2 Vim + TopCoder = VimCoder
3 =========================
5 ![VimCoder Logo](http://chazmcgarvey.github.com/vimcoder/img/vimcoder.png)
7 This plug-in makes it easy to use [Vim](http://www.vim.org/) as your
8 text editor in the [TopCoder Competition Arena](http://topcoder.com/tc).
9 It aims to be minimal in comparison to other editors such as
10 [KawigiEdit](http://topcoder.yajags.com/) or
11 [CodeProcessor](http://www.topcoder.com/tc?module=Static&d1=applet&d2=plugins)
12 plug-in chains while also providing enough functionality to also be useful.
17 * Works on any platform that the TopCoder Arena applet itself supports.
18 * Works with any language supported by TopCoder.
19 * Keeps track of your code files locally so you always have a copy.
20 * Downloads and stores a copy of the problem statement with your code for
22 * Has support for simple templates (default templates provided only for C++
24 * Test-case "drivers" can be generated locally with the example test-case data
30 This software is licensed according to the terms and conditions of the
31 [BSD 2-Clause License](http://www.opensource.org/licenses/bsd-license.php).
32 Please see the COPYING file for more information.
33 This project is neither supported nor endorsed by TopCoder, Inc.
38 The latest VimCoder jar file can be downloaded from the
39 [vim.org script page](http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=3321).
44 Unfortunately, installation is a bit cumbersome, but it is what it is:
46 1. Download the latest version of the VimCoder jar file.
47 2. Run the TopCoder Arena applet and log in.
48 3. Click the "Options" menu and select "Editor" to show the editor
50 4. Click the "Add" button to bring up a new window.
51 5. For "Name," type "Vim" or whatever you want to represent this plug-in.
52 6. For "EntryPoint," type "com.dogcows.VimCoder" without the quotes.
53 7. For "ClassPath," click on "Browse" and locate the VimCoder jar file. The
54 third field should now have the path to the jar file.
55 8. Click "OK" to close the window with the three fields.
58 You should now be able select "Vim" (or whatever you entered the first
59 field) as your editor from the pull-down list on any problem statement
65 Depending on your preference or system attributes, you may want or need to
66 first configure the plug-in so that it will work how you want it to. You can
67 bring up the plug-in preferences window by following these steps:
69 1. Run the TopCoder Arena applet and log in.
70 2. Click the "Options" menu and select "Editor."
71 3. In the new window, make sure the entry for VimCoder is selected from the
72 list, and click the "Configure" button.
74 ![VimCoder Preferences](http://chazmcgarvey.github.com/vimcoder/img/prefs.png)
76 ##### Storage Directory
78 VimCoder saves the problem files and the code you're working on in
79 a particular directory you can set. By default, this directory is `.vimcoder`
80 in your home directory. This is an "invisible" directory on most systems.
81 Within this storage directory are several sub-directories, one for each
82 problem you open. Each sub-directory is named after the problem identifier
83 and contains your source code and other files related to the problem.
85 If you want to change the storage directory, click the "Browse" button in the
86 VimCoder preferences window and navigate to the directory you would like to
87 use. If you have already saved some problems to the previous storage
88 directory, you may also want to actually move the directory to the new
89 location so that VimCoder can find the work you've already done.
93 By default, VimCoder tries to invoke Vim using the `gvim` command (or
94 `C:\WINDOWS\gvim.bat` on Windows). This will typically work just fine unless
95 you don't have gvim in your PATH (or your installation of Vim on Windows
96 didn't include the wrappers for the command line). If you get errors about
97 the vim process not being able to run and no Vim session comes up when you use
98 the VimCoder plug-in, you need to either make sure the Vim command exists in
99 your PATH, or else change the Vim command in the VimCoder preferences window
102 You may use an absolute path to your vim executable, such as
103 `/usr/local/bin/gvim` or `C:\Program Files\Vim\vim73\gvim.exe`
104 or wherever your actual Vim executable is. You may also invoke vim through
105 some other command (e.g. `xterm -e vim`).
107 The xterm example demonstrates using Vim without the GUI, running in
108 a terminal emulator. You can enter any elaborate command you want as long Vim
109 ultimately gets executed with the arguments that will be appended to the
110 command when it is invoked. After changing this value and saving your
111 preferences, the command you enter will be used the next time you open
117 To use VimCoder once it is installed and configured, go to a room in the
118 TopCoder Arena applet and open one of the problems. If you have set VimCoder
119 as your default editor, you will see the usual problem statement window come
120 up as well as a Vim editor window. Otherwise, you can change the editor from
121 the problem statement window, and the Vim editor window will come up. You
122 will see that the area usually devoted to editor will be used for log
123 messages; you will do your actual coding in the Vim window that comes up.
