The announcement of Lilly, a pre-alpha VIM-like terminal editor, has reignited conversations about the V programming language ecosystem. While the editor itself aims to provide a streamlined alternative to Vim and Neovim without relying on complex plugin management, much of the community discussion has centered on the underlying V language used to build the project.
V Language: From Controversial Past to Current Development
V programming language has had a complex journey in the developer community. Early promises and ambitious claims led to skepticism, with many developers labeling it vaporware due to perceived gaps between what was promised and what was delivered. The language's creator initially projected a V 1.0 release in 2020, a timeline that has since passed. However, current development shows active progress with regular commits and growing contributor involvement.
I've been finding it perfectly suitable for this and other projects. Have you updated your point of view after recently attempting to write and profile a non trivial program?
The project maintainer of Lilly defends V's current capabilities, noting that they've found it perfectly suitable for developing the editor. They describe the V language team as the most professional language team I've ever interacted with, highlighting responsive bug fixes and support. This represents a contrast to some historical perceptions of the language and its development approach.
Technical Merits and Community Perception
Community comments reveal a divide in perception. Some users appreciate V's design goals, with one commenter describing it as the language I wish Go was. Others remain skeptical based on past experiences, citing documentation issues and implementation challenges. The discussion demonstrates how programming language adoption depends not only on technical capabilities but also on community trust and project management.
Lilly itself appears to be making steady progress as a VIM-like editor. Its creator positions it as an alternative that provides essential features without requiring users to navigate complex plugin ecosystems. The editor boasts zero memory leaks according to testing and includes features like gap buffer implementation, horizontal scrolling, splits, and workspace-wide search capabilities.
Lilly Editor Features (Pre-Alpha)
- Gap buffer text storage
- Visual mode (limited)
- Horizontal scrolling
- Split views (horizontal + vertical)
- Go to definition functionality
- Buffer management
- Search/Find files capability
- Workspace-wide search (using ripgrep)
- Zero memory leaks reported in testing
V Language Discussion Points
- Originally promised V 1.0 release in 2020
- Active development with regular commits
- Criticized historically for overpromising features
- Defended by some developers as practically useful
- Compared to alternatives like Go, Zig, Odin, and Nim
Alternative Editor Landscape
The discussion around Lilly also highlights the broader landscape of terminal-based text editors. References to other projects like Micro, Flow Control, and the ongoing dominance of Neovim demonstrate the vibrant ecosystem of text editing tools. Each offers different approaches to similar problems, with varying levels of complexity and learning curves.
For developers interested in terminal-based editing, the conversation around Lilly provides a window into both the current state of V language development and the continuing evolution of text editing tools. Whether Lilly will gain significant adoption remains to be seen, but its development represents an interesting case study in both language choice for projects and the ongoing refinement of developer tools.
Reference: lilly