Companion binary for `vim-so`
so is a companion binary to vim-so. It queries the Stack Overflow API, and makes
code snippets available to vim-so.
Download the newest release from Releases and manually install it on your
system PATH.
vim-so must query the Stack Overflow API for code snippets, yet vim
provides no native mechanism for making HTTP requests. This executable bridges
that gap.
This executable is approximately 6Mb in size. In order to support multiple
platforms (currently six in total), vim-so would need to contain a compiled
executable for each, and I do not wish to release a ~40Mb vim plugin.
I have had significant difficulty in the past maintaining Python software that
is distributed among a wide user-base. I’m sidestepping that problem by
distributing an executable.
Not in a convenient way. The executable only outputs JSON.
Initially, I intended for so to support that use-case. However, I backed away
from that goal upon realizing two things:
It is difficult to display a Stack Overflow thread on the command line with
a user-experience that is equivalent to the browser. The browser provides a
superior experience.
Signficantly: I’ve found that search engines do a better job of returning
relevant Stack Overflow threads than Stack Overflow’s own API. If the API
doesn’t return an adequate response, your preferred search engine will
likely do a better job.
With that being said, if you’re interested in doing this anyway, you may wish
to check out the how2 project.
I don’t think so. It’s imperfect, but seems to get the job done about 50% of
the time. And when it works, it feels a bit magical.
You shouldn’t waste your time asking Stack Overflow the same question more than
once. After you’ve gotten an answer from Stack Overflow - either via vim-so
or your web-browser - you should cache it locally using cheat and
vim-cheat.