6 ms·

EmacsConf 2020: State of Retro Gaming in Emacs

79 points by sohkamyung 6y ago

siraben 6y ago
Worth noting that Emacs has several builtin games already, including Tetris, Gomoku, Lights Out, Pong, dunnet, maybe a few others as well. All of which are implemented in Emacs Lisp!
- submeta 6y ago
  Love `M-x tetris RET`. Beautifully made. After many years of love for beautiful interfaces ("oh, look, how beautiful and shiny (i.e.) `PCalc` is"), I realize that what matters to me is my data and a versatile interface that allows me interact with my data. Emacs + Lisp are this minimalist, yet extremely versatile and powerful interface to get almost everything done in working with a computer: Write text of any kind (from code to novels), manage projects and keep a personal wiki with org-mode, create overviews with (ascii)tables, write documentation, automate all kinds of workflows using Emacs Lisp. In a sense the ZEN or essence of interfaces.
  - siraben 6y ago
    Definitely. The notion that "everything is a buffer" is a powerful one. Take something as simple as the incremental search functionality. Interfaces in other programs often don't have searchable content, OTOH any buffer you use in Emacs can be searched, sorted, and processed just as you would in a text file.
    - segfaultbuserr 6y ago
      > Interfaces in other programs often don't have searchable content Don't even mention the luxury of "searchable", isn't it just frustrating that Windows still forbids you from selecting and copying text on a message box? If a program displays an error message, you have to transcribe everything by hand before you can do a web search...
      - verandacoffee 6y ago
        ctrl-C Has worked in message boxes for years.
        segfaultbuserr 6y ago
        Interesting, appears to be a feature since Windows 7. TBH, I migrated to Gnome 2 back in the days of Windows XP, so never noticed it. Thanks for the tip!
        KMnO4 6y ago
        Don’t quote me (I haven’t used Windows in years), but I believe this feature has existed for much longer than Windows 7.
        badsectoracula 6y ago
        Yeah, it was there in Windows XP too. Though TBH this assumes an application uses the native dialog box for messages and many applications make their own. For example Delphi (at least the older ones) applications do not seem to support it. However some applications may implement it themselves (e.g. Lazarus does support it but it uses its own formatting).
        muro 6y ago
        I think at least windows 2000 had that for native dialog boxes.
        siraben 6y ago
        Heh, then I could easily say the same for the lack of regexp search/undo tree and so on in text boxes. When will Windows ever add those functionalities? Extensibility really makes all the difference. Emacs is perhaps the most successful Lisp machine.
  - blackbear_ 6y ago
    Thank you for killing all my productivity.
- bitwize 6y ago
  Emacs Tetris is infringing copyright, as are all Tetris clones. I'm surprised the maintainers have not pulled it the way they pulled the Zippy quotes. (I believe Fedora excludes Tetris from its Emacs distribution, based on trademark issues.)
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
dec0dedab0de 6y ago
I wish I worked around people that used emacs so I could pick some of it up by watching them and asking small dumb questions. It seems so cool, but the decades of history make it daunting to get started on your own.
- submeta 6y ago
  r/emacs is a wonderful community. Also, many young people are picking it up and starting youtube channels, demonstrating beautifully how to use it. Magnar Sveen has done many excellent videos (http://emacsrocks.com/ http://emacsrocks.com/). Also, Protesilaos Stavrou on Youtube: Wonderful videos, albeit a little academic for some (but I like it a lot). Also, System Crafters on youtube: From basic to sophisticated videos. Emacs (with its beautiful language `Lisp`) is a tool that will be with you for the rest of your life. I have seen many many tools come and go, but Emacs (just like Lisp) has the potential to be around in many decades. So it's well worth investing time in it.
  - dec0dedab0de 6y ago
    Ive been trying, it's just that it seems like there are hundreds of things that can take 10 minutes or 10 weeks to research and learn, if you can even find out about them. I just wish I had people in my daily life who could give me answers like "oh that's easy just do this" or "yeah this thing rules but buckle up it's gonna take some time to get down".
    - bloopernova 6y ago
      message me on reddit, vale_fallacia. I'll be that person for you :)
      - NhanH 6y ago
        Not the GP, but I will take up that offer if you don't mind! :)
        6y ago
anthk 6y ago
The ZMachine interpreter is a must. Get malyon.el .
mplsCorwin 6y ago
will you pplease speak your name, screen-name,esp? bit fan, might screw it up it later anyway. please downpayment accept apology.

