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> Rock, rock, rock solid no matter what I through at it. The main reason why I don't like Emacs is that it feels very fragile to me. The first time I tried to

> Rock, rock, rock solid no matter what I through at it. The main reason why I don't like Emacs is that it feels very fragile to me. The first time I tried to use Emacs seriously - granted, that was many years ago and probably things have improved - I wanted to change the font because it was using an old X11 pixel font. So I went to the settings, and accidentially deleted the combobox that allows you to choose the font. I tried to configure it with the command line or REPL or what it is called and managed to mess it up even further. Later, as I got more familiar, I regularly managed to get it into a state that required restarting. It seems in Emacs, everything is a mode and everything is an editor, and there is no separation between content and UI (except for things like the menu bar, which uses a different toolkit and is bolted on). I've learned to appriciate less configurable editors because there is less to screw up, and you have the same good experience on any PC without your special config.

Jtsummers 5y ago
> So I went to the settings, and accidentially deleted the combobox that allows you to choose the font. I'm genuinely curious how you did this, and how you did it in a way that was permanent. The customization screens are read-only by default (except for those boxes you type text in to specify the customization) and they're programmatically generated, not fixed.
Kessler83 5y ago
I mean rock solid as in being able to edit buffers with very different contents of half a million characters, every day for decades without crashing. I wouldn't call what you describe fragile. It sounds more like a typical learning experience. You did something, Emacs obeyed and then you who didn't like what you just did :). There is a market for restricting choice, so you are clearly not alone! But I don't think that the Emacs learning curve should be exaggerated, either. If you start it up and follow the instructions, you very quickly become productive. What gets people into trouble is usually when they expect Emacs to be like software X which they already know, so they don't read what's on the screen and kind of skip the introduction. And then they get frustrated when they find out that Emacs is Emacs. I'm not saying that's you, or that it is stupid, impatient etc. or whatever. I'm just saying that I've seen it quite a few times.
- coldtea 5y ago
  >I wouldn't call what you describe fragile. It sounds more like a typical learning experience. You did something, Emacs obeyed and then you who didn't like what you just did That's the definition of fragile. The famous "You're holding it wrong", even sounds benign compared to "it's just a learning experience".
  - Kessler83 5y ago
    No, the definition of fragile is that if you use something in a wrong way, it breaks. But Emacs doesn't break. It obeys and keeps running. With your reasoning, all software that gives you a choice, anything that can be configured, all programming languages etc. etc., become fragile, because as soon as someone says "I did this but I didn't like the result," your case has been proved. In other words, it is a circular definition. Anyway, I didn't mean learning experience in a condescending way. The user I answered indicated himself that he was learning---and we all are, when it comes to Emacs.
    - nawgz 5y ago
      > With your reasoning, all software that gives you a choice, anything that can be configured, all programming languages etc. etc., become fragile, because as soon as someone says "I did this but I didn't like the result," your case has been proved That's not at all true. It's called "validation" and "error handling". What kind of farce are you getting at? You unironically think a text editor that lets you break its settings panel by trying to use the settings panel normally isn't fragile? Edited to remove cheapshot at parent comment
      - nawgz 5y ago
        I am quite annoyed at downvotes that don't challenge my assertion. Any UI which allows you to directly compromise the environment to the point of requiring a fresh install is the very definition of fragile. I understand that HN is strongly biased against UI development and undervalues the domain, believing instead that tools only accessible to experts are fine, but I think this is an extremely user-hostile POV and to advocate for tools to have this level of footgun built into A FONT MENU is comically sloppy. I can only imagine the comments if someone did this in JS, yet because it's emacs? No comments, only downvotes

Jtsummers 5y ago

> So I went to the settings, and accidentially deleted the combobox that allows you to choose the font. I'm genuinely curious how you did this, and how you did it in a way that was permanent. The customization screens are read-only by default (except for those boxes you type text in to specify the customization) and they're programmatically generated, not fixed.

Kessler83 5y ago

I mean rock solid as in being able to edit buffers with very different contents of half a million characters, every day for decades without crashing. I wouldn't call what you describe fragile. It sounds more like a typical learning experience. You did something, Emacs obeyed and then you who didn't like what you just did :). There is a market for restricting choice, so you are clearly not alone! But I don't think that the Emacs learning curve should be exaggerated, either. If you start it up and follow the instructions, you very quickly become productive. What gets people into trouble is usually when they expect Emacs to be like software X which they already know, so they don't read what's on the screen and kind of skip the introduction. And then they get frustrated when they find out that Emacs is Emacs. I'm not saying that's you, or that it is stupid, impatient etc. or whatever. I'm just saying that I've seen it quite a few times.

coldtea 5y ago
>I wouldn't call what you describe fragile. It sounds more like a typical learning experience. You did something, Emacs obeyed and then you who didn't like what you just did That's the definition of fragile. The famous "You're holding it wrong", even sounds benign compared to "it's just a learning experience".
- Kessler83 5y ago
  No, the definition of fragile is that if you use something in a wrong way, it breaks. But Emacs doesn't break. It obeys and keeps running. With your reasoning, all software that gives you a choice, anything that can be configured, all programming languages etc. etc., become fragile, because as soon as someone says "I did this but I didn't like the result," your case has been proved. In other words, it is a circular definition. Anyway, I didn't mean learning experience in a condescending way. The user I answered indicated himself that he was learning---and we all are, when it comes to Emacs.
  - nawgz 5y ago
    > With your reasoning, all software that gives you a choice, anything that can be configured, all programming languages etc. etc., become fragile, because as soon as someone says "I did this but I didn't like the result," your case has been proved That's not at all true. It's called "validation" and "error handling". What kind of farce are you getting at? You unironically think a text editor that lets you break its settings panel by trying to use the settings panel normally isn't fragile? Edited to remove cheapshot at parent comment
    - nawgz 5y ago
      I am quite annoyed at downvotes that don't challenge my assertion. Any UI which allows you to directly compromise the environment to the point of requiring a fresh install is the very definition of fragile. I understand that HN is strongly biased against UI development and undervalues the domain, believing instead that tools only accessible to experts are fine, but I think this is an extremely user-hostile POV and to advocate for tools to have this level of footgun built into A FONT MENU is comically sloppy. I can only imagine the comments if someone did this in JS, yet because it's emacs? No comments, only downvotes