9 ms·

Emacs, artist mode

134 points by VeXocide 16y ago

steve19 16y ago
Very cool. In Emacs.app (aka. Carbon Emacs) my right click acts as an eraser and does not show a menu like it does in the video. Does anybody know how to enable that popup menu (I am a vim user and a emacs noob.)
- chrislo 16y ago
  Middle button works for me.
  - steve19 16y ago
    Are you using OSX? What key combo is your middle button mapped to?
- flatline 16y ago
  Vanilla windows install, same problem here. C-h m will show the documentation for the minor mode, there should be keyboard commands for everything, I'll need to spend some time on this, it looks great...
surki 16y ago
Check EmacsWiki as well: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ArtistMode http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ArtistMode Especially integration with Ido mode.
ww520 16y ago
There are always some surprising delights about Emacs from time to time.
vault_ 16y ago
For you vim-lovers out there, DrawIt accomplishes most of the same things: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=40 http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=40
rauljara 16y ago
Slightly off topic: I've recently gotten to the point where I feel comfortable and productive in Vim. I know emacs is worth the effort to learn if you're replacing most editors out there. But does anyone have any opinions on whether it's worth the effort if the editor you'd be replacing is Vim?
- jcsalterego 16y ago
  As an Emacs user, my answer is no. Choose your path and become proficient in it. Unless you have ample time, you may run the risk of becoming a Jack of All Trades, Master of None.
- melling 16y ago
  You can be up and running in Emacs in a few minutes, if you grab AquaEmacs. It uses the Mac keybindings. Cmd-w, Cmd-s,Cmd-o, Cmd-c,Cmd-x,Cmd-v, etc. Just like any Mac program, navigate the menus to see what features and keybindings are available, when you get the urge. http://aquamacs.org/ http://aquamacs.org/ I imagine on Windows you can find one with equivalent key-bindings. As you get the urge to learn more, start reading blogs, etc. Here's a good place to start: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/60367/the-single-most-useful-emacs-feature http://stackoverflow.com/questions/60367/the-single-most-use...
- jjames 16y ago
  It really depends on what type of vim user you are. I used vi/m for 10 years before starting with emacs. Emacs works better for me. I know people for whom vim works better for them. It would be a shame not to find out for yourself.
- swah 16y ago
  Vim modal keys will always be more effective (and less painfull) to just edit raw text. Emacs will always be more extensive because elisp, with all its problems, does great there. I also prefer how Emacs handle multiple buffers too (even with Vim's project plugins). That said, I'm trying to use Textmate now. I think Emacs is what fucked up my left wrist.
  - 16y ago
jcsalterego 16y ago
The takeaway for me (since I use Emacs in a console and not in GUI mode) is `C-x n n` and `C-x n w`. Looks like it could be pretty useful for `M-x replace-regexp` (if I don't want to use query-replace-regexp, and I've got a lot of searching and replacing to do in a particular region.
- s1rech 16y ago
  indeed. When you want to do a quick and dirty 'replace-string', this command looks very good. I've ended up copying the whole region to scratch to make my edits more than once.
  - ramen 16y ago
    If you use transient-mark-mode (which is on by default these days), you can mark a region and then use replacement commands like query-replace (M-%) that affect just that region.
    - jcsalterego 16y ago
      I had tried that before transient-mark-mode was on by default (Emacs 23?) and it didn't work, but turns out you are 100% correct. Thanks ramen!
    - parbo 16y ago
      Undo also works on the region, which is amazingly useful.
steveeq1 16y ago
orgtbl mode is also pretty cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQAd41VAXWo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQAd41VAXWo
zokier 16y ago
Yuck, mouse. I'd assume that there are also nice way to use this with keyboard? (vim user, but emacs seems nicer and nicer every time I see stuff like this)
- cag_ii 16y ago
  `C-h f artist-mode` - The documentation describes how to draw with the keyboard.
b3b0p 16y ago
Maybe this is a dumb question, but do Emacs users edit all their configuration files and quick edits in it too? When I'm setting up / configuring Linux boxes at work I always use Vim because it's always there and light weight. I always got the impression using Emacs for this would be the equal of using Visual Studio or Eclipse.
- sjs 16y ago
  To me Emacs feels like a text editor. I used to use vim for coding before switching to Emacs (well, TextMate and then Emacs). I still use vim for editing on remote machines and quick local edits. There certainly are people who edit everything in Emacs though, I'm just not one of them.
- angusgr 16y ago
  I use the lightweight emacs alternative 'zile' a lot, I have it installed on both my desktop machines (alongside emacs) and also on some tiny machines like OpenWRT routers where I don't want an emacs install. It loads totally instantly whereas my emacs configuration is ~0.5s, so if I'm really just jumping into a file for something very simple and then out again, I use that. One step up in complexity is to alias something as 'emacs -nw' (emacs start in console mode.) Which is almost as quick (depending on your startup files), but you've got all your nice custom .emacs configuration there. Then, there's the fact you can run emacs in server mode and then your emacs editor windows are just connecting back to a server process and not loading up anything at all. Finally, there's the fact that a true emacs user would already be interacting with their shell in emacs shell-mode, so they wouldn't need to load anything at all. Zen moment
- gchpaco 16y ago
  Traditionally one has a single, long running Emacs process that you do everything in, even quick edits. If you had to wait for it to start up from scratch then yeah, that would be pretty annoying. My fingers frequently go `sudo vi ...' because I'm not used to using the sudo mode in TRAMP, but that would arguably be my deficiency, not Emacs.
  - limmeau 16y ago
lelele 16y ago
Thank you for sharing. I think this shows limits of comment format. Why can't we just draw and embed images inside comments, along with Rich Text?
batterseapower 16y ago
You can turn your ASCII arts drawings into actual images with ditaa: http://ditaa.sourceforge.net/ http://ditaa.sourceforge.net/. I've found this handy for when you are generating HTML manuals from text comments in the source code, and you want to include a quick-n-dirty diagram in your manual.

