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Bad Emacs Advice

masteringemacs.org

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111–120 of 148 posts

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#111

Post by __david__ »

chipotle_coyote wrote: post #75
rprospero wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> ... don't have random keybindings triggering stuff. As a long time Emacs user, I feel that this is slightly unfair. When I first started out, I found that my documents from Emacs were far more common than in other editors. It took me two years to realise that I was often bumping C-t where trying to hit C-r or C-y and silently transposing two characters. In over twenty years of Emacs usage, I have never once used C-…

> In over twenty years of Emacs usage, I have never once used C-t on purpose. This is funny to me because, while I'm not an Emacs user, I'm a Mac user who's gotten used to the tiny subset of Emacs keybindings built into Cocoa text fields, and I use C-t fairly frequently! Apparently you do not make character transposition errors as often as I do.

I just wish M-t worked in the Cocoa text fields, I somehow use that more than C-t. And M-d, too—I accidentally type "∂" a lot. :-(

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#112

Post by marcosdumay »

toyg wrote: post #6
Yuioup wrote: post #2

just like pizza with pineapple, people do occasionally give out downright bad advice. I really don't understand this pineapple on pizza meme. I think it's delicious!

It's because it was not a thing in Italy, so accepting it was seen as the sign of being out of touch with "real pizza" traditions. Sadly, a natural reaction of disgusted rejection by Italians has been adopted by snobs all over the world. Nowadays you'll find it even in Italy, because tourists demand it and they pay hard cash, so fuck it all anyway.

Nah, It can not be because a lot of people just dislike pineapple mixed with their food. No way, it can't be.

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#113

Post by [deleted] »

gypsyharlot wrote: post #77
beepbooptheory wrote: post #31

Just to add: the built-in "Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" is also really really great. I have been using emacs for a while, with one framework or another, but always hesitated actually learning lisp. I was too focused on learning the kinds of languages and systems that might get me a job, and it felt like too big of a venture in learning a whole language just for my development environment. Now, I have a…

How do you access the built-in "Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp"?

[deleted]

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#115

Post by felideon »

aidenn0 wrote: post #95

For those picking up emacs for lisp development, I'll add another piece of terrible advice: enabling paredit mode. I think these all have a similar theme to them "I am more productive now since I have turned them on, so I wish I had switched sooner" but they ignore the fact that each of those things adds friction to learning the basics, and at some point people will just nope-out.

Yes, good point. Learn how to balance parens with rainbow delimiters (if anything) and, once you you're comfortable with sexps, give paredit a try.

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#116

Post by bananamerica »

mynameismon wrote: post #41

Maybe it's me, but starting out with Emacs the previous month, I tried using Doom Emacs the other week, and the number of packages it was being used frightened me. Building your own init.el is much much better, because you know your Emacs in and out, and dont have random keybindings triggering stuff. Maybe I'll never get the popularity of Doom

Doom Emacs is excellent. I believe you were negatively impressed by the default install, but you can install it without any packages you don't wan't, or any package at all. You can even remove Evil altogether.

You can also easily remove anything afterwards.

Doom is essential for my sanity, and extremely flexible. I can do everything I want, just like on a barebones install. But I do it in a way that is way simpler, more practical, and performant. I'd use Doom even without any of its modules, just for the macros, the speed, and the sane configuration layout.

I tried the build your own route for 2 years, ended up with a huge messy init impossible to maintain. Doom removes a lot of complexity and provides extremely useful macros. The guy really knows what he's doing, and the optimizations that he uses are impressive.

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#117

Post by sping »

donio wrote: post #99
mynameismon wrote: post #41

Maybe it's me, but starting out with Emacs the previous month, I tried using Doom Emacs the other week, and the number of packages it was being used frightened me. Building your own init.el is much much better, because you know your Emacs in and out, and dont have random keybindings triggering stuff. Maybe I'll never get the popularity of Doom

Yes, gradually building your own config is a much better approach on the long run. Start lean, learn the basics and add one thing at a time as you learn. Always have complete mastery of your .emacs and understand every line: why it is there, what exactly it does. Never blindly copy random stuff wholesale without understanding it.

I have to say I don't particularly see the wisdom of this (common) view.

It's acceptable to people to use the standard Elisp, and Emacs itself, without digesting that code, but somehow using a canned config is bad. I find the choice of where to draw the dividing line somewhat arbitrary.

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#118

Post by bananamerica »

uncletaco wrote: post #62
mynameismon wrote: post #41

Maybe it's me, but starting out with Emacs the previous month, I tried using Doom Emacs the other week, and the number of packages it was being used frightened me. Building your own init.el is much much better, because you know your Emacs in and out, and dont have random keybindings triggering stuff. Maybe I'll never get the popularity of Doom

> Maybe I'll never get the popularity of doom Honestly its a double edged sword here. Doom has so many built in convenience functions like `set-font!` and `set-repl!` that an experienced elisp programmer would probably love it for building their own configuration. On the other hand it bundles so much that an inexperienced emacs user might be more keen to do the bare minimum and rely on the packages bundled with doom…

I'd just like to point out that every single one of Doom's modules is optional, and you can install it without any external packages whatsoever (including Evil) if that's what you want.

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#119

Post by retzkek »

siver_john wrote: post #37
Yuioup wrote: post #2

just like pizza with pineapple, people do occasionally give out downright bad advice. I really don't understand this pineapple on pizza meme. I think it's delicious!

To be fair when I push the meme I do it because I personally dislike Pineapple, I sincerely don't care what people put on their personal pizza, just don't put it on mine. Counter, I have enjoyed Brussel Sprouts on pizza and I feel that is a much bigger sin.

Shaved Brussels sprouts, fried (or roasted), with a balsamic glaze? Sounds good to me!

Re: Bad Emacs Advice

#120

Post by Bayart »

ska wrote: post #81
Bayart wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

That sentence works if you replace pizza with parmesan , or any of the Italian protected origin foods.

It's easy to poke fun, but DOP isn't just about region and it does matter, at least for many things. I don't know that "you can't call it X" is the right approach, but there should be some really clear to consumers way of saying "X was made to a particular standard" vs "all bets are off with Y" - then let them decide.

I'm not the one poking fun, my comment was straightforward.

I'm French, we invented this legal device, I know how it works and why it exists (and I think it's got every right to).

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