[wahnfrieden]

vim comes with syntax highlighting and file browsing built-in. You just have to enable the syntax highlighting, but it's one command to put into your rc. Yes vim has some sucky defaults, but it's disingenuous to call these simple cases "hacks" or to suggest it takes fighting the software to get it working.

vim doesn't have a debugger since it's outside the scope of vim, which is just an editor. If you want an "all-in-one" philosophy, maybe emacs will treat you better.