86 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
86 lines
3.4 KiB
Plaintext
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# Emacs, Lovely
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For the last few months I've been tinkering with Emacs at a deeper
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level. I got started with it at my first job as an intern 15 years ago
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and have not looked back ever since. To be completely honest, I don't
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remember how I learned. All my colleagues used it and I got started with
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some basic modes thanks to them. I suppose I had better memory 15 years
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ago!
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For those who don't know, Emacs is a text editor created by Richard
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Stallman, David Moon, and Guy Steele in 1976. It's available for nearly
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every platform known to man and can be customized to infinity. A friend
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jokes about how if Emacs was an operating system, that's the one I'd
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run.
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Reality is, to be able to get around Emacs you just need to learn a few
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things, such as dired commands, open, close buffer, save, search,
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etc. But it can go so much further! Did you know that you can find out
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the lunar phases with `M-x lunar-phases'?
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# How Emacs works for me
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Alright, fair enough, the lunar phases tip is not strong of a reason
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to switch to Emacs (or to even try it). But this editor, to me, has
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been the perfect fit for several purposes. Here's a few:
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* Thanks to `org-mode', I write a journal, take notes, have my TO-DO
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list, write technical documentation, and manage JIRA tickets.
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* `go-mode' is an excellent Go IDE that I use every day.
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* `shell-mode' to use the shell while you're writing code.
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* `twittering-mode' :blush:
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I code all my software and do all my writing using Emacs. It works
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well for me. I wish multi-language support was more straight forward
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and, while I have figured it out for the most part and feel
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comfortable with it, setting it up wasn't trivial.
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# Where it falls short for me
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Emacs, however, is not for everyone. First of all, I tend to recommend
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`vim' to newbies thanks to its wide support. But that's not the
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point. Emacs hasn't been perfect for me (so far) for a few things:
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* Raltime Communications. I use [Telegram] and [Slack] on a daily
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basis; while there are modes for both on Emacs, they are not great
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or as convenient as the native alternatives or other command line
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options.
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* Email. I have tried and made it work. I've used `gnus',=mu4e=, and
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`notmuch'. While `notmuch' worked the best for me, handling 3
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accounts and a somewhat large index made Emacs sluggish and
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unresponsive. I'll stick to [Thunderbird] for now.
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Again, these didn't work for me, but your mileage may vary.
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=> https://telegram.org/ Telegram
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=> https://slack.com/ Slack
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=> https://www.thunderbird.net Thunderbird
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# Best resources
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The beauty of this community is how responsive and supportive it
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is. Here are some of the best resources I've found for all things
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Emacs:
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* [Stackoverflow]. Duh!
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* [/r/emacs] to learn how other people are using the editor.
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* The original [Emacs Manual] by Mr. Stallman himself. Consider
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purchasing the [printed version] and support the FSF.
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* The [org-mode manual] for all things `org-mode'.
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* [Mastering Emacs] is an amazing resource. Similar to the Emacs
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Manual but easy to read and more practical. Worth every penny.
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=> https://stackoverflow.com/ Stackoverflow
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=> https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs/ /r/emacs
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=> https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/pdf/emacs.pdf Emacs Manual
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=> https://shop.fsf.org/books/gnu-emacs-manual-18th-edition-v-261 printed version
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=> https://orgmode.org/manual org-mode manual
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=> https://www.masteringemacs.org/ Mastering Emacs
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# Where to go from here
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My plan is to publish my `.emacs' file and explain it part by part, so
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stay tuned for more Emacs goodness.
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