v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Ricky Tigg]

Hello. As a regular Fedora GNU-Linux user I am used to gnome-editor. When I
have to switch to Windows' side, it is invariably by accident. Here for
instance to investigate some properties of the TPM 2.0 chip as reported in
PowerShell in order to compare them as those I obtained on Linux's side.

It appears that GNU Emacs strangely supports Windows. An opportunity to
have the GNU spirit everywhere is through something I could not miss so I
installed it, as v. 29.1.1. Nonetheless as per the content at
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/, "*Content-aware editing modes,
including syntax coloring, for many file types*." an option dedicated to
set the *coding language* is missing from the UI.

The extension of the file I work with is *ps1*. I doubt Emacs knows how to
determine that the expected code language is PowerShell as there is no
syntax coloring.

Also an observation that cannot be missed; the software lacks the option *Open
a recent file*. Having to repeatedly specify the same path is without doubt
not an option in modern software. It would be worth adding that option..
Regards.

Re: v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Emanuel Berg]

Ricky Tigg wrote:

> Hello. As a regular Fedora GNU-Linux user I am used to
> gnome-editor.

Welcome to the real world :)

> an option dedicated to set the *coding language* is missing
> from the UI.

You can change mode manually with, e.g. M-x emacs-lisp-mode RET

But it is better to have this done automatically, one way is
to base it on file extensions (suffixes) like this

(setq auto-mode-alist `(
    ("\\.bal\\'"     . balance-mode)
    ("\\.cl\\'"      . common-lisp-mode)
    ("\\.dat\\'"     . gnuplot-mode)
    ("\\.gpi\\'"     . gnuplot-mode)
    ("\\.grm\\'"     . sml-mode)
    ("\\.lu\\'"      . lua-mode)
    ("\\.nqp\\'"     . perl-mode)
    ("\\.php\\'"     . html-mode)
    ("\\.pic\\'"     . nroff-mode)
    ("\\.pl\\'"      . prolog-mode)
    ("\\.sed\\'"     . conf-mode)
    ("\\.service\\'" . conf-mode)
    ("\\.tap\\'"     . gcode-mode)
    ("\\.tex\\'"     . latex-mode)
    ("\\.xr\\'"      . conf-xdefaults-mode)
    ("torrc\\'"      . conf-mode)
    ("keys\\'"       . conf-mode)
    ("DOS\\'"        . text-mode)
  ,@auto-mode-alist) )

> The extension of the file I work with is *ps1*. I doubt
> Emacs knows how to determine that the expected code language
> is PowerShell as there is no syntax coloring.

On the contrary, in MELPA there are 4 packages devoted to
PowerShell, one is powershell which provides a "Mode for
editing PowerShell scripts". It is very likely they provide
font lock.

> Having to repeatedly specify the same path is without doubt
> not an option in modern software.

There are many ways to do that, one of the simplest is to not
kill buffers (or the Emacs session) and then simply use the
buffer menu to find files recently in use.

-- 
underground experts united
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

RE: [External] : v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Drew Adams]

> the software lacks the option *Open a recent file*.

Are you sure?

 M-x recentf-mode
 M-x recentf-open

> Having to repeatedly specify the same path is
> without doubt not an option in modern software.
> It would be worth adding that option.

Huh?  Modern software doesn't offer an option
to _have to_ repeatedly specify the same path?
And you want an option to have to do that?

Unclear, at best.  If that's what you _really_
want, why?

Maybe you mean something that's almost the
opposite of what you request?  Be able to _not
have to_ specify the same path over and over?

If so, your wish is granted: Just use `M-x cd',
or `M-: (setq default-directory ...)'.

Re: v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Eli Zaretskii]

> From: Ricky Tigg <ricky.tigg@gmail.com>
> Date: Thu, 10 Aug 2023 14:18:39 +0300
> 
> Also an observation that cannot be missed; the software lacks the option *Open
> a recent file*. Having to repeatedly specify the same path is without doubt
> not an option in modern software. It would be worth adding that option..