134 points by VeXocide 16y ago

Very cool. In Emacs.app (aka. Carbon Emacs) my right click acts as an eraser and does not show a menu like it does in the video. Does anybody know how to enable that popup menu (I am a vim user and a emacs noob.)

chrislo 16y ago
Middle button works for me.
- steve19 16y ago
  Are you using OSX? What key combo is your middle button mapped to?
flatline 16y ago
Vanilla windows install, same problem here. C-h m will show the documentation for the minor mode, there should be keyboard commands for everything, I'll need to spend some time on this, it looks great...

surki 16y ago

Check EmacsWiki as well: http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ArtistMode http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ArtistMode Especially integration with Ido mode.

ww520 16y ago

There are always some surprising delights about Emacs from time to time.

vault_ 16y ago

For you vim-lovers out there, DrawIt accomplishes most of the same things: http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=40 http://www.vim.org/scripts/script.php?script_id=40

rauljara 16y ago

Slightly off topic: I've recently gotten to the point where I feel comfortable and productive in Vim. I know emacs is worth the effort to learn if you're replacing most editors out there. But does anyone have any opinions on whether it's worth the effort if the editor you'd be replacing is Vim?

jcsalterego 16y ago
As an Emacs user, my answer is no. Choose your path and become proficient in it. Unless you have ample time, you may run the risk of becoming a Jack of All Trades, Master of None.
melling 16y ago
You can be up and running in Emacs in a few minutes, if you grab AquaEmacs. It uses the Mac keybindings. Cmd-w, Cmd-s,Cmd-o, Cmd-c,Cmd-x,Cmd-v, etc. Just like any Mac program, navigate the menus to see what features and keybindings are available, when you get the urge. http://aquamacs.org/ http://aquamacs.org/ I imagine on Windows you can find one with equivalent key-bindings. As you get the urge to learn more, start reading blogs, etc. Here's a good place to start: http://stackoverflow.com/questions/60367/the-single-most-useful-emacs-feature http://stackoverflow.com/questions/60367/the-single-most-use...
jjames 16y ago
It really depends on what type of vim user you are. I used vi/m for 10 years before starting with emacs. Emacs works better for me. I know people for whom vim works better for them. It would be a shame not to find out for yourself.
swah 16y ago
Vim modal keys will always be more effective (and less painfull) to just edit raw text. Emacs will always be more extensive because elisp, with all its problems, does great there. I also prefer how Emacs handle multiple buffers too (even with Vim's project plugins). That said, I'm trying to use Textmate now. I think Emacs is what fucked up my left wrist.
- 16y ago

