From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Emanuel Berg Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Learning "my emacs" from the start (was: Generating a listing of all symbols) Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 22:57:49 +0200 Organization: Aioe.org NNTP Server Message-ID: <87oazxca0i.fsf@nl106-137-194.student.uu.se> References: <3defe928-5d2e-4d3b-bc26-f595f275f840@googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1397941226 27148 80.91.229.3 (19 Apr 2014 21:00:26 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 19 Apr 2014 21:00:26 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Apr 19 23:00:21 2014 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 1WbcN2-0002x3-OH for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 Apr 2014 23:00:20 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:43459 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1WbcN2-0007aj-EW for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sat, 19 Apr 2014 17:00:20 -0400 Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!news.kjsl.com!feeder.erje.net!eu.feeder.erje.net!newsfeed.datemas.de!rt.uk.eu.org!aioe.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 66 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: VVbyYd/iFZoeWNmD9i++cQ.user.speranza.aioe.org Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@aioe.org User-Agent: Gnus/5.13 (Gnus v5.13) Emacs/24.3 (gnu/linux) X-Notice: Filtered by postfilter v. 0.8.2 Cancel-Lock: sha1:w+IrblrHjltLdA+XvDaMoc5ohl0= Mail-Copies-To: never Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:204978 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:97243 Archived-At: Hans BKK writes: > I am learning customization before ordinary usage in > editing very intentionally Do both at the same time. You are using Emacs when you customize Emacs. Also, how do you know what makes sense to configure, and what doesn't, without using the program to begin with? Seems to me, you are thinking of implementing an idea from scratch, and then be done with it. That's very seldom a good way. It is much better to incorporate configuration in normal usage - do one improvement every day, instead. It should be an evolutionary processes, if you will, not a single Hercules-deed. > emacs' value as a portable lifetime meta-OS > dev/org/comms platform is far more important to me > than its comparatively trivial role as an editor. Say what?! The *editor* is the thing you use when you do all those things you mention. A computer system is data, organized into files. Which an editor manipulates (as well as creates, deletes, etc.) The editor is by far the single most important tool for general computer work. Emacs isn't exactly an OS in the non-interactive kernel sense (though you can schedule things with Emacs). > The whole point to me of bothering with the learning > curve [1] of a complex platform like emacs is to > create my own highly-customized version, and the > keybindings seems (again, to me) to be a logical > place to start, ideally before getting sucked into > the vanilla-emacs shift-Alt-Ctrl-Super-Meta-Cmd (IMO > sorry-but-insane ancient-legacy) default keybindings > for routine navigation and editing usage. Some of the Emacs default keybindings are great, for example the M-f, C-p, etc. for cursor movements. Some are not so good. Those that are not so good are either too long (involve lots of keydowns) *or* they are what I call "far" - so you have to *reach* for them, and then reset your hands to start typing again. A third category (that I don't like) is in "non-typing modes" (e.g., w3m, browsing man-pages) when the whole keyboard is available (as there isn't any typing) - to still use long, bulky combinations. Use one letter keydowns instead! "a" for append, "p" for previous, and so on. One of my favourite customization that I setup for every and all modes (that I use) - just to give an example how I think it should be, in general - is M-i and M-k (for scroll up one line, and down one line, respectively). If you try those out with correct hand positions, you should notice what minimal hand (finger) movement they require. -- underground experts united: http://user.it.uu.se/~embe8573