Using emacs after 2 years

Preface

I’ve been busy recently and forgot about this blog but since I’ve left my previous job I have all this free time to revisit things. 2 years has passed since I switch from sublime to emacs. I must say I’ve grown to like it more than ever.

This is about what I’ve experienced over the time I used emacs.

Philosophy

I am now a converted fan of Emacs. I’ve noticed that there always religious debate between emacs and vim or any other editors. I believe the cause of it is mostly due to nature of the emacs users, because they expect other people to attain same conclusion they had.

You see, emacs has different philosophy. Maybe it is because of FSF mission.

Free software developers guarantee everyone equal rights to their programs; any user can study the source code, modify it, and share the program

Not all developers wants to exercise this right. This I believe is the main cause of division between Emacs and Non-Emacs users.

Experience

As I use Emacs as my editor, I started to see things differently. There was a frustration at first, mainly because mainstream application/editor I was used to, doesn’t behave like emacs. But as I started to do things in emacs way. I slowly started to realize things. It has this liberating feeling.

Sounds philosophical yet true.

Realizations

Mouse vs Keyboard

The first thing I realized is the Mouse. Most of emacs commands doesn’t require you using the mouse only your keyboard. And there are advantage to it.

• Keyboard allows you to use all your 10 fingers
• No input switching between mouse and keyboard (it slows you down, believe me)

I am a photographer, I know that auto-mode is almost only used on entry level cameras. This is the equivalent of mouse to computers. Mouse are created to lower the barrier on using computers. But as your proficiency increases you will want more than what the mouse can offer.

Text vs GUI

After learning how to use the keyboard alone, I now realize that I am not dependent on GUI anymore. I see how simple things are and that almost everything can be done using text only.

Also because I am getting used to text-only I started notice the consistency in the way I navigate, edit or use programs. Something I never achieve when I am using GUI applications.

Customization (Open Source)

Now I’m familiar to emacs way of doing things, I started to think of a better way of doing things. Example is I would like that whenever I save I also want to run make test on the other window. So I can see If I am breaking my code. I just write a code to do just that and bind it to a key like Ctrl + r. Another one, when I press Alt + . i want to go to the definition of the function I’m editing then Alt + , to go back.

(progn
  (defun save-test()
    "Save current file then run `make test'"
    (interactive)
    (save-buffer)
    (with-current-buffer "sh-program"
      (erase-buffer)
      (insert "make test")
      (comint-send-input)))
  (global-set-key (kbd "C-r") 'save-test))

It is straightforward on how to customize things. Everything is available and properly documented. I can see how opening a file is implemented and work from there. I did create plug-ins in sublime before using python plug-ins to help me on frequent tasks I am doing. Sublime exposes limited set of API that I can use but it is nowhere what Emacs offer.

In emacs almost everything is exposed or available to the user. Everything is a function. When I’m just inserting a character 'c' it is calling the function insert-command, this allows me to redefine almost anything.

Because everything is accessible and editable, this awakens the developer spirit in me. As a developer we develop software that helps the user. In this case I am the user and I want to develop things that will help me. Just like a chef cooking for himself.

Lisp vs Python vs Javascript

Most editor now can be extended using Python (Sublime) or Javascript (Atom). Emacs can be extended using Lisp. Lisp has the simplest syntax of the three and is the most flexible. It is homogeneous, there is almost no difference between code and data. Everything can be manipulated. You want your own if-else clause or even your own do-while flow you can define it yourself.

;; --------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Macro Definition

(defmacro do (body while cond)
  "Control Flow: DO WHILE (do <exp> while <cond>) implementation"
    `(progn
       ,@body
       (while ,cond
         ,@body)))

(defmacro ife (cond success else fail)
  "Control Flow: Custom IFELSE (ife <cond> <exp> else <exp>) implementation"
  `(if ,cond ,success ,fail))


;; --------------------------------------------------------------------
;; Usage: Do While

(setq temp-var 0)
(do ((setq temp-var (1+ temp-var))
     (insert "%s" temp-var))
    while (< temp-var 5))

;; Usage: If Else
(ife t
   (message "true")
 else
   (message "false"))

Because of this Lisp gives the programmer the ability to do anything. It is up to the programmers creativity on how he want to use it. This works extremely well with Emacs. Emacs allows me to customize almost anything and the language it uses (lisp) allows me to code in a whatever way I want.

Freedom

Due to the realizations I had, It now changed the way I think. I constantly has this urge to taylor fit any application on how I am going to use it and whenever I can’t it pisses me off.

I now see how cluttered the software ecosystem is. That most of it originated from our unpreparedness to the sudden explosion of personal computers. When ordinary people has access to computer they chose the path with lower learning curve GUI despite the productivity when using text-based programs.

I am not saying that efficiency trumps convenience. They are different criteria and not correlated.

Some people would like efficiency over convenience like me. Others would choose convenience.

It is like normal person would choose cars that uses automatic transmission, a racer would likely to use a manual type. Are you a racer or a normal person? No point in convincing that everyone should be a racer. Because it depends on the context on how you use your tools.

Recommendation

Are you frustrated with the currently available software? Feels like nothing fits your workflow?

Then YES emacs is for you.

Are you contented on what current software has to offer? And currently happy with your workflow?

Then NO emacs is not for you. You are better off using Vim, Sublime or any IDE.

Its like the red pill or blue pill in the matrix.

Emacs or Lisp is the red pill