From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Marcin Borkowski Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Casting as wide a net as possible Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 22:21:08 +0100 Message-ID: <87d1uec857.fsf@mbork.pl> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1449782513 27504 80.91.229.3 (10 Dec 2015 21:21:53 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 10 Dec 2015 21:21:53 +0000 (UTC) Cc: John Yates , Drew Adams , Emacs developers To: John Wiegley Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Dec 10 22:21:45 2015 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@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 1a78ec-0006PT-Kc for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 10 Dec 2015 22:21:34 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:44539 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1a78eb-0000rJ-VJ for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:21:33 -0500 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:53972) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1a78eM-0000qr-Uw for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:21:19 -0500 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1a78eI-0004mp-E8 for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:21:18 -0500 Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([2a01:5e00:2:52::8]:47028) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1a78eI-0004lf-6U for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Thu, 10 Dec 2015 16:21:14 -0500 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTP id B266F8F201A; Thu, 10 Dec 2015 22:21:11 +0100 (CET) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at mail.mojserwer.eu Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (mail.mojserwer.eu [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id MnqCVKfnpSth; Thu, 10 Dec 2015 22:21:09 +0100 (CET) Original-Received: from localhost (unknown [109.232.24.28]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id A93658F2017; Thu, 10 Dec 2015 22:21:09 +0100 (CET) User-agent: mu4e 0.9.13; emacs 25.0.50.1 In-reply-to: X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6.x X-Received-From: 2a01:5e00:2:52::8 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:196074 Archived-At: On 2015-12-10, at 20:02, John Wiegley wrote: >>>>>> Drew Adams writes: > >> My only point is that Lisp features really do make Emacs what it is. To >> point out what Emacs is necessarily means pointing out some of those >> features (IMO). > > I agree. The things that make Emacs great: > > 1. Highly consistent syntax. > 2. Self-documenting. > 3. Integrated debugger. > 4. Ability to re-evaluate functions in a running environment. > (i.e., everything that made Lisp Machines great) > 5. Natural syntax for scoping resources (`with-temp-buffer ...') > 6. Large and well documented API > 7. Stable and mature concepts evolved over decades > 8. Huge, HUGE community of cargo-cultable examples, for those just learning 9. Lots and lots of functions to peform common (and even not-so-common) tasks in an automated way. (transpose-.*, I'm looking at you!) 10. Lots of well-thought-of functions, resulting from gathering over three decades of experience: if you _want_ Emacs to be able to do something useful (however small or big), it probably already can. (See beginning-of-buffer with a prefix arg, for instance.) Best, -- Marcin Borkowski http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science Adam Mickiewicz University