VIM as a full-featured extensible IDE for any language - perl

Question

Hello I would like to master VIM as my primary IDE. I know there are many plugins etc. but I have one question: Is possible for VIM to understand the particular language (in case I wont plugin for my language) in which code is written? I mean some rules that I can define and then use e.g. for auto-completion, refactoring, folding etc. For example consider following two perl codes in which I want refactor variables. In first example there are variables with same names but one is scalar and another are array and hash, in second example same name of variable as was defined before was used in another scope (loop etc.). Thus refactoring using simple text matching is not elegant way I thing:
1st example:
my #same_name;
my $same_name; # How to refactor this variable without affecting all other variables?
my %same_name;
$same_name[0] = 5;
$same_name{"key"} = 5;
$same_name = 5;
2nd example:
my #array;
my $already_existing_variable; # How to refactor this variable
foreach my $already_existing_variable (#array){
print $already_existing_variable; # Without affecting this variable
}
print $already_existing_variable; # Variable that should be also refactorized
Or how can I achieve that when I type $arr {and hit TAB here} it will automatically extend to $array[ ? For this VIM must to know that when I prepend $ before variable which was declared with # I want to access array elements.
Another example would be: how to fold code using e.g. BEGIN and END keywords? Those was jut trivial examples but I think you get the point. I think it is similar task to write own compiler or something. Thank you.

Answer 1

I'm using vim with my perl scripts almost all days:
Rename variables
App::EditorTools gives you the function to rename variables like Padre.
install App::EditorTool $ cpanm App::EditorTools
install vim plugin $ editortools install-vim
move cursor on the variable name in vim.
type \pL
I'm not sure why it parses wrong scope in the 2nd example, but you can temporarily wrap the foreach brock with lambda and rename variables inside the code block first.
sub {
foreach my $already_existing_variable (#array){
print $already_existing_variable; # Without affecting this variable
}
}->();
Reformat script indent
Perl::Tidy has perltidy command line tool to format your script.
install Perl::Tidy $ cpanm Perl::Tidy
create ~/.perltidyrc according to your taste. like folowing:
-pbp
-pt=2
-sbt=2
-bt=2
-bbt=2
-ce
-nbbc
set equalprg to perltidy in your ~/.vimrc
au FileType perl setl ep=perltidy
type gg=G in your script.
Syntax Check
vim's built-in compiler plugin for perl does very well.
set :compilerto perl in your ~/.vimrc
au FileType perl :compiler perl
type :make in normal mode
type :copen to open up quickfix window
if you don't want warnings in your quickfix list, you can unset the flag for it.
let g:perl_compiler_force_warnings = 0
$PERL5LIB is also important while invoking :make, you can give specific directories in it.
let &l:path = './lib,./blib/lib,./blib/arch,' . &l:path
let $PERL5LIB = substitute(&l:path, ',', ':', 'g')
Completions
vim has nice completion tool out of the box. see :help comple-generic
type $ar in insert mode and press CTRL-N
You might be interested in ctags too.

Answer 2

I can already tell something is wrong when the first sentence is "Hello I would like to master VIM as my primary IDE."
Vim is not an IDE. Vim is a text editor. (You can use google to find out more)
If you feel that the features an IDE provides (refactoring, smarter auto-completion...) are more important than the features that vim provides (fast movement, never take your hands off the home row, programmable editor...) then you should use an IDE, or an IDE with a vim plugin. Usually, if you want to mix IDE features with vim features, you do it with a plugin to the IDE, not the other way around (there are some exceptions such as eclim).