79 points by sohkamyung 6y ago

Worth noting that Emacs has several builtin games already, including Tetris, Gomoku, Lights Out, Pong, dunnet, maybe a few others as well. All of which are implemented in Emacs Lisp!

submeta 6y ago
Love `M-x tetris RET`. Beautifully made. After many years of love for beautiful interfaces ("oh, look, how beautiful and shiny (i.e.) `PCalc` is"), I realize that what matters to me is my data and a versatile interface that allows me interact with my data. Emacs + Lisp are this minimalist, yet extremely versatile and powerful interface to get almost everything done in working with a computer: Write text of any kind (from code to novels), manage projects and keep a personal wiki with org-mode, create overviews with (ascii)tables, write documentation, automate all kinds of workflows using Emacs Lisp. In a sense the ZEN or essence of interfaces.
- siraben 6y ago
  Definitely. The notion that "everything is a buffer" is a powerful one. Take something as simple as the incremental search functionality. Interfaces in other programs often don't have searchable content, OTOH any buffer you use in Emacs can be searched, sorted, and processed just as you would in a text file.
  - segfaultbuserr 6y ago
    > Interfaces in other programs often don't have searchable content Don't even mention the luxury of "searchable", isn't it just frustrating that Windows still forbids you from selecting and copying text on a message box? If a program displays an error message, you have to transcribe everything by hand before you can do a web search...
    - verandacoffee 6y ago
      ctrl-C Has worked in message boxes for years.
      - segfaultbuserr 6y ago
        Interesting, appears to be a feature since Windows 7. TBH, I migrated to Gnome 2 back in the days of Windows XP, so never noticed it. Thanks for the tip!
        KMnO4 6y ago
        Don’t quote me (I haven’t used Windows in years), but I believe this feature has existed for much longer than Windows 7.
        badsectoracula 6y ago
        Yeah, it was there in Windows XP too. Though TBH this assumes an application uses the native dialog box for messages and many applications make their own. For example Delphi (at least the older ones) applications do not seem to support it. However some applications may implement it themselves (e.g. Lazarus does support it but it uses its own formatting).
        muro 6y ago
        I think at least windows 2000 had that for native dialog boxes.
        siraben 6y ago
        Heh, then I could easily say the same for the lack of regexp search/undo tree and so on in text boxes. When will Windows ever add those functionalities? Extensibility really makes all the difference. Emacs is perhaps the most successful Lisp machine.
- blackbear_ 6y ago
  Thank you for killing all my productivity.
bitwize 6y ago
Emacs Tetris is infringing copyright, as are all Tetris clones. I'm surprised the maintainers have not pulled it the way they pulled the Zippy quotes. (I believe Fedora excludes Tetris from its Emacs distribution, based on trademark issues.)

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

dec0dedab0de 6y ago

I wish I worked around people that used emacs so I could pick some of it up by watching them and asking small dumb questions. It seems so cool, but the decades of history make it daunting to get started on your own.

submeta 6y ago
r/emacs is a wonderful community. Also, many young people are picking it up and starting youtube channels, demonstrating beautifully how to use it. Magnar Sveen has done many excellent videos (http://emacsrocks.com/ http://emacsrocks.com/). Also, Protesilaos Stavrou on Youtube: Wonderful videos, albeit a little academic for some (but I like it a lot). Also, System Crafters on youtube: From basic to sophisticated videos. Emacs (with its beautiful language `Lisp`) is a tool that will be with you for the rest of your life. I have seen many many tools come and go, but Emacs (just like Lisp) has the potential to be around in many decades. So it's well worth investing time in it.
- dec0dedab0de 6y ago
  Ive been trying, it's just that it seems like there are hundreds of things that can take 10 minutes or 10 weeks to research and learn, if you can even find out about them. I just wish I had people in my daily life who could give me answers like "oh that's easy just do this" or "yeah this thing rules but buckle up it's gonna take some time to get down".
  - bloopernova 6y ago
    message me on reddit, vale_fallacia. I'll be that person for you :)
    - NhanH 6y ago
      Not the GP, but I will take up that offer if you don't mind! :)
      - 6y ago

anthk 6y ago

The ZMachine interpreter is a must. Get malyon.el .

mplsCorwin 6y ago

will you pplease speak your name, screen-name,esp? bit fan, might screw it up it later anyway. please downpayment accept apology.