Normalize variable declarations with a set function

[kutsan]

s:set() function declares variables with its default value like in built-in get() function style.

[ryanoasis]

Very nice. I've wanted to do something with those variables 😊

[kutsan]

I don't know about you but I think using global variables that bountifully is not a right thing. I think options should be kept inside one global vim dictionary, like let g:devicons = {}. Obviously it's too late to do that.

[ryanoasis]

You are right but never too late to do things correctly. We could do this for 1.0.0 as a breaking change. Ref: #77

[kutsan]

Oh, that's awesome. Then, I'm proposing greppers method to handle this.

https://github.com/mhinz/vim-grepper/blob/635c14284aea79117f2cc9d07c18c8f6da23d85b/plugin/grepper.vim#L11-L110

We can even categorize configs inside that dictionary. I really like the way how @mhinz handles. I think this approach should be default across plugin authors.

[mhinz]

Let me chime in for a moment.

vim-grepper was the first plugin where I tried that single dict approach. Personally I still like it, but the more keys I added, the more complicated the code for merging became. (Ignore this if most values are of the same type and there's not much nesting.) Oh well, I like VimL, and it's something I can figure out.

But users are not used to using dicts for configuration. Beginners often don't even understand how to break up a dict over multiple lines, because they simply don't know much about VimL. Global variables are probably more intuitive for those people.

So, people are often confused about the fact that let g:myplugin.foo.bar = x won't work without doing let g:myplugin.foo = {} first. That's what the merging code is for, right? But mind that the vimrc is always sourced before all other plugins. So, you have to force sourcing the plugin in the vimrc via runtime plugin/myplugin.vim before using let g:myplugin.foo.bar = x.

Then again, the more plugins use this approach, the more people will learn about it...

...you decide. ;-)

[kutsan]

@mhinz Thank you so much for your comment on this. I'm going to still say this project should go for it.