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Chordal editing isn't as popular as modal editing, but I do like it and think it's something uncommon in other editors, at least to the same extant as emacs. T
by celrod 3y ago
Chordal editing isn't as popular as modal editing, but I do like it and think it's something uncommon in other editors, at least to the same extant as emacs.
The thing I like about emacs is the integration and consistent experience.
I can do everything in emacs (and use exwm as my window manager), so I have the same keybindings for everything.
As perhaps an extreme example, imagine having
1. A window manager like i3
2. tmux or screen
3. (n)vim or helix sessions with edited files, possibly inside tmux/screen
Each of these need to be configured separately, and each layer needs different keybindings so that uncaught ones can be forwarded from one layer to the next. Each layer is limited to only the subset of things it manages. E.g., i3 can let you switch between firefox and the terminal running tmux, but not the different sessions tmux manages, or views of any of the files in your nvim session.
Etc.
Or I could just use emacs create tiles I can move between, and each of which that is capable of opening any of my x-windows, terminal sessions, or open files.
You can even use the same autocomplete in your shell as when editing files.
I don't know of anything that gives the same simple, unified, workflow of EXWM (+ corfu&consult&...).
It does have issues and could use a serious modernization -- still single threaded in 2023, with some commands blocking IO??? -- but perhaps it's simply much too ambitious for someone to try and make a competitor.
These can have modal editing, tree sitter and lsp integration would be great, etc.
The thing I want is the smooth integration of everything I may do on a computer into one interface that emacs, but no other software I'm aware of, offers.
- gnull 3y agoWhat is chordal editing? Google search didn't give me any results. I agree that having different programs on you computer integrated and consistent is a good thing. Sorry for the reference to the old joke, but wouldn't all the things you list look better in a wishlist for an operating system instead of a text editor?
- celrod 3y agoBy chordal editing, I just meant pressing combinations of keys at the same time. Lots of editors support this to some degree, but most (AFAIK) are either modal, or don't support keyboard-driven workflows. One of the other classic emacs jokes is about how it can take key-combinations to extremes, e.g. https://xkcd.com/378/ https://xkcd.com/378/ I agree that I'm looking for a tiling window manager. This is what EXWM (the Emacs X Window Manager) is. The problem with things like i3, is that it is not integrated enough with editing and navigation of files. I wish there was more in this space, as Emacs has some limitations for this purpose (e.g. multithreading), but AFAIK emacs stands alone.