jcsalterego 16y ago

The takeaway for me (since I use Emacs in a console and not in GUI mode) is `C-x n n` and `C-x n w`. Looks like it could be pretty useful for `M-x replace-regexp` (if I don't want to use query-replace-regexp, and I've got a lot of searching and replacing to do in a particular region.

s1rech 16y ago
indeed. When you want to do a quick and dirty 'replace-string', this command looks very good. I've ended up copying the whole region to scratch to make my edits more than once.
- ramen 16y ago
  If you use transient-mark-mode (which is on by default these days), you can mark a region and then use replacement commands like query-replace (M-%) that affect just that region.
  - jcsalterego 16y ago
    I had tried that before transient-mark-mode was on by default (Emacs 23?) and it didn't work, but turns out you are 100% correct. Thanks ramen!
  - parbo 16y ago
    Undo also works on the region, which is amazingly useful.

steveeq1 16y ago

orgtbl mode is also pretty cool: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQAd41VAXWo http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQAd41VAXWo

zokier 16y ago

Yuck, mouse. I'd assume that there are also nice way to use this with keyboard? (vim user, but emacs seems nicer and nicer every time I see stuff like this)

cag_ii 16y ago
`C-h f artist-mode` - The documentation describes how to draw with the keyboard.

b3b0p 16y ago

Maybe this is a dumb question, but do Emacs users edit all their configuration files and quick edits in it too? When I'm setting up / configuring Linux boxes at work I always use Vim because it's always there and light weight. I always got the impression using Emacs for this would be the equal of using Visual Studio or Eclipse.

sjs 16y ago
To me Emacs feels like a text editor. I used to use vim for coding before switching to Emacs (well, TextMate and then Emacs). I still use vim for editing on remote machines and quick local edits. There certainly are people who edit everything in Emacs though, I'm just not one of them.
angusgr 16y ago
I use the lightweight emacs alternative 'zile' a lot, I have it installed on both my desktop machines (alongside emacs) and also on some tiny machines like OpenWRT routers where I don't want an emacs install. It loads totally instantly whereas my emacs configuration is ~0.5s, so if I'm really just jumping into a file for something very simple and then out again, I use that. One step up in complexity is to alias something as 'emacs -nw' (emacs start in console mode.) Which is almost as quick (depending on your startup files), but you've got all your nice custom .emacs configuration there. Then, there's the fact you can run emacs in server mode and then your emacs editor windows are just connecting back to a server process and not loading up anything at all. Finally, there's the fact that a true emacs user would already be interacting with their shell in emacs shell-mode, so they wouldn't need to load anything at all. Zen moment
gchpaco 16y ago
Traditionally one has a single, long running Emacs process that you do everything in, even quick edits. If you had to wait for it to start up from scratch then yeah, that would be pretty annoying. My fingers frequently go `sudo vi ...' because I'm not used to using the sudo mode in TRAMP, but that would arguably be my deficiency, not Emacs.
- limmeau 16y ago

lelele 16y ago

Thank you for sharing. I think this shows limits of comment format. Why can't we just draw and embed images inside comments, along with Rich Text?

batterseapower 16y ago

You can turn your ASCII arts drawings into actual images with ditaa: http://ditaa.sourceforge.net/ http://ditaa.sourceforge.net/. I've found this handy for when you are generating HTML manuals from text comments in the source code, and you want to include a quick-n-dirty diagram in your manual.