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Emacs

Published by Nathan Powell on February 24, 2007 08:34 pm under programming

*sigh* I am not sure why I try. About three times a year I try to convert to emacs. However, being what I would consider, proficient in Vim I get easily frustrated when I know I could be flying through a file instead of looking up commands. With Vim I feel like I navigate with my eyes. I know that if I want to be at the end of a line, I just need to look at the end of the line, and my cursor will be there. My hands through twitch training do their thing without my having to think about it.

I am trying again, this time though I decided that I would make a real attempt. I started a file called EmacsCommands in my ~/ dir and I put that in a buffer when I get started. Then I can navigate to it with a C-x [arrow key] to the next buffer till I get to it (Yes I know this is not the most efficient way to get there, but for some reason my hands have picked it up and I don’t have to think to navigate that way).

It’s been helpful so far.

Also realizing that the shell commands C-a (beginning of line) and C-e (end of line) work in emacs is a relief. I already use them in the shell all the time so it’s like getting a couple of bindings for free.

There are a few more strokes I need to pick up (I am reading Learning Gnu Emacs, and I haven’t gotten to these yet) are some sort of Visual-Block/Visual-Line mode and Delete Current line. I’ll get there, just have to be patient.

4 Comments so far

  1. Dave W on February 24th, 2007

    Good luck. I enjoy playing with Emacs. Still haven’t converted (not sure I want to), but it’s definitely fun to mess around with. Good way to get some Lisp exposure too.

  2. Dave W on February 24th, 2007

    Oh, just a tip. Looking stuff up in Emacs is actually way easier than in Vim. Try C-h C-h lists all the help commands. C-h b lists all the key bindings for the current buffer.

  3. Nathan Powell on February 24th, 2007

    I think I might want to switch. For that last few hours I have been using it and getting quicker all the time.

    I am going to give a few days as my only editor and see what happens.

  4. Dave W on February 25th, 2007

    Yeah, I’m continually tempted. I really like Emacs as a system. It’s mainly the keybindings that hold me back. All that chording is a little hard on the wrists.

Posting your comment.

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