Re: Efficient Emacs usage?

[Lee Sau Dan <danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de>]

>>>>> "FCC" == FCC  <fcc509@netscape.net> writes:

    FCC> I did not know about this, sounds really cool. I will try
    FCC> it. My feelings toward Windows has never been very positive,
    FCC> especially suffering the ordeal of typing up a descent MS
    FCC> thesis under MS Word in 1995.

I did my final  year project report in the same year,  and I did it in
LaTeX.  I think I was the only one in the class to use LaTeX.  Another
classmate knew LaTeX  and could use it, but chose  to write his report
in  Word (6.0).   He regretted!   Crashes, loss  of  data, bad-looking
output.

That was  the first time I  use LaTeX seriously.  Before  that, I used
Word 6.0, and was  complaining all the time why it is  so slow and the
output is  so bad.  Add that to  the occasional (not as  frequent as I
see in Win95 and later) GPF of Win 3.1.  Once I've got Linux installed
(I could  already use LaTeX on  SUN workstations then),  I switched to
LaTeX completely.  No need to look back.  (I did like Word Perfect 5.1
on  DOS.  But  Word Perfect  6.0 started  to get  a  bloated interface
similar to  MS Word.  So, I  gave it up  and switched to Word  6.0, so
that I could share files with classmates.)


    FCC> But like many people I come from a DOS background, and I
    FCC> have met Unix much later in my university life, 

Being a  computer science major,  I got my  first unix account  in the
first  year of  university.  (The  computer centre  also  offered unix
accounts to all students and staff.   So, I got 2 unix accounts when I
entered the university!)


    FCC> and I was never able to own one (unfortunately). 

I also  thought I couldn't, until  I learnt about Linux  in late 1993.
In summer  1994, after  all exams,  I spared the  money to  upgrade my
486's RAM from 4MB to 16MB and bought an additional harddisk.  Then, I
installed Slackware.  I was so happy to be able to have unix on my own
PC!   (I did  have Minix  installed for  the OS  course, but  Minix is
really mini.  Like a kids version of an OS.)


    FCC> Finally there is Linux, but with no descent debugger!  Let us
    FCC> face it, MS Visual C/C++/Fortran IDE has a fabulous debugger
    FCC> that is graphical...

Emacs is a much better IDE.  And I can read my mails in it.


    FCC> I agree that PCL-CVS is indispensible for software
    FCC> development, and I actively use it. Good point here, thanks.

For users of subversion, there  is an equivalent package that provides
a similar interface.   (svn has a (CLI) user  interface quite close to
CVS already.)  Not bundled with Emacs, but works great!


-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     李守敦                          ~{@nJX6X~}

E-mail: danlee@informatik.uni-freiburg.de
Home page: http://www.informatik.uni-freiburg.de/~danlee