From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Marcin Borkowski Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Emacs Book Vs Emacs Manuals Date: Fri, 08 May 2015 21:10:30 +0200 Message-ID: <87egmqc2c9.fsf@mbork.pl> References: NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1431112282 20720 80.91.229.3 (8 May 2015 19:11:22 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 8 May 2015 19:11:22 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri May 08 21:11:14 2015 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@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 1Yqng1-0000md-UN for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 21:11:14 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:57314 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqng1-00079e-5m for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 15:11:13 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:53699) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqnfk-00075i-Lz for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 15:10:57 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqnfd-0004x8-Oz for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 15:10:56 -0400 Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([2a01:5e00:2:52::8]:51247) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Yqnfd-0004u3-HC for help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org; Fri, 08 May 2015 15:10:49 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 2FA5E4FA047 for ; Fri, 8 May 2015 21:10:45 +0200 (CEST) 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 O1NG33Ze-ptb for ; Fri, 8 May 2015 21:10:39 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from localhost (unknown [109.232.24.146]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id E67934F607E for ; Fri, 8 May 2015 21:10:38 +0200 (CEST) In-reply-to: X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Error: Malformed IPv6 address (bad octet value). X-Received-From: 2a01:5e00:2:52::8 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 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 Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:104308 Archived-At: On 2015-05-08, at 12:06, Vaidheeswaran C wrote: > What do you think are the "must haves" in an Emacs book? How often > should it catch up with new developments in Emacs releases? I'm really astonished that nobody mentioned Mickey Petersen's "Mastering Emacs": https://www.masteringemacs.org/ . It's an excellent blog, and the author announced also a book (which is not just a bunch of blog posts put together, but mostly newly written material). I'm not sure how much I'm allowed to say about the book itself, but let me put it this way: *if* I were to learn Emacs soon, I'd check the website for the book *every day* to see when it's out. (For intermediate to advanced users it's not a must-read, but nice anyway.) I agree that the built-in tutorial needs rewriting, but it's not that bad. The official manual, OTOH, is very good. Also, I second Drew's suggestion about learning to ask Emacs. Also, subscribing to Planet Emacsen RSS, while not a must-do, may be a good idea. And after a while, reading Robert J. Chassell's "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" becomes a necessity. ;-) As for the updates: Emacs changes *a lot* from one release to the next one, but most of these changes are not visible for users. Plus, you can always read the CHANGES file. Best, -- Marcin Borkowski http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science Adam Mickiewicz University