Re: Newbie programmer beginning to use Emacs, Help!

[Tom Rauchenwald <its.sec@gmx.net>]

Sean Ochoa <WakieWakie@gmail.com> writes:

> Hey all.  I'm sure you get this a lot for those adventurous enough to
> venture out from windows (notepad-esc) text editors... but I'm totally
> confused by the help files about how to use Emacs.  Here are a few of
> my questions, for starters:
>
> 1.  What is the "Meta" key (I couldn't find a definition that makes
> sense in documentation anywhere)?  I'm using a HP Pavillion dv9428nr
> laptop running win xp pro and Emacs v22.1.1

It is usually the Alt key.

> 2.  How to enter a command like ftp mysite.net user:admin@mysite.net
> password:admin_password, so that I can work on files from my web
> server (as a side note, does emacs support ftp 'save-as' to server?)?

You'd use Tramp for that, but i'm not sure how well it works on windows.
You'd open an ftp file like /ftp:foo@example.com:filename
Emacs prompts you for a password and at least on GNU/Linux it works out
of the box. It also supports various other things like ssh.
Save as is simply C-x C-w as usual.

> 3.  What exactly is 'Dired Mode'?

Directory editor, it is Emacs' version of a file manager. Not really
comparable to Explorer because it is designed quite differently (and
Dired is quite cool, believe me!)

> A note for any answers:  I've already read through what I could find
> the the user manual, and I'm still stuck.

What manual are you reading? C-h i m Emacs RET should open the
info-Manual, and it is in my opinion written quite well.

> Thanks for any additional assistance!
>
>  - Sean

Tom