I recently posted about using Lua to configure my neovim setup. This has been altogether a big improvement. One thing that is easier is having separate .lua configuration files for each file type that I work with in vim.

At first, this seemed useful for minor quality-of-life improvements, like setting differing default tabs for Python and JavaScript files. This would mean cleaner code with less fiddling; so that was a win.

But then it became clearer that there were more powerful possibilities. I found a Reddit post[1] about Lua configuration for markdown files that would let me use neovim more like a word processor when working with .md files. So my markdown.lua file now looks like this:

vim.opt.wrap = true -- Wrap text
vim.opt.breakindent = true -- Match indent on line break
vim.opt.linebreak = true -- Line break on whole words

-- disable GitHub copilot
vim.cmd(':Copilot disable')


And now I have a minimal word processor where I can use vim commands! I am very happy about this. The last pleasing bit about this is that I can turn off GitHub Copilot. My paranoid side worries that what I write in Microsoft365 of Google Docs will just go to train LLMs, which is not what I want. I am more confident that neovim is not going to do this.

[1] I would link to this here, but I can’t find it again :/

I’ve liked the idea of the Lua programming language since reading about it in Coding Places: Software Practice in a South American City. After reading that book, I put some effort into learning a bit of Lua syntax, but never really followed up beyond that. It seemed potentially useful but I didn’t really have the use case to pursue it much further.

Elsewhere, I’ve also posted about my enthusiasm for vim and neovim. One of the big advantages of switching from vim to neovim is that you can write your configuration files in Lua. Indeed, I’ve noticed an increasing portion the online conversation about neovim configuration has moved to Lua, and away from its predecessor, vimscript.

Anyhow, my old, vimscript-based config was not that complicated, clocking in at 30 lines. I figured that an afternoon comfortably ensconced on a west-facing deck would be enough time to make the migration from vimscript to Lua, so today I tackled the problem. It was a good exercise: the revised Lua version is more concise than its predecessor, at 18 lines. It also resolved a few (admittedly very minor) problems I was having with the vimscript version. But it’s also much more readable than vimscript, and I’m hoping that it will be easier to work with in the future.