chapters/56.markdown @ efff67c5b753

What Now?
=========

If you've read up to this point and completed all the examples and exercises
you now have a pretty solid grasp of the basics of Vimscript.  Don't worry
though, there's still *plenty* left to learn!

Here are a few ideas of topics to look into if you're hungry for more.

Color Schemes
-------------

In this book we added syntax highlighting for Potion files.  The other side of
the coin is the creation of custom color schemes that define what color to
display each syntax element.

Color schemes in Vim are fairly straightforward, if a bit repetitive, to make.
Read `:help highlight` to learn the basics.  You may want to take a look at some
of the built-in color schemes to see how they structure their files.

If you're up for a challenge, take a look at the source of my own [Bad Wolf][]
color scheme to see how I've used Vimscript to make the definition and
maintenance much easier for myself.  Pay attention to the "palette" dictionary
and the `HL` function that dynamically builds the `highlight` commands.

[Bad Wolf]: https://github.com/sjl/badwolf/blob/master/colors/badwolf.vim

The Command Command
-------------------

Many plugins allow the user to interact with them through key mappings and
function calls, but some prefer to create Ex commands instead.  For example, the
[Fugitive][] plugin creates commands like `:Gbrowse` and `:Gdiff` and leaves it up
to the user to decide how to call them.

Commands like this are created with the `:command` command.  Read `:help
user-commands` to learn how to make your own.  You should know enough Vimscript
by now that reading Vim's documentation is sufficient for learning about new
commands.

[Fugitive]: https://github.com/tpope/vim-fugitive

runtimepath
-----------

In this book I've kind of glossed over how Vim decides which files to load by
saying "just use Pathogen".  Now that you know a decent amount of Vimscript you
can read `:help runtimepath` and check out [Pathogen's source
code][pathogen-src] to find out what's *really* happening under the hood.

[pathogen-src]: https://github.com/tpope/vim-pathogen/blob/master/autoload/pathogen.vim

Omnicomplete
------------

Vim offers a number of different ways to complete text (read `:help
ins-completion` for an overview).  Most are fairly simple, but the most powerful
of them is "omnicomplete" which lets you call a custom Vimscript function to
determine completions in just about any way you could possibly think of.

When you're ready to dive into the rabbit hole of omnicompletion you can start
with `:help omnifunc` and `:help coml-omni` and follow the trail from there.

Compiler Support
----------------

In our Potion plugin we created some mappings to compile and run our Potion
files.  Vim offers much deeper support for interacting with compilers, including
parsing compile errors and providing a nice list that lets you jump to the line
of each error.

If you're interested in this you can dive in by reading through `:help
quickfix.txt` in its entirety.  However, I will warn you now that `errorformat`
is *not* for the faint of heart.

Other Languages
---------------

This book has focused on Vimscript, but Vim also offers interfaces in several
other languages, like Python, Ruby, and Lua.  This means you can script Vim in
a different language if you don't like Vimscript.

It's still good to know Vimscript for editing your `~/.vimrc`, and for
understanding the API Vim presents in each language.  But using an alternate
language can be a great way to escape from the cruftiness of Vimscript,
especially for large plugins.

If you want to learn more about scripting Vim in a particular language, check
out the help documents for it:

* `:help Python`
* `:help Ruby`
* `:help Lua`
* `:help perl-using`
* `:help MzScheme`

Vim's Documentation
-------------------

As a final parting note, here's a list of Vim help topics that are especially
useful, informative, interesting, or just plain fun (in no particular order):

* `:help various-motions`
* `:help sign-support`
* `:help virtualedit`
* `:help map-alt-keys`
* `:help error-messages`
* `:help development`
* `:help tips`
* `:help 24.8`
* `:help 24.9`
* `:help usr_12.txt`
* `:help usr_26.txt`
* `:help usr_32.txt`
* `:help usr_42.txt`

Exercises
---------

Go write a Vim plugin for something you've always wanted and share it with the
world!