When comparing Slap vs GVim, the Slant community recommends GVim for most people. In the question“What are the best open-source text editors for programming?” GVim is ranked 14th while Slap is ranked 31st. The most important reason people chose GVim is:
When opening files from the file manager, it is still nice to have vim.
Specs
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Pros
Pro First-class mouse support
Slap supports mouse keybindings even though it works inside the terminal and also through SSH.
Pro Uses desktop-like keybindings
Slap features configurable keybindings (Ctrl+S, Ctrl+Z, etc).
Pro Great terminal interface
Pro Vim without a shell
When opening files from the file manager, it is still nice to have vim.
Pro Excellent performance
Because it loads the whole file into RAM, replacing all string occurences in 100MB+ files is quick and easy. Every other editor sort of died during that.
Pro Works on all platforms
Whether its your windows machine, a Linux, Unix or a Mac Vim would work everywhere. You can even build it from its source on your favorite linux environment.
Pro Has different cursor shape in command and insert modes
Unlike vim, gvim has different cursor shape in command and insert mode, which is very convenient.
Pro Supports all vim features and settings
All vim features, custom settings, and plugins are automatically available.
Cons
Con Requires node.js
Slap is written in JavaScript and it requires something to interpret it in a local machine. That something is node.js, but for people who don't need node, it would be a hindrance and an overkill to install node just to use a simple text editor. Furthermore, it can only be used remotely if the remote machine has node installed.
Con CLI only
Slap only runs through the terminal.
Con GVim, like Vim, has a difficult learning curve
A lot of time is needed to learn all the commands and modes supported. A lot of time will also be spent tuning all the settings to the user's preference.