Thank you for using Emacs

Thank you for using Emacs

[Peter Polidoro]

MSavoritias <email@msavoritias.me> writes:

> I go to the manual to learn package management, 
> https://guix.gnu.org/en/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Package-Management
>
> Apparently i have to either use the terminal or something called 
> emacs. 
> If I follow the guide located here: 
> https://emacs-guix.gitlab.io/website/manual/latest/emacs-guix.html#Installation
>
> It says to install emacs-guix. Okay. So apparently it is an 
> Emacs thing, 
> whatever that means. And when you start Emacs after installing 
> the 
> package, you are going to end up with Emacs in its plain form. 
> Unfamiliar keybindings, no autocomplete, etc. Well thats no to 
> Emacs 
> then. The other thing is the terminal apparently. Horrible, but 
> at least 
> it works.

You make a very good point, being exposed to Emacs for the very 
first time in this way would be a terrible experience and listing 
alternative options would be very beneficial.

However, I would just like to say "Thank you!" to everyone here 
for using Emacs in the manual.

For my entire career in hardware engineering, I have felt like an 
outcast for using Emacs and being passionate about free software. 
When everyone else on a team or in a company or organization uses 
proprietary software only, it is very isolating and career 
limiting to stay committed to the free software and hardware 
movements.

So while you may not win any popularity contests by using Emacs in 
the manual, just know that it is very much appreciated by some of 
us.

Re: Thank you for using Emacs

[MSavoritias]

On 9/18/23 16:10, Peter Polidoro wrote:
>
> MSavoritias <email@msavoritias.me> writes:
>
>> I go to the manual to learn package management, 
>> https://guix.gnu.org/en/manual/devel/en/guix.html#Package-Management
>>
>> Apparently i have to either use the terminal or something called 
>> emacs. If I follow the guide located here: 
>> https://emacs-guix.gitlab.io/website/manual/latest/emacs-guix.html#Installation
>>
>> It says to install emacs-guix. Okay. So apparently it is an Emacs 
>> thing, whatever that means. And when you start Emacs after installing 
>> the package, you are going to end up with Emacs in its plain form. 
>> Unfamiliar keybindings, no autocomplete, etc. Well thats no to Emacs 
>> then. The other thing is the terminal apparently. Horrible, but at 
>> least it works.
>
> You make a very good point, being exposed to Emacs for the very first 
> time in this way would be a terrible experience and listing 
> alternative options would be very beneficial.
>
> However, I would just like to say "Thank you!" to everyone here for 
> using Emacs in the manual.
>
> For my entire career in hardware engineering, I have felt like an 
> outcast for using Emacs and being passionate about free software. When 
> everyone else on a team or in a company or organization uses 
> proprietary software only, it is very isolating and career limiting to 
> stay committed to the free software and hardware movements.
>
> So while you may not win any popularity contests by using Emacs in the 
> manual, just know that it is very much appreciated by some of us.
>
Its not Emacs per se. Its more like vanilla Emacs. I very much like 
Emacs. The idea of it at least.

What i meant more was:

- Offer an alternative to Emacs.

- Specify a distro like doom Emacs that comes with better defaults.

I would maybe lean towards the second one i here fyi. I agree it would 
be nice to introduce people to lisp modifiable editors :D

And for guile specifically to offer guile-studio instead of plain Emacs.


MSavoritias

Re: Thank you for using Emacs

[Peter Polidoro]

MSavoritias <email@msavoritias.me> writes:

> What i meant more was:
>
> - Offer an alternative to Emacs.
>
> - Specify a distro like doom Emacs that comes with better 
> defaults.
>
> I would maybe lean towards the second one i here fyi. I agree it 
> would be nice
> to introduce people to lisp modifiable editors :D

I would lean towards the first option of adding a totally 
different alternative to Emacs, the simpler the better.

Introducing anyone to Emacs for the first time, Doom, vanilla, or 
otherwise, in the manual is just going down a rabbit hole of 
raising more questions than it answers.

I really appreciate that Emacs documentation is in the manual for 
those who already use it, but there must be way easier free 
software options out there.

Re: Thank you for using Emacs

[kiasoc5]

On 2023-09-18 16:45, MSavoritias wrote:
> And for guile specifically to offer guile-studio instead of plain 
> Emacs.

Speaking of guile studio:

- The homepage for the package is Guile's homepage, not guile-studio's 
(https://git.elephly.net/software/guile-studio)
- There is no mention of Guile studio anywhere in the Guix manual or 
cookbook

So, the visibility of Guile Studio is rather low. Indeed, I only found 
it while searching for Guile libraries, not for Emacs specifically.

It would be nice to put this Emacs starter kit front-and-center, at 
least in the Guix manual. Perhaps the Guile project could make it the 
official IDE? :D