I've decided to try Emacs.

BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1499 Location: U.S.A.

I've avoided it all this time. I've used vi. I use a tiling window manager. I just feel like my GNU/Linux experience cannot be complete without at least trying Emacs. No bullshit X version: the real thing.

Any big hints or warnings before I take the plunge?
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dmitchell · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:39 am Post subject:

It'll turn you into a total fag. Even the name is faggy.
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notageek · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 6:44 am Post subject:

You'll need 18 fingers.
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aidanjt · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:17 am Post subject:

BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1499 Location: U.S.A.

notageek · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:08 am Post subject:

Instead of us telling you, why don't you come back and tell us in a few days. I'm sure you'll be able to put it more eloquently than anyone else here.
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BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1499 Location: U.S.A.

notageek · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:21 am Post subject:

I'm in a team, which predominantly uses emacs. I was asked by my manager to ensure my code is readable in emacs.

Yes, I have used emacs.
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BoneKracker · Veteran Joined: 14 Mar 2006 Posts: 1499 Location: U.S.A.

notageek · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:57 am Post subject:

I've been using vi. Its simpler, quicker to use. I don't have to be a finger gymnast to use an editor.
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aidanjt · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:59 am Post subject:

Crooksey · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 12:39 pm Post subject:

I use nano, its been about 6~ years since ive used a distro that doesn't contain it as standard and takes all of 2minutes to install if im on bsd. It works for editing config files very well. Why waste an hour learning emacs when its sooo bad?

When im coding I use an IDE (eclipse/aptana) as I didnt spend $1000+ on my laptop to use 1% of its CPU and RAM, I spent $1000+ to use a nice fully featured DE with whatever apps I want that make my life as a coder easier.

juniper · l33t Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 756 Location: EU

juniper · l33t Joined: 22 Oct 2004 Posts: 756 Location: EU

energyman76b · Advocate Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 2022 Location: Germany

Dr.Willy · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 5:41 pm Post subject:

energyman76b · Advocate Joined: 26 Mar 2003 Posts: 2022 Location: Germany

seriously

emacs was made for people with manly keyboards. If you only have a girly 101 or 102 key keyboard - that is not emacs fault. As a truely great program emacs is able to deal with such sub par hardware.

vi(m) on the other hand just demands incredible amounts of braindamage. As soons as the victim is mostly braindead, its 'modes' and assorted crap are looking great and vi(m) like the best editor ever. A victim of vi(m) at that stage should be soothed with sweet words while the vetinary prepares for the mercy killing.
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LoTeK · Apprentice Joined: 26 Jul 2012 Posts: 244

LoTeK · Apprentice Joined: 26 Jul 2012 Posts: 244

Bigun · Veteran Joined: 21 Sep 2003 Posts: 1950

I've used nano for any type of configuration file changes, for anything more complex than that I turn to jEdit.
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smartass · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:11 pm Post subject:

BK, try org-mode

What I see as EMACS killer features ( you could also read: features that Vi(M) doesn't have or aren't as good):

org-mode. Period.
Who hasn't tried, cannot understand. Imagine making a full LaTeX Beamer presentation with just a few lines while being updated on the agenda for the presentation topics
dired - imagine working with file names like with written text
daemon mode - I can have several emacsclients open on several desktops, all sharing the same set of buffers which I can display and hide in different layouts. Using emacs in dameon mode + emacsclient is also a lot less resource expensive and starts up very fast.
various minor and major modes - simplifying common tasks
working with external processes in inferior buffers
as ELisp is the common programming interface for most extensions, extending them is quite consistent with all the nice hooks and documentation

I still use ViM whenever I just need to quickly edit or display some configuration file, just to keep my skills up.

IMHO, Vi(M) is a great text editor, but EMACS is a great text writer. What I mean is that e.g. writing some LaTeX file from scratch in vim may require more keystrokes than in Emacs, because EMACS has more macros for various things (org-mode + auctex > vim-latex), but changing a few things once the file is written may be quicker in vim with all the cool key-combo shortcuts.

NotQuiteSane · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 7:19 pm Post subject: Re: I've decided to try Emacs.

Prenj · n00b Joined: 20 Nov 2011 Posts: 8 Location: Mostar, BiH

NotQuiteSane · Posted: Wed Dec 05, 2012 8:03 pm Post subject: Re: I've decided to try Emacs.

Prenj · n00b Joined: 20 Nov 2011 Posts: 8 Location: Mostar, BiH