On 05/04/09 04:33, George V. Reilly wrote:
>
> On Sat, Apr 4, 2009 at 5:31 PM, Tony Mechelynck
> <antoine.mechely...@gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> If some version of Vim 3 already had the function (i.e. it was already
>> there as other than a "new feature" in Vim 4.0.000), then I suppose you
>> can say by now that it's been there "forever", and the only case when
>> you might still be unable to use it is if you use a non-feature-complete
>> Vim lacking some optional feature which includes that function. Of
>> course, -eval versions include no functions at all.
>
> VimL scripting was introduced in Vim 5.0, eleven years ago, according
> to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vim_(text_editor)#History. Personally,
> I wouldn't expend more than a few minutes ensuring compatibility with
> Vim 6.0 (2001), especially if you need dictionaries and other 7.0
> features.
Didn't legacy Vi have exrc files? And how were they written if it wasn't
in what could be recognizably seen as what evolved to become vimscript?
>
> I think it's a mistake to continue supporting users who run really old
> versions of Vim or really old operating systems. Their numbers are
> dwindling and supporting them has real costs in terms of testing and
> code complexity. Look at the horrendous amounts of conditional code in
> the C source. If they don't want to upgrade (or can't), they'll have
> to accept limitations. They certainly have to from other programs.
Yeah, I rather think so too, but maybe with a different emphasis. I
think in terms of my present Vim 7.2 "with the latest patches", but I
write my vimrc etc. with appropriate "if has(...)" and "if exists(...)"
so they'll work on most Vim versions with as few errors as I can manage
(as they say, "be liberal in what you accept, conservative in what you
emit"). My whole vimrc includes if statements practically everywhere
(even ":if 1" in places) to avoid errors with the tiny minimum-features
version which I compile as a sanity check besides my day-to-day
workhorse Huge-with-GUI (whose binary is more than six times larger
after stripping).
When someone complains of a problem and mentions some "obsolete" Vim
version, I give as good an answer as I can think of, but I never fail to
mention the current version and patchlevel, with a sentence along the
lines of "I recommend that you upgrade: it will not necessarily cure
this problem, but it may cure other problems that you are or aren't
aware of".
Best regards,
Tony.
--
ARTHUR: Now stand aside worthy adversary.
BLACK KNIGHT: (Glancing at his shoulder) 'Tis but a scratch.
ARTHUR: A scratch? Your arm's off.
"Monty Python and the Holy Grail" PYTHON (MONTY)
PICTURES LTD
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