Re: A package in a league of its own: Helm

[solidius4747@gmail.com]

> 
> As you write on terms of helm vs ido I'll clarify that I'm referring to
> 
> flx (not to be confused with ido's flex matching) which is a generic
> 
> method that supports ido but which is not tied to it.

Yes, I used ido + flx package for a long time before I understood Helm (prior Anything) and switch to Helm permanently. Basically flx allows you to fuzzy match like some vim or sublime text plugins. But none like Helm exists in those editors.

But then, the way Helm is doing gives it greater flexibility. I doubt that if Helm does not match the way it currently is, it's not Helm anymore. Even so, without Helm matching, it still allows you to do interesting things with its interactive interface. For example:

- interactive grep: http://tuhdo.github.io/static/live_grep.gif
- interactive occur: http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-occur.gif
- interactive kill ring: http://tuhdo.github.io/static/part3/helm-kill-ring.gif
- interactive mark ring: http://tuhdo.github.io/helm-intro.html#sec-15
 
> 
> The algorithm that takes the user input and a set of candidates and
> 
> outputs a new set of canditates performs a task that is orthogonal to
> 
> the rest of helm/ido.

The author of flx (Le Wang) used flx along with Helm's filtering method before, but he did not know how to enable appropriate highlighting in Helm that can guide the user: https://github.com/lewang/flx/issues/59

> 
> If helm allowed to configure the default filter method for each source
> 
> (with a global default) and also allowed to switch it on the fly (as ido
> 
> does) the users could select what best suit them on a case-by-case
> 
> basis.

You can fuzzy match with helm-find-files (in current directory) or helm-buffer-lists. Maybe you should ask Le Wang or join Helm group to customize your search method.