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And that isn't even an issue in practice for emacs users. We're going to use tramp for most things, and are comfortable enough with vi or nano to do any quick e

And that isn't even an issue in practice for emacs users. We're going to use tramp for most things, and are comfortable enough with vi or nano to do any quick edits over shh. But having students try to learn emacs while setting up tramp is a bit much to ask when learning the basics of ssh and vi works just fine. It also doesn't risk students getting confused about the unix fundamentals by throwing emacs–a lisp machine masquerading as an editor–into the mix.

lanstin 5y ago
My wife had been a software engineer in the 90s and now is a painter. When we met, she had a brief idea to return to programming (she is PhD physicist also, so certainly smart enough). I had only recently met her, and I was so happy, I set up emacs, scheme, and the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs for her and tried to explain how awesome and sensible it all was. Not a good idea, we barely survived that relationship error. She did laugh at it recently (about 7 years later). I still maintain that SICP is essential reading, but only say it at parties. I learned emacs over some months; I had a job as the IT support guy and I wanted to become a Unix C developer, so I grabbed an unused HPUX workstation, sent all my email to emacs, and then spent months learning how to use it. Probably six months before I was using it decently well.
- narwally 5y ago
  Yeah, I feel like a lot of us emacs users have been using it for so long that we don't even realize how different even the basics feel to people that are used to doing things the 'new fashioned' way. I picked it up after reading all of Steve Yegge's emacs blog rants, so I already had my interest peaked and had a good idea what I was getting myself into. I also wasn't expecting to get any serious work done with it, I was just curious about lisp and functional programming and wanted to dick around with emacs to see what all the fuss was about. After that I was hooked. I count all the hours of rewriting my emacs configs from scratch or typing in every function from SICP as time well 'wasted', but I fully understand why not everyone considers that type of thing to be something fun to do on a lazy Sunday.

lanstin 5y ago

My wife had been a software engineer in the 90s and now is a painter. When we met, she had a brief idea to return to programming (she is PhD physicist also, so certainly smart enough). I had only recently met her, and I was so happy, I set up emacs, scheme, and the Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs for her and tried to explain how awesome and sensible it all was. Not a good idea, we barely survived that relationship error. She did laugh at it recently (about 7 years later). I still maintain that SICP is essential reading, but only say it at parties. I learned emacs over some months; I had a job as the IT support guy and I wanted to become a Unix C developer, so I grabbed an unused HPUX workstation, sent all my email to emacs, and then spent months learning how to use it. Probably six months before I was using it decently well.

narwally 5y ago
Yeah, I feel like a lot of us emacs users have been using it for so long that we don't even realize how different even the basics feel to people that are used to doing things the 'new fashioned' way. I picked it up after reading all of Steve Yegge's emacs blog rants, so I already had my interest peaked and had a good idea what I was getting myself into. I also wasn't expecting to get any serious work done with it, I was just curious about lisp and functional programming and wanted to dick around with emacs to see what all the fuss was about. After that I was hooked. I count all the hours of rewriting my emacs configs from scratch or typing in every function from SICP as time well 'wasted', but I fully understand why not everyone considers that type of thing to be something fun to do on a lazy Sunday.