4 ms·

If you use Emacs in Vim mode -- I'm not much of an Emacs user in general, but lately I've actually tentatively taken to Doom Emacs, much to my own surprise -- i

If you use Emacs in Vim mode -- I'm not much of an Emacs user in general, but lately I've actually tentatively taken to Doom Emacs, much to my own surprise -- is Mastering Emacs still useful?

thrown_22 4y ago
>I'm a writer and I'm really good at punctuation and spelling, do I really need to learn how to write a good story? Vim is a text editor, emacs is a text manipulator. If you never want to do more than copy a rectangle of text from region a to region b then you don't need more than vim. If you want to write tools that fit your workflow you need to know elisp.
- SoftTalker 4y ago
  For readers, don't think this means you need to be an elisp hacker to benefit from emacs. You don't need to write tools -- there are hundreds already written, and installable as packages. I use emacs to edit code, organize projects, and read my email but I rarely touch elisp.
  - thrown_22 4y ago
    To anyone reading: don't just be a consumer. There are enough projects made for people who just consume. Emacs is still a project run for people who make stuff with it. Please go somewhere else if you have no interest in building anything.
    - srcreigh 4y ago
      Imo, no harm in being a consumer. I think every hacker is at some level a consumer. But you will get the most out of emacs if you have a habit of becoming less of a consumer.
srcreigh 4y ago
TLDR yes. My current config is vanilla emacs, it’s very minimal. It uses boon for modal editing. I’ve delved into the boon elisp code enough to patch it so that it has a somewhat functional way to switch between Dvorak modal editing and Qwerty. I’ve read some of Mickeys blog posts, not the book. I can generally recommend learning how to emacs and I’m sure mickey will help you a lot to do that. I used vim for 5ish years. I switched to emacs with its C-p C-n etc for a while. Then I found found boon, then I made my patch to it. vim to me is now subsumed by a <1000 line hackable elisp file. The whole process of installing the boon code, searching and navigating it, making changes and dynamically reloading it, and then using it, etc. You can take it one step at a time and everything is ready for you to take the next step. In vim, it works the way it works and you can learn it and use it. In emacs, same, and if you want you can also easily browse it’s code and dynamically change it. It’s strictly better. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance I also find that browsing the source is so easy that documentation is more annoying to use. Sometimes I find documented customization options that are the little hack i would have made in the code anyways. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but it is truly a cup of tea.
- ngcc_hk 4y ago
  Miss that. And might try it next round. Love the zen and the motorcycle book.

If you use Emacs in Vim mode -- I'm not much of an Emacs user in general, but lately I've actually tentatively taken to Doom Emacs, much to my own surprise -- is Mastering Emacs still useful?

thrown_22 4y ago

>I'm a writer and I'm really good at punctuation and spelling, do I really need to learn how to write a good story? Vim is a text editor, emacs is a text manipulator. If you never want to do more than copy a rectangle of text from region a to region b then you don't need more than vim. If you want to write tools that fit your workflow you need to know elisp.

SoftTalker 4y ago
For readers, don't think this means you need to be an elisp hacker to benefit from emacs. You don't need to write tools -- there are hundreds already written, and installable as packages. I use emacs to edit code, organize projects, and read my email but I rarely touch elisp.
- thrown_22 4y ago
  To anyone reading: don't just be a consumer. There are enough projects made for people who just consume. Emacs is still a project run for people who make stuff with it. Please go somewhere else if you have no interest in building anything.
  - srcreigh 4y ago
    Imo, no harm in being a consumer. I think every hacker is at some level a consumer. But you will get the most out of emacs if you have a habit of becoming less of a consumer.

srcreigh 4y ago

TLDR yes. My current config is vanilla emacs, it’s very minimal. It uses boon for modal editing. I’ve delved into the boon elisp code enough to patch it so that it has a somewhat functional way to switch between Dvorak modal editing and Qwerty. I’ve read some of Mickeys blog posts, not the book. I can generally recommend learning how to emacs and I’m sure mickey will help you a lot to do that. I used vim for 5ish years. I switched to emacs with its C-p C-n etc for a while. Then I found found boon, then I made my patch to it. vim to me is now subsumed by a <1000 line hackable elisp file. The whole process of installing the boon code, searching and navigating it, making changes and dynamically reloading it, and then using it, etc. You can take it one step at a time and everything is ready for you to take the next step. In vim, it works the way it works and you can learn it and use it. In emacs, same, and if you want you can also easily browse it’s code and dynamically change it. It’s strictly better. Zen and the art of motorcycle maintenance I also find that browsing the source is so easy that documentation is more annoying to use. Sometimes I find documented customization options that are the little hack i would have made in the code anyways. It’s not everybody’s cup of tea, but it is truly a cup of tea.

ngcc_hk 4y ago
Miss that. And might try it next round. Love the zen and the motorcycle book.