125 Just enter your code into the Vim window and use the regular TopCoder Arena
126 applet buttons to compile, test, and submit your code.
128 **Pro Tip:** If you accidentally close your Vim session, you can get it back
129 by switching to a different editor and then switching back to VimCoder.
130 Alternatively, the session will also reappear if you switch languages.
132 Storage Directory Structure
133 ---------------------------
135 Knowing about the files created by VimCoder is useful if you ever need to do
136 anything advanced with VimCoder.
138 When you open a problem, VimCoder will check to see if you have already opened
139 that problem by looking for the problem and solution files. If these files
140 are found, it will load your previous work. Otherwise, it will fill out the
141 templates based on the problem class name, parameter types, and so on, and
142 will create several files in a sub-directory of the main storage directory:
144 ##### `$CLASSNAME$`.`$LANGUAGE$`
146 This is the file where you write your solution code. If the class name for
147 the problem was BinaryCode and your language was Java, the name of this file
148 would be `BinaryCode.java`. When you open a problem, Vim will load this file
149 into a new buffer so that you can start coding. If there is a template for
150 the language you're using, that template will be used to fill in this file to
151 give you a reasonable place to start. When you save your code to TopCoder or
152 compile remotely, this is also the file that will be read to provide the code
157 This file contains the example test cases that are associated with the
158 problem. The format is pretty simple. For each test case, there is one line
159 for the expected return value followed by each of the method parameters, each
160 on its own line. This file is typically read by the driver program (more on
161 this later) in order to run the test cases against your code. While you are
162 coding a solution, you may also want to add additional test cases to make sure
163 your code is doing what you think it is and to make sure your code doesn't
164 mess up on edge cases for which an example test case was not provided.
168 This file contains the problem statement which is what you see in the top half
169 of the problem window. You can load this in a browser to read the particulars
170 of the problem when you aren't running the TopCoder Arena applet. You
171 typically shouldn't edit this file.
175 If there exists a Makefile template for the selected language, it will also be
176 filled out and saved in the problem directory. The purpose of the Makefile is
177 to compile your code locally. You can execute targets in the Makefile using
178 Vim's `:make` command. You also shouldn't need to edit this file directly.
179 Exactly what happens when you use the `:make` command depends on the Makefile
182 If you are using the default Makefile template for C++, typing ":make" without
183 any arguments will compile your code. Typing ":make run" will run all of the
184 test cases against your code. Typing ":make test" will also run the test
185 cases against your code, except it will abort at the first failed test.
187 A Makefile template is not yet provided for any other language, but you can
188 write one yourself if you are so inclined. Read on to learn how templates
191 **Important:** Make sure you understand the difference between compiling
192 locally and compiling remotely (on the TopCoder servers). If you use the
193 Makefile to compile your solution (and maybe run the tests), you are not
194 interacting with the TopCoder servers at all. When you compile *remotely*,
195 you are sending a snapshot of your current solution to the servers for
196 processing. The distinction becomes important when it comes time for you to
197 submit your solution. When you push the "Submit" button, you are submitting
198 the **last version that was uploaded to the TopCoder servers** (by compiling
199 remotely), and that may be different from what is currently in your Vim
200 buffer, even if your Vim buffer was saved to disk. Therefore, it is very
201 important that you get into the habit of always pushing the "Compile" button
202 right before you submit your code. This point can't be overemphasized.
204 ##### driver.`$LANGUAGE$`
206 If there exists a driver template for the selected language, it will also be
207 filled out and saved in the problem directory. If the language was currently
208 set to C++, the driver code would be in the driver.cc file. You normally
209 don't have to do anything with this file. It just provides supporting code
210 for running the test cases against your code.
212 The driver should output TAP (Test Anything Protocol) so that tests can be run
213 in a test harness such as [prove](http://search.cpan.org/perldoc?prove). The
214 default Makefile template has a `prove` target (type ":make prove") that can
215 run the tests in a test harness; the test harness is `prove` unless otherwise
216 configured. TAP output is also very human-readable all by itself, so having
217 a test harness isn't really required.
219 A default driver template is currently only provided for the C++ language.
220 You could write your own template if you wanted to.
224 Sometimes the TopCoder Arena applet will pass back what source code it has
225 saved. This will be saved in a file named after the class, without any file
226 extension. You can open this file if you need to access this code for any
227 reason (say, you messed up some code and need to revert back to the last time
228 you saved from the TopCoder Arena applet).
