PApabs3·Jul 31, 2021Submission
Yi – The Haskell-Scriptable Editor
64 points · Open discussionyi-editor
yi
Haskell2012–2021
yi-editor / yi
yi
The Haskell-Scriptable Editor
14Distinct people
17Mentions
0Explicit recommenders
1.6KGitHub stars
What to know before exploring
What it is
The Haskell-Scriptable Editor
GitHub
Where it is used
No documented product use was verified in the last source check.
What people are saying
No recommendation phrase was found in the indexed comments.
No classified warning is attached to this page. Read the discussions before treating silence as approval.
Also in these discussions
No other repository is repeatedly linked in the same discussions.
This week on Hacker News
Nov 7–Nov 14 UTC · Direct repository links and separately labeled related project stories. Indexed through 11/14/2026, 1:49:46 PM UTC.
No direct repository links were found in the indexed HN discussions over the past seven days. Older discussions are available below.
Mentions over time
HN mentions by year17 dated mentions
Observed mentions: 2012-06-03 21:50:00 UTC to 2021-07-31 03:42:06 UTC.
Counts come from the repository’s dated source evidence. Index cutoff: 2026-11-02 08:16:59 UTC.
View mention counts and date ranges
| Period | Start (UTC) | End (exclusive, UTC) | Mentions | Submissions | Comments |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2012 | 2012-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
| 2013 | 2013-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2014 | 2014-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 3 | 0 | 3 |
| 2015 | 2015-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 4 | 0 | 4 |
| 2016 | 2016-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2 | 0 | 2 |
| 2017 | 2017-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 6 | 2 | 4 |
| 2018 | 2018-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2019 | 2019-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2020 | 2020-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| 2021 | 2021-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 2022-01-01 00:00:00 UTC | 1 | 1 | 0 |
What Hacker News says
17 sourcesThe Yi editor contains a minimal Emacs-like interface.
https://github.com/yi-editor/yi/
In What are potential disadvantages of functional programming?Just look at the sources of an editor written in Lisp (GNU Emacs and others) and Yi (in Haskell - https://github.com/yi-editor/yi ).
Ask yourself which code you like more...
In Ask HN: Brevity in Haskell versus Common LispSee also https://github.com/yi-editor/yi in Haskell , which has vim keymap bindings
In Vy – A Vim-like in Python made from scratchYi – The Haskell-Scriptable Editor
3 points · Open discussionYi: The Haskell-Scriptable Editor
1 points · Open discussionThis looks really neat. I really like the idea, and I think it has lots of potential.
That said, I'm going to try to moderate my enthusiasm until more stuff gets implemented. Thinking back to Yi [0], there is a lot of really cool stuff in that too (namely precise syntax highlighting, which relied heavily on parsing lazily). There's even a couple papers written about it [1]! IIRC, the main problem was (I think it has been at least partially dealt with) performance - people expect their editors to be blazingly fast. It will be interesting to see if Rasa encounters similar problems.
[0] http://yi-editor.github.io/
[1] https://github.com/yi-editor/yi#reading-material
In Rasa: Extremely modular text editor built in HaskellI disagree that Haskell is not practical. Checkout the Yi[0] project for instance, it has lots of practical real world Haskell code patterns.
0: https://github.com/yi-editor/yi
In Four months with HaskellNot to be confused with Yi: https://github.com/yi-editor/yi
In Xi editor: A modern editor with a backend written in RustContinuing my streak of posts regarding preference which likely apply nearly only to me[1], I will gladly take on this question!
As with the others, I should reiterate that I am a niche user and that the things I want will likely not be wanted by everyone else.
1. Terminal-only (^Z is still something I want/need)
2. Not ncurses (as much as I like ncurses and what it did for TUIs, it's got too many pain points and short-comings to make sense lately).
3. Configurable/Extensible/Scriptable through the host language or one DSL (i.e., allowing a ton of different languages for plugins (I'm looking at you vim, ಠ_ಠ) is a SadTime™).
Given this and (2), I would be tempted to say I'd prefer this editor to be written in Haskell and use Brick[2]; there is at least one editor that attempts this [3].
4. Incredibly stripped-down core functionality with o
Read the rest
fficially maintained extensions for likely-to-be-wanted features (e.g., syntax highlighting).
This is not because I don't want syntax highlighting (I definitely do), but rather the recognition that one size does not fit all and that making the whole system as configurable as possible is often a huge win.
Note, this cannot be done at the expense of performance (which is why I would be tempted to say that accomplishing this sensibly would require (3) be accomplished through the host language (and that it would add another strong argument for Haskell)).
5. Modal (One of vim's greatest triumphs is the brilliance and simplicity of function in modal editing—yes, it's a very odd concept when you're starting out, but it's irreplacable once you get used to it)
6. Asynchronous (One of vim's greatest failings is an interface that is completely incapable of dealing with asynchronicity)[4]
7. Some or all of what Gary Bernhardt mentions in "A Whole New World"[5] (great talk anyway if you haven't seen it). Particularly, layers and a flexible auditor.
---
[1] https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=10072796
[2] https://github.com/jtdaugherty/brick
[3] https://github.com/yi-editor/yi
[4] http://geoff.greer.fm/2015/01/15/why-neovim-is-better-than-v...
[5] https://www.destroyallsoftware.com/talks/a-whole-new-world
relevant: https://github.com/yi-editor/yi
In Vy – A Vim-like in Python made from scratchYi is one editor that does incremental parsing correctly: https://github.com/yi-editor/yi
In Optimizing an Important Atom PrimitiveYi[0] is an editor written in Haskell.
[0]: https://github.com/yi-editor/yi
In Pure Python Vim cloneWhy not just contribute to Yi[0]? Yi has seen a lot of development activity lately, and I'm sure your contributions would be welcome.
0: https://github.com/yi-editor/yi
In Ask HN: What would it take to rewrite Vim?How about yi (https://github.com/yi-editor/yi)?
I hope some day an editor, written in Haskell, allowing to emulate Vi and and Emacs behaviour will become more appropriate for Haskell programming than any other editor and offer you to either the Vi or Emacs style.
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