From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Tassilo Horn Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Emacs Book Vs Emacs Manuals Date: Fri, 08 May 2015 12:53:52 +0200 Message-ID: <87fv77barj.fsf@gnu.org> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1431082459 2171 80.91.229.3 (8 May 2015 10:54:19 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 8 May 2015 10:54:19 +0000 (UTC) Cc: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org To: Vaidheeswaran C Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri May 08 12:54:12 2015 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqfv1-0006aE-RV for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 12:54:11 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:54705 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqfv1-0006ij-1f for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 06:54:11 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:55395) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqfuq-0006ia-Gy for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 06:54:01 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqfum-0003w9-CY for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 06:54:00 -0400 Original-Received: from out4-smtp.messagingengine.com ([66.111.4.28]:35757) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqfum-0003w1-5H for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 06:53:56 -0400 Original-Received: from compute1.internal (compute1.nyi.internal [10.202.2.41]) by mailout.nyi.internal (Postfix) with ESMTP id 98BE2208F9 for ; Fri, 8 May 2015 06:53:55 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: from frontend2 ([10.202.2.161]) by compute1.internal (MEProxy); Fri, 08 May 2015 06:53:55 -0400 DKIM-Signature: v=1; a=rsa-sha1; c=relaxed/relaxed; d= messagingengine.com; h=cc:content-type:date:from:in-reply-to :message-id:mime-version:references:subject:to:x-sasl-enc :x-sasl-enc; s=smtpout; bh=AtFgOfx0Ftgz1bB8RxwuWHDr0S0=; b=tOy3Y svzRKTVdIzQrTZo4FBQJaWMMV5ozV/CGDqVBhhOYshR+dj0KfP6VWzYV4q9IyCDP HrJtaVtU+j0CTsmHZVBv8IXQCTXF1d5HmdLXu5qixfcMaUK2SUcjKANmetYN2cX2 7gxmkv0e9PfKLgX3T2UaZhNwPpf9elkVUYfOeE= X-Sasl-enc: vhJ4eYI6XB+J6M9W3YZfmmjnK/Gj7F4L6wxDY/hOLqAx 1431082435 Original-Received: from thinkpad-t440p (unknown [2.163.1.200]) by mail.messagingengine.com (Postfix) with ESMTPA id A1E476801F6; Fri, 8 May 2015 06:53:54 -0400 (EDT) Mail-Followup-To: Vaidheeswaran C , help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org In-Reply-To: (Vaidheeswaran C.'s message of "Fri, 08 May 2015 15:36:23 +0530") User-Agent: Gnus/5.130014 (Ma Gnus v0.14) Emacs/25.0.50 (gnu/linux) X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Genre and OS details not recognized. X-Received-From: 66.111.4.28 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:104293 Archived-At: Vaidheeswaran C 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). And once you master that, read the manuals on the topics that are most relevant to you. The good thing with the manuals is that they are exactly about the version of emacs you are using. A book might pretty soon be outdated, although it depends on the topics it focuses. I think from the point of view of a normal user, emacs doesn't change (at least fundamentally) too often. One such fundamental change in the last years has probably been the activation of transient-mark-mode by default. On the other hand, a book could probably be a bit more exciting read focussing on the things that attract new users most, e.g., org-mode, magit, etc. But there are actually even manuals that are a fun read, one of them being the Gnus manual. > How often should it catch up with new developments in Emacs releases? Ideally it was free (not necessarily gratis!) so that it could be updated by a community effort similar to the Git book. > How about resources like Emacswiki, Stackexchange or Stackoverflow. The problem with those external sites is that they frequently contain outdated answers. Both Emacswiki and SX allow for updating answers but that doesn't always happen. And IMHO, SX fosters a copy & past culture where people just blindly copy snippets from SX answers to their ~/.emacs without even trying to understand what they are doing until all breaks. Also, it seems to me that many users nowadays aren't even aware that there are official support channels (mailinglists, newsgroups, issue trackers, IRC) for most things emacs. They just go and ask on SX. That way, the maintainers won't even notice that there might be something wrong with their package unless they follow SX, too. I myself as one of the GNU AUCTeX maintainers sometimes check SX for AUCTeX questions. But honestly, I very very much prefer if bugs get reported to debbugs (M-x TeX-submit-bug-report) and questions get asked on our mailinglist. Then I can answer from Gnus, and have quick access to the docs, the code, the version control history, etc. Just my 2 cents, Tassilo