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Well, let me know if you need help getting started with it. The built in tutorial usually helps. Yes, well, see what happens? Every time fads change or new lan

Well, let me know if you need help getting started with it. The built in tutorial usually helps. Yes, well, see what happens? Every time fads change or new languages appear, you have to change your editors. What if you could have just one editor for everything? For text files and taking notes, for all the programming languages in the world that you just learn once and learn it well, and be done with it. No more need for new editors.

cpach 7y ago
This is exactly why I stick to Emacs. I have used it since senior high school and haven’t had to switch ever since. Really convenient IMHO. It was the built-in tutorial that got me started. One just needs to type C-h t and then you’re good! Each to their own but that has suited me well at least.
AmericanChopper 7y ago
I’ve never understood getting so passionate about IDEs or editors. I use VScode at the moment. I’d be just as happy using any other number of editors. If I wanted to switch to sublime or webstorm or anything else, it wouldn’t take me very long at all to get it up and running and get back to work. They all do the job I need them for perfectly well.
- molteanu 7y ago
  Maybe the Blub paradox applies to code editors as well, As long as our hypothetical Blub programmer is looking down the power continuum, he knows he's looking down. Languages less powerful than Blub are obviously less powerful, because they're missing some feature he's used to. But when our hypothetical Blub programmer looks in the other direction, up the power continuum, he doesn't realize he's looking up. What he sees are merely weird languages. He probably considers them about equivalent in power to Blub, but with all this other hairy stuff thrown in as well. Blub is good enough for him, because he thinks in Blub. Emacs is not just a code editor. It will change the way you approach programming. As long as you don't understand it you might (rightfully, I guess) compare it to just "another text editor, only with these weird commands". Some of the stuff that Emacs can do and the way it integrates into your daily activities, cannot be seen in other text editors, so you're not even expecting such benefits from the other tools or realize that they exist out there, in the wild.
  - AmericanChopper 7y ago
    > Emacs is not just a code editor. It will change the way you approach programming. This is the most pretentious nonsense I've ever read. Writing code is writing code. God could create for you the most perfect IDE to ever exist, with every feature you know you want, and every feature that you don't yet know you want. Tailored exactly to your needs. But at the end of the day, you're just going to sit down and write code in it. All I see when I look at people who endlessly tinker with their setup, are people who are spending time things that aren't providing aren't providing value to their customers. I've worked with quite a few emacs wizards. Do they write better code than me? Some do, some don't. It doesn't seem to related to their use of emacs though. Are they more efficient than me? Some are, some aren't. Did they all spend a lot more time than I did to learn how to use their text editor? Yes. Did they all have to tinker with their text editor a lot more than I did to get it working the way they want it? Yes. Have I ever had a problem that I wouldn't have had if I'd invested all the time required to master emacs? No.
    - kbp 7y ago
      In Emacs, every key is evaluating some Lisp expression. You are interactively using Emacs Lisp in a funny sort of REPL. Most of the time you just use predefined commands and they do what you want, but if you know there's a whole programming language there, then you'll see opportunities to take advantage of that sometimes, just like how sometimes it's nice to be able to write a for loop or a pipeline at a bash prompt. Once you get used to that model of using a computer, it feels crippling to use applications that you can't easily program in on the fly. It's the difference between having a full programming language and a bunch of buttons you can press, and it's for something you're going to be doing a lot for a long time.
      - cbm-vic-20 7y ago
        I'd be interested to see the results of a survey of how many Emacs users use Emacs Lisp in any capacity beyond cut-and-pasting examples found online into their .emacs or .emacs.d/ configs.
      - 7y ago

cpach 7y ago

This is exactly why I stick to Emacs. I have used it since senior high school and haven’t had to switch ever since. Really convenient IMHO. It was the built-in tutorial that got me started. One just needs to type C-h t and then you’re good! Each to their own but that has suited me well at least.

AmericanChopper 7y ago

I’ve never understood getting so passionate about IDEs or editors. I use VScode at the moment. I’d be just as happy using any other number of editors. If I wanted to switch to sublime or webstorm or anything else, it wouldn’t take me very long at all to get it up and running and get back to work. They all do the job I need them for perfectly well.

molteanu 7y ago
Maybe the Blub paradox applies to code editors as well, As long as our hypothetical Blub programmer is looking down the power continuum, he knows he's looking down. Languages less powerful than Blub are obviously less powerful, because they're missing some feature he's used to. But when our hypothetical Blub programmer looks in the other direction, up the power continuum, he doesn't realize he's looking up. What he sees are merely weird languages. He probably considers them about equivalent in power to Blub, but with all this other hairy stuff thrown in as well. Blub is good enough for him, because he thinks in Blub. Emacs is not just a code editor. It will change the way you approach programming. As long as you don't understand it you might (rightfully, I guess) compare it to just "another text editor, only with these weird commands". Some of the stuff that Emacs can do and the way it integrates into your daily activities, cannot be seen in other text editors, so you're not even expecting such benefits from the other tools or realize that they exist out there, in the wild.
- AmericanChopper 7y ago
  > Emacs is not just a code editor. It will change the way you approach programming. This is the most pretentious nonsense I've ever read. Writing code is writing code. God could create for you the most perfect IDE to ever exist, with every feature you know you want, and every feature that you don't yet know you want. Tailored exactly to your needs. But at the end of the day, you're just going to sit down and write code in it. All I see when I look at people who endlessly tinker with their setup, are people who are spending time things that aren't providing aren't providing value to their customers. I've worked with quite a few emacs wizards. Do they write better code than me? Some do, some don't. It doesn't seem to related to their use of emacs though. Are they more efficient than me? Some are, some aren't. Did they all spend a lot more time than I did to learn how to use their text editor? Yes. Did they all have to tinker with their text editor a lot more than I did to get it working the way they want it? Yes. Have I ever had a problem that I wouldn't have had if I'd invested all the time required to master emacs? No.
  - kbp 7y ago
    In Emacs, every key is evaluating some Lisp expression. You are interactively using Emacs Lisp in a funny sort of REPL. Most of the time you just use predefined commands and they do what you want, but if you know there's a whole programming language there, then you'll see opportunities to take advantage of that sometimes, just like how sometimes it's nice to be able to write a for loop or a pipeline at a bash prompt. Once you get used to that model of using a computer, it feels crippling to use applications that you can't easily program in on the fly. It's the difference between having a full programming language and a bunch of buttons you can press, and it's for something you're going to be doing a lot for a long time.
    - cbm-vic-20 7y ago
      I'd be interested to see the results of a survey of how many Emacs users use Emacs Lisp in any capacity beyond cut-and-pasting examples found online into their .emacs or .emacs.d/ configs.
    - 7y ago