From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Brad Collins Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: emacs documentation for (La)TeX Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 10:10:17 +0700 Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: References: <871xqsil1r.fsf@emptyhost.emptydomain.de> NNTP-Posting-Host: deer.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1072408317 32490 80.91.224.253 (26 Dec 2003 03:11:57 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 26 Dec 2003 03:11:57 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Dec 26 04:11:49 2003 Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by deer.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 1AZiOC-00036k-00 for ; Fri, 26 Dec 2003 04:11:49 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1AZjJW-0002bK-7v for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 25 Dec 2003 23:11:02 -0500 Original-Received: from list by monty-python.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1AZjIp-0002TU-IZ for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 25 Dec 2003 23:10:19 -0500 Original-Received: from mail by monty-python.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.24) id 1AZjID-0001xZ-1u for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 25 Dec 2003 23:10:13 -0500 Original-Received: from [199.232.41.8] (helo=mx20.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (TLSv1:DES-CBC3-SHA:168) (Exim 4.24) id 1AZjIC-0001oE-QE for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 25 Dec 2003 23:09:40 -0500 Original-Received: from [202.183.255.5] (helo=mailgw.cscoms.com) by mx20.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.24) id 1AZiGv-0003OO-MB for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Thu, 25 Dec 2003 22:04:18 -0500 Original-Received: from cscoms.com (mail.cscoms.com. [202.183.255.23]) by mailgw.cscoms.com (8.12.8p2/8.12.3) with ESMTP id hBQ345dB048322 for ; Fri, 26 Dec 2003 10:04:09 +0700 (ICT) Original-Received: from KAME.cscoms.com (dial-133.ras-1.bkk.c.cscoms.com [203.170.154.71]) by cscoms.com (8.12.8p2/8.12.3) with ESMTP id hBQ341Dh016095 for ; Fri, 26 Dec 2003 10:04:04 +0700 (GMT) Original-To: help-gnu-emacs In-Reply-To: <871xqsil1r.fsf@emptyhost.emptydomain.de> (Kai Grossjohann's message of "Thu, 25 Dec 2003 23:34:24 +0100") User-Agent: Gnus/5.1002 (Gnus v5.10.2) Emacs/21.3 (windows-nt) X-Virus-Scanned: by amavisd-milter (http://amavis.org/) X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.2 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 Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:15589 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:15589 Kai Grossjohann writes: > Joe Corneli writes: > >> The main difference between info lookup and describe-function is that >> the latter (typically) has links to the source, whereas the former >> doesn't. > > Ah, links to the source. That is useful indeed. Well it links to the *documentation* in the source, not the whole source itself. The wonderful thing is that C-h f/m/c are internal documentation--it's in context with what you are doing or looking at in a way that an external manual--even the very good info manuals, can not do. This is why Emacs is called a self-documenting editor--because it not not only lets you peek under the hood to see what's going on, it tells you exactly what's going on why you do it. Try 'C-h k h" ,----[ C-h k h ] | h runs the command self-insert-command | (self-insert-command N) | which is an interactive built-in function. | | Insert the character you type. | Whichever character you type to run this command is inserted. `---- This really blew me away when I first saw it. Typing the 'h' key runs the command self-insert-character which inserts the character into the buffer. The question that I think many people would ask is, why would I need or even want to know this? This is what sets Emacs apart from everything else in the world of software--it changes the relationship that the user has with the software and encourages you to understand and tinker with everything. Emacs forces you to drop your illusions about text and to understand that practically everything in computing is just plain text when you boil away the fat and fur. This explains the obsession that people who have drunk the Emacs Cool-Aid have with trying to do everything in Emacs. After you understand that, say email, is just plain text, you want to start using the power of Emacs to edit and work with. So if Emacs is an editor, for editing text, you can also think of Emacs itself as a collection of text files (written in elisp) which can in turn be edited by Emacs. The purpose of Emacs then, (at least one reason) is to edit Emacs.... b/ -- Brad Collins Chenla Labs Bangkok, Thailand