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I recently started using Emacs in a tiling window manager on Linux after using "standard" GUI editors like PyCharm, AppCode, Atom, VSCode, etc. on macOS. At fir

I recently started using Emacs in a tiling window manager on Linux after using "standard" GUI editors like PyCharm, AppCode, Atom, VSCode, etc. on macOS. At first, I felt exactly like you describe - it felt so constraining not having a tree view and tabs I could click on. But after a while I got used to using a keyboard shortcut to quickly jump between files or search for a file to open. I'm slowly getting used to it and find even the basic set of keyboard shortcuts I've learned feel so much more productive then combined use of a mouse and keyboard. Just one example of that - recently I needed to create some UUIDs to use in my code. Previously, I would have googled a UUID generator or used uuid on the command line and then pasted the output into my editor. With Emacs, I was able to easily insert the UUID directly into my code using `C-u M-! uuidgen` (that keyboard shortcut inserts the output of the given command at the current cursor location).

eadmund 9y ago
> it felt so constraining not having a tree view and tabs I could click on There are emacs packages for tree views[0] and tabs[1], but as you note the built-in buffer management is more powerful. Stuff like Helm or Ivy is even better! There's also an emacs uuidgen package, which can generate a uuid & insert it with M-x uuidgen; you could of course bind it to a key sequence if you use it frequently. 0: https://github.com/jaypei/emacs-neotree https://github.com/jaypei/emacs-neotree 1: https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TabBarMode https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TabBarMode
- nextlevelwizard 9y ago
  Thous things are pretty much things to avoid in my opinion. I used to have NERDTree in Vim and all kind of other useless nonsense. After I learned how to use fuzzy searching to jump between files and definitions all tree view does is take up space. Even with Atom finding files is way faster than clicking through the tree viewer.
  - eadmund 9y ago
    I agree re. tree views, but was merely noting that they exist, if one really wants them. rms may be doctrinaire, but emacs is not!
- iBelieve 9y ago
  Thanks for the suggestions. I knew about tree views for Emacs, but I usually work with Emacs and a terminal side-by-side on a 13" laptop screen, so a tree view just takes up extra space and I ended up not missing it much. As for the uuidgen package, this was just a one-time thing for a few uuids, so using the uuidgen command I already had installed on Linux was simplier.
codemac 9y ago
You can also try speedbar / speedbar-sr. Gives you a quick tree-like view when wanted, and then can be dismissed.
cup-of-tea 9y ago
Every day around the world a few users discover that the most efficient input tool is directly in front of them, uses both hands and all digits.
kuschku 9y ago
And with pycharm you'd have simply used a generator preset for uuids. There's even a dozen of generator presets integrated, you can just easily invoke them from your keyboard, without pressing all modifier keys at once. And PyCharm even has all the keyboard navigation as well, you can even get emacs or vi keybindings, if you wish, I only use the mouse when the app's already running and I'm going through the log.
- iBelieve 9y ago
  PyCharm is great, and I use it along with AppCode and Android Studio. I'm mainly trying to learn Emacs because so many people have great things to say about it, plus I've started using Org Mode for todos and notes and it's awesome. In addition, I've tried using the VIM emulation in the Jetbrains IDEs and have always ended up turning it off each time as I kept forgetting I was in VIM mode and would try to use the editor like a normal editor. Emacs with Evil mode is different enough that I don't try to mix VIM and regular editor usage.

eadmund 9y ago

> it felt so constraining not having a tree view and tabs I could click on There are emacs packages for tree views[0] and tabs[1], but as you note the built-in buffer management is more powerful. Stuff like Helm or Ivy is even better! There's also an emacs uuidgen package, which can generate a uuid & insert it with M-x uuidgen; you could of course bind it to a key sequence if you use it frequently. 0: https://github.com/jaypei/emacs-neotree https://github.com/jaypei/emacs-neotree 1: https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TabBarMode https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/TabBarMode

nextlevelwizard 9y ago
Thous things are pretty much things to avoid in my opinion. I used to have NERDTree in Vim and all kind of other useless nonsense. After I learned how to use fuzzy searching to jump between files and definitions all tree view does is take up space. Even with Atom finding files is way faster than clicking through the tree viewer.
- eadmund 9y ago
  I agree re. tree views, but was merely noting that they exist, if one really wants them. rms may be doctrinaire, but emacs is not!
iBelieve 9y ago
Thanks for the suggestions. I knew about tree views for Emacs, but I usually work with Emacs and a terminal side-by-side on a 13" laptop screen, so a tree view just takes up extra space and I ended up not missing it much. As for the uuidgen package, this was just a one-time thing for a few uuids, so using the uuidgen command I already had installed on Linux was simplier.

codemac 9y ago

You can also try speedbar / speedbar-sr. Gives you a quick tree-like view when wanted, and then can be dismissed.

cup-of-tea 9y ago

Every day around the world a few users discover that the most efficient input tool is directly in front of them, uses both hands and all digits.

kuschku 9y ago

And with pycharm you'd have simply used a generator preset for uuids. There's even a dozen of generator presets integrated, you can just easily invoke them from your keyboard, without pressing all modifier keys at once. And PyCharm even has all the keyboard navigation as well, you can even get emacs or vi keybindings, if you wish, I only use the mouse when the app's already running and I'm going through the log.

iBelieve 9y ago
PyCharm is great, and I use it along with AppCode and Android Studio. I'm mainly trying to learn Emacs because so many people have great things to say about it, plus I've started using Org Mode for todos and notes and it's awesome. In addition, I've tried using the VIM emulation in the Jetbrains IDEs and have always ended up turning it off each time as I kept forgetting I was in VIM mode and would try to use the editor like a normal editor. Emacs with Evil mode is different enough that I don't try to mix VIM and regular editor usage.