" do not keep backward compatibility with vi
set nocompatible
 
" show row and column of cursor
set ruler

" enable mouse if possible
set mouse=a

" highlight all matches of previous search
set hlsearch

" jump to matches while typing search string, as in Emacs
set incsearch

" use spaces instead of hard tabs
set expandtab

" set indent and tab stops
set shiftwidth=4
set tabstop=8

" C program indent settings
set cinoptions=:0,g0,u0,j1

" show partially typed commands in status line
set showcmd

" create backup foo~ of overwritten foo
set backup

" length of history list
set history=50

" remove impediments to backspace
set backspace=indent,eol,start

" syntax highlighting, analogous to Emacs's global-font-lock-mode
syntax on

" turn on auto-indenting and plugins
filetype plugin indent on