Oct 1, 2013
Understanding vim splits.
Great blog post from Jonathan Palardy
http://technotales.wordpress.com/2010/04/29/vim-splits-a-guide-to-doing-exactly-what-you-want/
See also Drew Neil's post on the use of the term "window" in vim
A Vim window is a "viewport on a buffer". A buffer is a file loaded into memory for manipulation. A viewport is what exactly? Logically it would seem that it is text displayed in vim/gvim. That text can be either the contents of a buffer, or something else... such as what? Perhaps output from commands?
Basic vim split commands
ctrl-w s
split horizontally
ctrl-w v
split vertically
ctrl-w c
close current "window"
ctrl-w o
make current the sole/only "window"