Re: New to Emacs

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

>>>>> "Code" == Code Fox <codefox@ftml.net> writes:

    Code> I just downloaded emacs 21.2 for windows. I haven't used it
    Code> before. I'm just getting used to navigating and using the
    Code> control and meta key commands. Right now I'm kind of
    Code> overwhelmed by the features available in emacs. 

Don't be greedy.  Learn them one by one, gradually.


    Code> 1. I use many scripting languages like PHP, ASP, and
    Code> Python. If I want to write my own syntax hilighting for a
    Code> particular language how do I do it?  

Are you sure  you really want to do that?  I  mean... writing your own
major mode?

In most cases,  you don't.  You just need to  *customize* it.  E.g. to
change the  colours and fonts used  for hilighting, you  don't need to
write your own eLISP code.  Simply customize the existing package.

Try  M-x  customize,   and  don't  be  surprised  by   the  amount  of
customizable  items offered!  Alternatively,  if you're  familiar with
LISP, you  could read the  .el file for  the respective modes  and put
some configurations in your ~/.emacs.



    Code> 2. I have an IMAP mail account. I configured gnus to
    Code> retrieve mails from my IMAP account but I couldn't see all
    Code> folders. Is there an email client for emacs which would let
    Code> me use my IMAP account with ease, like moving messages
    Code> between 2 folders?

I've been  using nnimap to access my  mails via IMAP for  over a year.
No problems.  The  site admins even changed it to  IMAPS, and again, I
found how to make Gnus to handle it.

Could you be more specific about your problem?


    Code>   3. I use various C++ compilers. How do I
    Code> configure emacs to compile my program using a particular
    Code> compiler?

The  standard solution  is not  to do  that.  M-x  compile  by default
invokes "make".  We normally use a Makefile to drive "make" to do what
we want.   So, we can control  which compiler to use  in the Makefile.
It's worthwhile to learn to use "make" and write Makefiles anyway.

Anyway,  you can customize  what M-x  compile does.   Can you  find it
under M-x customize?


    Code>   4. How do I create a custom spell-check dictionary?

Don't worry about it.  Just  go ahead with M-x ispell-buffer.  When it
prompts you to correct a word,  and you think it is not misspelt, type
"i" to Insert  it into your personal dictionary.   When you finish the
spell check session, Emacs will  prompt you in the mini-buffer whether
you want to save the personal dictionary.



-- 
Lee Sau Dan                     李守敦(Big5)                    ~{@nJX6X~}(HZ) 

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