Ask YC: Learning an Editor

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=231589

by PieSquared • 18 years ago

4 8 18 years ago

news.ycombinator.com

I've been an avid Vim user for about a year and a half, or maybe even two now. I'd like to learn Emacs, first of all because it seems (from an outside viewpoint) to be slightly more powerful, but also because it has a few features I'd like to be able to use.

I started trying to learn Emacs yesterday, but I find that everything I do doesn't get anything done, and beating my head against it doesn't help.

Does anyone have any suggestions or tips on how to get up to speed on usage of Emacs as fast as possible? Maybe a like to a "N00B Guide" or something?

Thanks.

pivo• 18 years ago

Did you try the tutorial? Load it with Ctrl-h t

It would help to be more specific about what you'd like to learn about emacs.

mechanical_fish• 18 years ago

I learned emacs from an O'Reilly book: Learning GNU Emacs

http://books.google.com/books?id=a_lea3-w-1kC&printsec=f...

If that and/or the tutorial doesn't do it for you, google "emacswiki" and see what else you can find. Also, "steve yegge emacs" (but maybe not on your first day, unless you need further inspiration).

raju• 18 years ago

Good advice from both mechanical_fish and pivo. The GNU Emacs book is a tad old, considering that emacs is now v.22 but it certainly will help you get from nowhere to a slow jog ;-). Considering I too am trying to learn Emacs, here's one thing that I try and do. Learn one new command everyday, and practice that all day. I mean literally - for e.g. Ctrl-T swaps two characters (I learned that one today). I essentially just started typing random letters into emacs and hitting ctrl-t every now and then (amongst some other commands I learned over the last few days).

A good editor has to be an extension of your fingers. Emacs can do that for you, once you accept that the learning curve is extremely steep. Another thing I learned, don't try and bite off more than you can chew. Emacs has several modes and hundreds of extensions that you can install, each with their own commands, and key-board shortcuts (not to mention the initial set up and configuration). Take it one step at a time, figure out the basic commands from the tutorial, and take it from there. Once you have established mastery of moving around within emacs, basic editing, searching etc you will not only be ready, but be much more comfortable with the "zen of emacs".

Here is another discussion (of several more, I am sure) that I came across on HN today. Some good advice there...

http://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=230639

Good luck.

cbryan• 18 years ago

I started using Emacs a few months back and I found that having a keybinding reference next to your computer is super handy. So long as you know what you're trying to do, you can just look it up and do it. After a while the commands will become second nature. Muscle memory baby!

I found this really nice visual cheat-sheet by Stephen Chan and it helped me a ton. There are a few text references out there but I think this is by far the best.

http://www.scribd.com/doc/264676/NotesheetEmacs

PS: Look around for information on modes, they're worth mastering.

stcredzero• 18 years ago

The reason why there is so much Emacs/vi debate is because both editors are quite powerful! From what I have seen, both are very good editors. If you already know vim really well, then you won't benefit editor-wise from learning Emacs. If you want a portable operating system/programming environment within an OS, then Emacs offers a lot more than vi does.

j2d2• 18 years ago

Emacs and Vi debates go on and on but usually have two categories. Some people like total control over their environment (emacs) and some people usually find enough power to get most things done fast (vi).

Often, people who use vi don't realize they're actually emacs people and versa vice. Considering that control over your editor is the source of your productivity it's worth it to check both out. Then get busy!

visitor4rmindia• 18 years ago

Have you tried reading the EMacs tutorial (C-h t)? That's how I started. And as far as I remember, it was pretty good at getting me up to speed. I also found it useful to write out my own cheat sheet as I went along.

After that I kinda got lost until I discovered "The Info Directory" (C-h i). I just went through each item step by step and read most of it. Kinda painful but it gave me a really good feel for the entire system.

IMHO, though, there's not much point in switching from Vi to EMacs unless you do ELisp. Vi is a beautiful environment to work in but, with EMacs, you can make your environment behave practically in any way you want.

lele• 17 years ago

use emacs' viper-mode to leverage your previous experfence with vim

Ask YC: Learning an Editor

Related Stories