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Why can Vim open large files faster than some other text editors? [closed]

I'm not really sure why this question was closed. The close reason is not constructive, but it's perfectly possible to give a constructive answer - indeed, I would consider the accepted answer constructive. It's asking what makes a subset of a class of programs more efficient than others. And the answer addresses that perfectly.

It is true that this is not quite a question based on actual problems that you face. However, there are many other similar questions, that ask about computing theory, and how program(mer)s or hardware work. A recent example: How can computers calculate exponential math without overflow errors?

I would consider these questions to be on-topic, fully answerable, and generally useful to Super User.


As I said in my comment:

To the close voters: I would argue that this question is constructive - as the answer indicates, there are techniques Vim uses that make it more efficient with larger files than some other editors. That's a concrete answer, which can be supported by facts/references. And I'm not sure why people can consider this localised; there's a clear difference in how the editors handle files that affects a lot more than a small geographic area, a specific moment in time, or an extraordinarily narrow situation.

At the time of that comment, there were two not constructive votes (okay...) and two too localised votes (wait, what?). I have tried to edit the question title to be a little clearer, though I think the underlying question was always perfectly valid.


So, could we reopen this question? And if not, why? Thoughts? Reopen votes? ;)

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  • I disagree. The answer solves no ones problem.
    – Nifle
    Jul 25, 2012 at 8:19
  • @Nifle Seems to be a lot of conflicting opinions about this issue (meta.superuser.com/questions/2607/…)... Perhaps we should ask a meta question specifically addressing the actual problems part of the FAQ (and whether it should be amended).
    – Bob
    Jul 25, 2012 at 9:06
  • I agree. This particular question in it self isn't that bad and the answer is also pretty good. It's just not something that IMO fits on SU. So having an discussion about this category of question, questions that only aims to satisfy a askers curiosity, is a good idea.
    – Nifle
    Jul 25, 2012 at 10:25
  • @Nifle Question asked. I've tried to keep the question neutral (feel free to fix that up!), and I'll add my own answer tomorrow if no one else has come out in support of keeping these questions.
    – Bob
    Jul 25, 2012 at 11:13

1 Answer 1

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You win!

reopened

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