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'Using Emacs' Series

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Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#81

Post by omaranto »

S4M wrote: post #9
gumby wrote: post #7

I am a little concerned you start with package repository and then org mode. Emacs is at heart a simple, modeless editor. With c-[fbpns] and c-x c-[fa] you can immediately, if laboriously, do anything. Every new thing you learn incrementally speeds you up.

> c-x c-[fa] You mean c-x c-[fs], right? I'm by no mean an emacs expert although I've been using it for 6 years now, and when I read your comment I thought "Wow, c-x c-a is a functionality? How comes I have never used that?", so I tried that in emacs but it's not mapped to anything. Apart from that, I fully agree with your comment.

If you want a suggestion for what to bind C-x C-a to, I use this function:

    (defun align-all-matches (start end regexp)
      "Align all matches of the given regular expression."
      (interactive "r\nsAlign regexp: ")
      (align-regexp start end (concat "\\(\\s-*\\)" regexp) 1 1 t))
It inserts space in each line of the region so that all matches a given regexp are vertically aligned. I find this to be my most common use for the powerful but complicated align-regexp.

(If you call align-regexp interactively without a prefix argument it does something much like this function but only aligning the first ocurrence on each line, and if you call it with the prefix argument it prompts for all parameters of align-regexp.)

Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#82

Post by brudgers »

KirinDave wrote: post #80
brudgers wrote: post #54

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I saw the headline and my first thought was "Emacs tutorials, cool! What's not to like?" and then I clicked the link and saw Video 1 - Setting up the package manager Video 2 - Intro to Org Mode ... and thought "Why there are two things" and then came back to the comments and this thread was at the top and it sort of put the decision by the videos' authors in perspective. At it's heart, Emacs is "The Extensible, Custo…

If you want to avoid all that, just use spacemacs. Don't like VI keys? No problem, it asks you if you want them when you first start it up. Spacemacs is different, but for a new emacs user it's hard to argue with such a batteries-included approach.

I was not trying to avoid anything. I've been using Emacs for several years (and the same keybindings work in Bash and similar keybindings are available in many other editors/IDE's and in Firefox via plugins or settings).

For me, using Spacemacs would be limiting because not every mode has bindings and none of the official Emacs documents and most of the unofficial blogs and SO questions etc. don't describe keystrokes in terms of Spacemacs. In the end, using Spacemacs is using Emacs and will sooner or later require I know Emacs. Other people may have a different experience. Personally, I don't want to spend time cross-referencing the official documentation with this: https://github.com/Somelauw/evil-org-mode/blob/master/doc/ke... in the middle of trying to understand an org-mode feature.

Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#83

Post by KirinDave »

brudgers wrote: post #82
KirinDave wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

If you want to avoid all that, just use spacemacs. Don't like VI keys? No problem, it asks you if you want them when you first start it up. Spacemacs is different, but for a new emacs user it's hard to argue with such a batteries-included approach.

I was not trying to avoid anything. I've been using Emacs for several years (and the same keybindings work in Bash and similar keybindings are available in many other editors/IDE's and in Firefox via plugins or settings). For me, using Spacemacs would be limiting because not every mode has bindings and none of the official Emacs documents and most of the unofficial blogs and SO questions etc. don't describe keystroke…

I dunno. I think it's fine. For new users it has batteries included. For existing users, it's a lot of common-sense rules and a fairly simple mapping anyways.

I apologize for misinterpreting your comment, though.

As for notepad, I will give up org mode when you pry it from my cold dead hands. Can't imagine not using structured text and navigation for notes, outlines and task management.

Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#84

Post by pmoriarty »

mycat wrote: post #12

What is the best way to reduce pain from using ctrl with pinky finger? (emacs pinky?)

I just press the control key with the part of the palm of my hand that's right below my pinky finger. That way my pinky finger always stays on the home row, and never gets tired.

I don't like to remap control, alt, escape, or caps-lock because I don't want to be hobbled when I use another computer that I don't control to type on. This method has worked well for me for decades.

Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#85

Post by zamansky »

gumby wrote: post #7

I am a little concerned you start with package repository and then org mode. Emacs is at heart a simple, modeless editor. With c-[fbpns] and c-x c-[fa] you can immediately, if laboriously, do anything. Every new thing you learn incrementally speeds you up.

I made these for people who finished the tutorial (in particular, I had my students in mind). It's very much the way I do things and the hope was it would smooth the way for people to get to customizing Emacs in their own way.

I originally wasn't sure if I was going to do the mini org-mode stuff early on but thought that it would be better for organizational reasons rather than pedagogical.

Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#86

Post by BeetleB »

gumby wrote: post #7

I am a little concerned you start with package repository and then org mode. Emacs is at heart a simple, modeless editor. With c-[fbpns] and c-x c-[fa] you can immediately, if laboriously, do anything. Every new thing you learn incrementally speeds you up.

>Emacs is at heart a simple, modeless editor. With c-[fbpns] and c-x c-[fa] you can immediately, if laboriously, do anything. Every new thing you learn incrementally speeds you up.

That kind of introduction is already in the Emacs tutorial.

And it's the type that drives newcomers away.

I first used Emacs in the late 90's. Even then, the regular cursor keys worked. Now I do understand that some prefer the original keybindings, but the tutorial is likely not targeting that minority.

Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#87

Post by tangue »

Numberwang wrote: post #29
lottin wrote: post #15

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Agreed, although it's also true that vanilla Emacs is quite spartan and has many questionable defaults. In my opinion it would be much better if plain Emacs provided a nicer user experience out of the box, thus reducing the need for customisation and external packages which is a big barrier to entry for new users.

Do you have a good set of basic customisations that anyone using Emacs should do?

- grab a decent theme

- if you're on a mac set the command modifier to meta

- ido mode

- transform yes or no into y or n

- Disable the bell and the visual bell

- cua mode (this begins to be personal so I'll stop there)

Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#89

Post by microtonal »

luck_fenovo wrote: post #45
jahnu wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The problem I have with Spacemacs is that it's almost too fancy. Even as a moderately experienced Emacs user I found the defaults overwhelming. As an example, it displays lots of incomprehensible to the new user information on the bottom that changes with file type. Compare that with ye olde Emacs starter kit, which just fixed up some basic key bindings and gave it a more modern colour scheme. Personally I find that…

> Even as a moderately experienced Emacs user I found the defaults overwhelming. I agree. There is a lot of "magic" going on, and it doesn't help that Spacemacs is a lot slower and less stable than my less-intensive personal customization. Of course, that's the problem with any significant starter kit. As a new user, now you don't just have to learn emacs, you have to learn emacs + whatever heavy modifications they'v…

Spacemacs is a lot slower and less stable

In principle, I liked Spacemacs, but stability is a big problem. Often certain org functionality stops working, etc. I now have a reasonably stable snapshot and I just don't update ELPA/MELPA packages anymore, because the risk is simply too big that things break (yes, I know that you can rollback).

Another problem that I have been running into is that Mitsuharu Yamamoto's emacs-mac, which is IMO by far the nicest Mac version regularly seems to trigger a bug where WindowServer starts using 100% CPU. I haven't really nailed it down (I only notice it later when the fans start getting loud), except that it only occurs sometimes when I run emacs-mac.

Re: 'Using Emacs' Series

#90

Post by free_everybody »

>Inspired by Mattias Petter Johansson, or MPJ who make a weekly video, I decided to try to create a series of YouTube videos and matching blog posts.

I find this pretty funny since MPJ is editor-agnostic and thinks it's a huge waste of time to learn command shortcuts, config files, etc. He promotes using a clean Atom install with no plugins to his viewers.

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