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Learning the State Machine Behind a Modal Text Editor: The (Neo)Vim Case Study

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Model Checking Software (SPIN 2024)

Part of the book series: Lecture Notes in Computer Science ((LNCS,volume 14624))

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Abstract

We use active automata-based learning to extract the state machine underlying the modal text editor Vim. We expose the various challenges to interface an active learning library with the text editor. Furthermore, we report on how we uncovered several issues and how they were dealt with by the (Neo)Vim developers. Finally, we reflect on the possible uses of automatically extracted finite-state machines beyond bug reports.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    https://www.vim.org/.

  2. 2.

    https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vim_(text_editor)#Modes.

  3. 3.

    https://iccf-holland.org/vim_books.html.

  4. 4.

    https://survey.stackoverflow.co/2022/#section-most-popular-technologies-integrated-development-environment.

  5. 5.

    Available via the :help command of Vim or via dedicated websites on the Internet.

  6. 6.

    https://neovim.io/.

  7. 7.

    https://github.com/neovim/pynvim.

  8. 8.

    https://github.com/DES-Lab/AALpy.

  9. 9.

    https://github.com/neovim/pynvim.

  10. 10.

    https://neovim.io/doc/user/api.html#nvim_get_mode().

  11. 11.

    See [12] for a more detailed explanation.

  12. 12.

    https://github.com/jrfonseca/xdot.py.

  13. 13.

    https://github.com/gephi/gephi.

  14. 14.

    https://github.com/DES-Lab/AALpy/discussions/13.

  15. 15.

    https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/13649#issuecomment-1847848471.

  16. 16.

    https://github.com/vim/vim/pull/13001#issuecomment-1703925253.

  17. 17.

    https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/12115#issuecomment-1483815493.

  18. 18.

    https://github.com/neovim/neovim/tree/master/src/nvim#nvim-lifecycle.

References

  1. Consecutive call of nvim_get_mode() does not return the same mode · Issue #15288 · neovim/neovim — github.com. https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/15288. Accessed 05-01-2024

  2. Different behavior between C-v and C-q · Issue #12684 · vim/vim — github.com. https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/12684. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  3. GitHub - pierreganty/active-learning-neovim: Active automata-based learning of the Moore machine underlying Neovim — github.com. https://github.com/pierreganty/active-learning-neovim. Accessed 10 Jan 2024

  4. Non deterministic behavior when querying current mode · Issue #8323 · vim/vim — github.com. https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/8323. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  5. Nvim lifecycle · neovim/neovim — github.com. https://github.com/neovim/neovim/tree/master/src/nvim#nvim-lifecycle. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  6. nvim_get_mode waits 3\(\sim \)4 secs with ‘showmode’ enabled or when there are error messages · Issue #19352 · neovim/neovim — github.com. https://github.com/neovim/neovim/issues/19352. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  7. Possible inconsistent behavior · Issue #8346 · vim/vim — github.com. https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/8346. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  8. Possibly inconsistent behavior · Issue #13649 · vim/vim — github.com. https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/13649. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  9. Possibly incorrect transitions between modes · Issue #12115 · vim/vim — github.com. https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/12115. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  10. Possibly undocumented behavior with replace after visual · Issue #13091 · vim/vim — github.com. https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/13091. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  11. Undocumented (possibly incorrect) behavior for Virtual Replace mode · Issue #12045 · vim/vim — github.com. https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/12045. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  12. Unexpected behavior? · Issue #10693 · vim/vim — github.com. https://github.com/vim/vim/issues/10693. Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  13. Automata Wiki — automata.cs.ru.nl. https://automata.cs.ru.nl/ (2017). Accessed 05 Jan 2024

  14. Angluin, D.: Learning regular sets from queries and counterexamples. Inf. Comput. 75(2), 87–106 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1016/0890-5401(87)90052-6

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Acknowledgments

We thank Xiao Peng Ye, Madeleine Mathieu and for their tremendous help with the interface and uncovering bugs. We also thank the Vim and Neovim developers for their time including Bram Moolenaar, the creator of Vim, who died during the summer 2023. Furthermore, we thank Edi Muskardin for his tremendous help with AALpy. Finally, we thank the SPIN reviewers for their effort and suggestions. This publication is part of the grant PID2022-138072OB-I00, funded by MCIN, FEDER, UE. This work has been partially supported by the PRODIGY Project (TED2021-132464B-I00) funded by MCIN and the European Union NextGeneration.

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  1. IMDEA Software Institute, Madrid, Spain

    Pierre Ganty

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  1. Pierre Ganty
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Correspondence to Pierre Ganty .

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  1. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Thomas Neele

  2. Eindhoven University of Technology, Eindhoven, The Netherlands

    Anton Wijs

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Ganty, P. (2025). Learning the State Machine Behind a Modal Text Editor: The (Neo)Vim Case Study. In: Neele, T., Wijs, A. (eds) Model Checking Software. SPIN 2024. Lecture Notes in Computer Science, vol 14624. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66149-5_9

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-66149-5_9

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