Rust allows. The features are many and many more, but I'll leave it up to you to discover and enjoy them; I'm currently playing around with it and it's giving me a lot of satisfaction and immediacy, now it has a fixed place among the tools I use when working! The project is Open Source, so if you want to contribute, I invite you, as always, to do so, I leave you the link to the repo here!

Any thoughts on fish as compared to nushell [0]? It's similar to PowerShell in its philosophy and is also written in Rust.

[0] https://github.com/nushell/nushell

> In PowerShell, structured output is the default and it seems to work very well.

PowerShell goes a step beyond JSON, by supporting actual mutable objects. So instead of just passing through structured data, you effectively pass around opaque objects that allow you to go back to earlier pipeline stages, and invoke methods, if I understand correctly: https://learn.microsoft.com/en-us/powershell/module/microsof....

I'm rather fond of wrappers like jc and libxo, and experimental shells like https://www.nushell.sh/. These still focus on passing data, not objects with executable methods. On some level, I find this comfortable: Structured data still feels pretty Unix-like, if that makes sense? If I want actual objects, then it's probably time to fire up Python or Ruby.

Knowing when to switch from a shell script to a full-fledged programming language is important, even if your shell is basically awesome and has good programming features.

Maybe if the "popular" shells, but http://www.nushell.sh/ is looking better and better

Yeah agreed, especially now that PowerShell is available cross-platform.

Nushell[1] also seems like a promising alternative, but I haven’t had a chance to play with it yet.

[1]: https://www.nushell.sh/

I also discovered an existing discussion[1] related to this topic which includes a link[2] to a "helper to call nushell nuon/json/yaml commands from bash/fish/zsh" and a comment[3] that the current nushell dev focus is "on getting the experience inside nushell right and [we] probably won't be able to dedicate design time to get the interface of native Nu commands with an outside POSIX shell right and stable.".

[0] https://gitlab.com/RancidBacon/notes_public/-/blob/main/note...

[1] "Expose some commands to external world #6554": https://github.com/nushell/nushell/issues/6554

[2] https://github.com/cruel-intentions/devshell-files/blob/mast...

[3] https://github.com/nushell/nushell/issues/6554#issuecomment-...

I appreciate what projects like Nushell and Murex are trying to address, but having a saner scripting language and passing structured data in pipelines is not worth the drawbacks for me.

For one, Bash scripting is not so bad if you set some sane defaults and use ShellCheck. Sure, it has its quirks, but all languages do. Even so, the same golden rule applies: use a "real" programming language if your problem exceeds a certain level of complexity. This is relative and will depend on your discomfort threshold, but using the right tool for the job is always a good practice. No matter how good the shell language is, I would hesitate to write and maintain a complex project in it.

And for general QoL improvements with interactive use, Zsh is a fine shell, while still being POSIX compatible.

[1]: https://github.com/nushell/nushell/blob/main/crates/nu-comma...

[2]: https://github.com/nushell/nushell/issues/5027

[3]: https://github.com/nushell/nushell/issues/9310

I found nushell (https://www.nushell.sh) to be an impressive replacement "bash" for Windows

In terms of philosophy, think "Powershell but actually intuitive" : Every data is structured but command names are what you expect them to be. I usually don't even need to look at the documentation.

I liked it so much that I also replaced my shell on Linux with it, so I have the same terminal experience across all OSes