Since you haven't described in enough detail what you mean by "Open a
recent file", I will mention another optional feature, in addition to
recentf-mode: desktop-save-mode.  It records all the files you had
open when you quit Emacs, and also the configuration of windows and
frames, and restores all that when you restart Emacs.  With
desktop-save-mode, you don't even need to re-open the previously-open
files, as Emacs will do that for you.

Re: v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Emanuel Berg]

Eli Zaretskii wrote:

> Since you haven't described in enough detail what you mean
> by "Open a recent file" [...]

He means the feature of modern software that allows for a ...
well, like they had in Windows 95 I think!

-- 
underground experts united
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

Re: [External] : v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Emanuel Berg]

Drew Adams wrote:

>> the software lacks the option *Open a recent file*.
>
> Are you sure?
>
>  M-x recentf-mode
>  M-x recentf-open

Actually that maybe isn't a bad idea to have by default in the
GUI Emacs, a menu with recent files just as in the software
the OP is used to, and in the same place, because

1) it is not a bad feature, and

2) if newcomers get frustrated by that first thing that
   happens, maybe they don't come back a second (actually
   third) time.

-- 
underground experts united
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

Re: v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Jens Schmidt via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor]

On 2023-08-10  13:18, Ricky Tigg wrote:

> The extension of the file I work with is *ps1*. I doubt Emacs knows how to
> determine that the expected code language is PowerShell as there is no
> syntax coloring.

Not every imaginable package is included up-front in Emacs, some
(actually: many, and not all of them imaginable) are available as
external packages and require additional installation.

There is a PowerShell Emacs major mode including syntax highlighting
on MELPA (https://melpa.org/).  However MELPA is not in the list of
default package archives, so some extra work is needed to get that
going.  See section "Package Installation" in the Emacs manual.  The
EmacsWiki also gives instructions, just google for "emacswiki melpa".

> Also an observation that cannot be missed; the software lacks the option *Open
> a recent file*. Having to repeatedly specify the same path is without doubt
> not an option in modern software. It would be worth adding that option..
> Regards.

Others have provided already options, but maybe you look for something
as simple as a history when finding files or doing other file operations
*from the minibuffer* (that very bottom line in an Emacs frame)?  Just
use cursor-up and cursor-down after starting any such file operation.
For example:

   C-x C-f <up>

would bring up the path of the previous file operation to your current
prompt.  AFAICT that history gets populated even if you access files
through the menu bar or tool bar.

Oh, and you can use the savehist package, which is built-in to Emacs, to
save the minibuffer history across Emacs sessions.

Re: v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Rudolf Schlatte]

Ricky Tigg <ricky.tigg@gmail.com> writes:

> The extension of the file I work with is *ps1*. I doubt Emacs knows how to
> determine that the expected code language is PowerShell as there is no
> syntax coloring.

There is a powershell-mode for Emacs at
https://github.com/jschaf/powershell.el; the README file contains
installation instructions.

Re: v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Emanuel Berg]

Jens Schmidt via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor wrote:

> There is a PowerShell Emacs major mode including syntax
> highlighting on MELPA [...] However MELPA is not in the list
> of default package archives, so some extra work is needed to
> get that going.

Eval this:

(cl-pushnew
 '("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/")
  package-archives :test #'equal)

Then do M-x list-packages RET

-- 
underground experts united
https://dataswamp.org/~incal

Re: v. 29.1.1 | Missing syntax colouring option

[Emanuel Berg]

Rudolf Schlatte wrote:

>> The extension of the file I work with is *ps1*. I doubt
>> Emacs knows how to determine that the expected code
>> language is PowerShell as there is no syntax coloring.
>
> There is a powershell-mode for Emacs at
> https://github.com/jschaf/powershell.el; the README file
> contains installation instructions.

Maybe we should add that to vanilla Emacs if it is the biggest
shell for Windows?

The major modes are like the backbone of Emacs and what makes
it a programmer's text editor ... or THE I should say,
well, hopefully.

-- 
underground experts united
https://dataswamp.org/~incal