Among the most most important features of Vim, the popular vi-compatible editor, are the plugins used to extend its functionality. Most Vim plugins are written in Vimscript, Vim’s built-in scripting language. Support was added in Vim 7 for plugins also written in Python, Ruby, and Perl. I wanted to use a Vim plugin written in Python on my 64-bit Windows 7 system and was surprised by how difficult it was.

Although Vim versions later than 7 can support plugins written in other languages, that support has to be compiled into the copy of Vim you use. One way you can tell is to display version information by using the version command:

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