The Geek Parade - emacs tips 2

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April 8th, 2007

12:00 pm

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emacs tips 2
* intro
This is the second of the emacs tips series. The previous tip was sent earlier to some people on this list. I resent it with the license and so that it would be archived here. (Earlier versions will be available there)

For a look ahead, note that each email is formatted in org-mode. These can be read in emacs org-mode or exported as html; to be explained in a later tip. The next tips should be approximately weekly.

* the .emacs file

This is the initialization file that sets up your particular emacs environment, and it is the starting point for making emacs do exactly what you want. The file is usually found in the home directory (e.g., /Users/pball or /home/pball); the home directory is written as ~/

The first thing emacs does when it is run is to load and to evaluate the ~/.emacs file. "Evaluate" means that all the lisp commands in .emacs are executed. Remember that emacs is a lisp interpreter, and it's running all the time. Lisp programs that you run affect how emacs works. This can be helpful and a lot of fun.

* cool stuff to put in .emacs

Semicolons ; indicate comments in elisp. I've commented the following that you might want in your .emacs file.

(setq
inhibit-startup-message t ;; you've seen it enough
recursive-load-depth-limit nil ;; let emacs use all the resources it wants
line-number-mode t ;; errors often point to line numbers
column-number-mode t ;; good to keep you the left of 70
size-indication-mode t ;; I like to remember how big the file is
frame-title-format "%b" ;; put the filename on the window title
menu-bar-mode t ;; let's keep the menu bar
visible-bell 1 ;; and DO NOT make noise
pop-up-windows nil ;; self-explanatory
pop-up-frames nil ;; ditto
global-font-lock-mode t ;; turn code-coloring on
font-lock-maximum-decoration t ;; make code maximally colorful
mouse-yank-at-point nil ;; paste where you're pointing, not at `point'
transient-mark-mode t ;;
require-final-newline t ;; always put \n at the end of the file (stata...)
tool-bar-mode nil ;; we don't need icons on a tool bar
show-paren-mode t ;; always make parens colorful
delete-selection-mode t ;; delete a marked block if user types
global-auto-revert-mode t ;; always reload buffer if the file changes
savehist-mode 1) ;; remember the ring of commands at M-x.

* if these emails don't work for you

There are lots of strategies to learn emacs: other tutorials, books, and example code. The following sites give lots of other sources of information.

http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/emacs.html
http://www.emacswiki.org/cgi-bin/emacs-en/LearningEmacs
http://tiny-tools.sourceforge.net/emacs-elisp.html

* less silly than it seems
http://catb.org/~esr/writings/unix-koans/

One evening, Master Foo and Nubi attended a gathering of programmers who had met to learn from each other. One of the programmers asked Nubi to what school he and his master belonged. Upon being told they were followers of the Great Way of Unix, the programmer grew scornful.

“The command-line tools of Unix are crude and backward,” he scoffed. “Modern, properly designed operating systems do everything through a graphical user interface.”

Master Foo said nothing, but pointed at the moon. A nearby dog began to bark at the master's hand.

“I don't understand you!” said the programmer.

Master Foo remained silent, and pointed at an image of the Buddha. Then he pointed at a window.

“What are you trying to tell me?” asked the programmer.

Master Foo pointed at the programmer's head. Then he pointed at a rock.

“Why can't you make yourself clear?” demanded the programmer.

Master Foo frowned thoughtfully, tapped the programmer twice on the nose, and dropped him in a nearby trashcan.

As the programmer was attempting to extricate himself from the garbage, the dog wandered over and piddled on him.

At that moment, the programmer achieved enlightenment.

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* last revised: [2007-04-08 01:21PDT]

Tags: emacs

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