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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 t

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.

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.