Re: Emacs Book Vs Emacs Manuals

[Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org>]

phillip.lord@newcastle.ac.uk (Phillip Lord) writes:

> Tassilo Horn <tsdh@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> Vaidheeswaran C <vaidheeswaran.chinnaraju@gmail.com> writes:
>>
>>> What would be the best way to learn Emacs.  Is it
>>>
>>> a) Through the different Manuals (there are many and they are big)
>>>
>>> b) Through a Book that puts all of the different pieces together in a
>>>    concise mannner.
>>
>> The best way to learn emacs is the tutorial (C-h t).
>
> I wish this were true.  Actually, the tutorial is not a good
> introduction to emacs.  It's over 200 lines before you get off "how to
> move the cursor around".

Mine starts with the key binding notation, then come some empty lines,
and then on line 53ff immediately C-v/M-v are explained.  The section at
line 93 then starts the section about C-f/C-b/C-n/C-p, then word-wise
motion, then bol/eol motion.  Around line 200, the basic motion commands
are done with the exception of M-</M-> and the use of an numeric
argument.

> Most people these days assume that you do this with the mouse or a
> finger and that doesn't take 200 lines to explain.  Works with Emacs
> too.

Yes, and the tutorial also states that you can use the arrow keys or the
mouse for scrolling/moving point.  Ok, not at prominent positions.  But
if the tutorial started with "you can use emacs like notepad" then users
would immediately pick up the habit of using emacs like notepad.

> There are other introductions out there, and one of the needs to be
> integrated into Emacs.

Out of interest, which ones?

Bye,
Tassilo