Regarding “set hidden”:

While I agree that it is a very useful option for many people, others like me will find that it does not fit into their workflow.

The ‘hidden’ option means that when you abandon a buffer (usually because you open a different file in the same window), Vim will quietly put the still-modified buffer in the background. Eventually, you may have many modified files loaded (but not viewed) in Vim, with no visible indication that this is so. If you don’t remember to check for such “hidden” buffers before doing things like compiling, the results may surprise you.

‘hidden’ is a great option for many, many people, especially people who like to keep a single Vim window open at a time. But there are other ways of working with Vim, including a “Rolodex style” multi-window look, or using the tab pages introduced in Vim 7.0. If you like to keep all your modified buffers visible so you don’t forget them, then ‘hidden’ is probably not for you.

Nevertheless, one of the wonderful things about Vim is that it provides great options to fit almost any work style.

Instead of (or in addition to) ‘hidden’, I’d encourage users to also take a look at ‘confirm’ and ‘autowriteall’. As for this “bare minimum” example, at least explain what ‘hidden’ does.

Great work on all this by the way, Derek. You’ve provided a great resource.