233 VimCoder comes with default templates for C++ and Java, but you can create
234 your own customized templates for any language supported by TopCoder. To use
235 your own template, you need to add a file to the storage directory with a file
236 name depending on the language. The file name should start with the name of
237 the language and end with "Template" with no other file extension. For
238 example, if you wanted to create a C# template and your storage directory was
239 `/home/foo/.topcoder`, you would need to create the file
240 `/home/foo/.topcoder/C#Template`.
242 A template is like a regular source code file with special keywords that will
243 be replaced as the template is "filled out" whenever you open a new problem.
244 Keywords are surrounded by two dollar signs so they're not confused with other
245 parts of the source code. The template expansion process is rather
246 simplistic, so if you can't get the right format for the terms you need, you
247 might have to change the plug-in source code to get the effect you're trying
248 to achieve. Here are the possible keywords and replacement terms:
252 This keyword is replaced by the name of the class you must use in your
253 solution to the problem.
257 This keyword is replaced by the name of the public method your class needs to
262 This keyword is replaced by the type of the return variable of your public
265 ##### `$METHODPARAMS$`
267 This keyword is replaced by a comma-separated list of method parameter types
272 Other keywords are also available, but the rest are intended to be used in
273 driver or Makefile templates. You can also create these templates by adding
274 specially-named files to the storage directory. Driver templates are named
275 starting with the name of the language and ending with "Driver" with no other
276 file extension. Similarly, Makefile templates are named starting with the
277 name of the language and ending with "Makefile" with no other file extension.
279 Drivers provide additional code to implement running the test cases.
280 Currently, a default driver template is only provided for C++. Makefiles
281 should have the commands needed to compile the solution source code and/or
282 make a driver program that will perform the tests. Since there is only
283 a driver template for C++, there is similarly only a default Makefile template
284 provided for C++. If you want automatic building and testing for one of the
285 other languages, you will need to create a driver and Makefile template for
286 that language. Here are more keywords that may be useful for these types of
289 ##### `$METHODPARAMDECLARES$`
291 This keyword is replaced by C-style declarations of the method parameters. In
292 other words, each parameter is declared with its type on its own line
293 terminated by a semicolon.
295 ##### `$METHODPARAMNAMES$`
297 This keyword is replaced by a comma-separated list of only the method
300 ##### `$METHODPARAMSTREAMOUT$`
302 This keyword is replaced by a list of the method parameter names separated by
303 the C++ output stream operator (<<). The C++ driver template uses this to
304 display the input values of the test case data.
306 ##### `$METHODPARAMSTREAMIN$`
308 This keyword is replaced by a list of the method parameter names separated by
309 the C++ input stream operator (>>). The C++ driver template uses this to read
310 in the test case data from testcases.txt.
314 To give you an idea of how this all fits together, here is an example template
318 import static java.lang.Math.*;
319 import static java.math.BigInteger.*;
320 import static java.util.Arrays.*;
321 import static java.util.Collections.*;
325 public class $CLASSNAME$ {
326 public $RETURNTYPE$ $METHODNAME$($METHODPARAMS$) {
331 Something like this should be saved in a filed named `JavaTemplate` in your
332 VimCoder storage directory.
337 ##### Vim Client/Server
339 VimCoder requires Vim's client/server feature in order to work. If the log is
340 showing errors with the invocation of Vim or if it's just not working and has
341 other strange symptoms, make sure your version of Vim supports the
342 client/server feature. If you are unsure, use Vim's `:version` command and
343 look for "+clientserver" in the output. If you see "-clientserver" instead,
344 then you'll need to get yourself another version of Vim.
346 I think this feature was introduced in Vim 6.x, but I haven't done any testing
347 with any versions of Vim less than 7.2. If you're still on 6.x, you should
348 really upgrade anyway.
350 ##### Vim Settings Not Applied
352 The problem is that sometimes your settings (in your vimrc file) are not being
353 applied as you would expect. This may be because you are using `setlocal` in
354 your vimrc file rather than `set`. The `setlocal` command applies settings
355 only to the current buffer or window (see `:help setlocal` for more
356 information), but VimCoder works by first launching Vim and then loading
359 The solution is to consider whether or not such settings should actually be
360 global; if they should be global, change `setlocal` to `set` in your vimrc
361 file. Alternatively, if you want certain settings to be set only for certain
362 kinds of buffers, you can use the `autocmd` command to selectively set
363 settings according to file path pattern and various events.
364 See `:help autocmd` for more information.