diff options
| -rw-r--r-- | posts/2016-02-14-ilovefs-emacs.skr | 176 |
1 files changed, 176 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/posts/2016-02-14-ilovefs-emacs.skr b/posts/2016-02-14-ilovefs-emacs.skr new file mode 100644 index 0000000..c6c0da1 --- /dev/null +++ b/posts/2016-02-14-ilovefs-emacs.skr @@ -0,0 +1,176 @@ +(post + :title "#ilovefs: Why GNU Emacs?" + :date (string->date* "2016-02-14 00:00") + :tags '("gnu" + "planet-fsfe-en" + "free software" + "ilovefs" + "emacs") + + (h2 [Why write about Emacs?]) + + (p [I don’t usually try to explain tools that I use to other people, + unless they made an explicit request as to how they could improve + their workflow. However, since ,(ref + "https://fsfe.org/campaigns/ilovefs/2016/" "today is “I love Free + Software” Day") I think I should seize this opportunity and + explain what draws me to ,(ref "http://gnu.org/software/emacs" + "GNU Emacs") and how I use it.]) + + (p [Sometimes people who use computers ask me why I would use + something as “bloated” as Emacs for text editing. Usually they + remark that Emacs is a hold-over from a by-gone era, much too + large compared to editors like “vi”, and that they are quite + content using a variant of vi or some Notepad-like editor. They + may have heard that you can play Tetris inside of Emacs and you + can tell that they have difficulties hiding the fact that they + are mildly disgusted by this abomination, a tool that seems to + ignorantly contradict the Unix philosophy of doing just one thing + and doing it well.]) + + (h2 [Embracing the operating system]) + + (p [I cannot help but notice that there’s a misunderstanding; at the + very least there’s an invalid assumption, namely that we agree on + terminology. I do not consider Emacs a mere “editor”. To some + this is folk wisdom, a now blunt blade used by the old warriors + in the ,(ref "https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Editor_war" "editor + wars") of ancient history:]) + + (blockquote + [Emacs is a great operating system, lacking only a decent editor.]) + + (p [I contest the second part (as Emacs has a multitude of decent + editor modes, even for fans of vi), but I do agree with the + hyperbolic first part: yes, an operating system indeed!]) + + (p [Maybe not quite in the sense of the GNU operating system, but + certainly in the sense that it is a platform to run applications. + In fact, it is a platform very much like a modern web browser + resembles an application platform more than it does a mere HTML + document viewer.]) + + (p [Just like a browser is used by many as a platform for running + applications operating on some HTML document, Emacs is a platform + for anything that can “reasonably” (this is up for + interpretation) be mapped to buffers of text. Applications in + browsers are written in JavaScript, applications in Emacs are + written in EmacsLisp (also called “elisp”).]) + + (h2 [The universal text environment]) + + (p [A text buffer in Emacs could hold the trail of a shell session + (,(code [shell-mode])), an email (,(code [message-mode])), a TODO + list (,(code [org-mode])), a directory listing (,(code [dired])), + a text file on disk, a chat session (,(code [ERC])), a web page + (,(code [eww])), the output produced by an external command, etc. + Just like a modern web browser represents an environment in which + a programming language can be used to manipulate and interact + with HTML documents, Emacs is an environment for text buffers + with a language that can be used to manipulate and interact with + text buffers.]) + + (p [If you have used your web browser (or have observed someone use + their web browser) to play games, listen to music, watch videos, + read and compose email, edit text (e.g. by contributing to the + Wikipedia), chat with friends (or chat about foes), read + documentation, installed an extension,(---)well, then the notion + of a generic tool as a platform should not be a foreign concept + to you. Emacs can be understood as such a generic tool providing + a text interface (one of which may be a file editor).]) + + (h2 [Living in Emacs]) + + (p [Emacs is my main user agent,(---)it acts as an assistant on my + behalf in all matters relating to text,(---), much like the + browser is the main user agent for documents and applications on + the web to many people. This is why I hardly remember when I + last closed Emacs. I do not start Emacs to edit a file; I’m + living in Emacs.]) + + (p [Not only am I’m writing this blog post in Emacs (obviously!), I’m + also keeping track of multiple conversations on IRC in separate + buffers; I’m ,(ref "http://www.djcbsoftware.nl/code/mu/mu4e.html" + "reading and composing email"); I manage my GNU Guix software + profiles with a dedicated Emacs mode; I deal with Git through a + ,(ref "http://magit.vc/" "convenient two-dimensional text-based + user interface") rather than using the one-dimensional, terse + command line interface; when I view man pages I use ,(ref + "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_mono/woman.html" + "woman"), which greatly enhances man page navigation; of course I + use Emacs as an Info documentation browser as wel; my shell + sessions are in Emacs thanks to ,(code [shell-mode]),(---)I’m not + one of those who run Emacs in a shell session inside a terminal + emulator,(---); I view pretty PDF documents in Emacs buffers with + ,(ref "https://github.com/politza/pdf-tools" "PDF tools"), and + even my complete personal organisation and calendar needs are + satisfied by an application running in Emacs (see ,(ref + "http://orgmode.org" "Org mode")).]) + + (h2 [There is no ,(em [one]) Emacs]) + + (p [What is crucial to understand is that Emacs is not one and the + same thing to any two Emacs users. It is malleable and + accessible thanks to being written in EmacsLisp. When ogres are + like onions, Emacs is probably like a giant cherry: a small solid + core (written in C) and a delicious mantle of sweet EmacsLisp + (analogies are not my strong suit). Since almost every + conceivable feature provided by Emacs is accessible through + EmacsLisp and can be tweaked, rewired, or fully replaced, Emacs + becomes what you want it to be.]) + + (p [I probably could not use an Emacs instance that has been shaped + by the habits of another hacker, and they probably also wouldn’t + be happy with my configuration. It’s like a tailor-made shirt in + that it fits you exactly (if you take some time to take your + measurements), yet it also fits like the most comfortable sweat + pants as it won’t punish you if you change your sporty habits and + gain weight.]) + + (h2 [What’s GNU? GNU’s Not Unix!]) + + (p [This leads me to the last point I wanted to address: the claim + that Emacs is bloated and ignores the Unix philosophy of doing + only one thing and doing it well. I don’t know what “bloated” + really means. Emacs does come with a lot of features but this + doesn’t make it bloated.]) + + (p [I think this claim is rooted in another misunderstanding. When + you have a terminal emulator open in which you run a shell + session (like bash), and you run a command like ,(code [ls]), you + would not consider the shell to be bloated to allow you to + interact seamlessly with external commands. Likewise you + probably don’t object to builtin commands that cannot easily be + expressed with external executables or that make the shell more + convenient to use.]) + + (p [Similarly, Emacs is the perfect glue between different text-based + applications. When I run a shell inside of Emacs, what Emacs + really does is spawn an external shell process and redirect input + and output to talk to it transparently. Or when I read email in + mu4e the mail directory and its indexing database are not part of + Emacs. Or when I read PDFs they are actually rendered by a + separate process. Since many of these features are provided by + optional extensions there really isn’t much to the claim that + Emacs is bloated.]) + + (p [However, it is true that Emacs does not blindly subscribe to the + Unix philosophy. One of its previous logos (my favourite) was an + ,(ref "http://www.emacswiki.org/pics/static/KitchenSinkWhite.png" + "overflowing kitchen sink"), acknowledging the fact that Emacs + rather errs on the side of including more features rather than + fewer when it is convenient. The goal of the GNU project never + was to merely provide a free clone of proprietary Unices, but to + give users ,(ref "https://www.gnu.org/philosophy/free-sw.html" + "software freedom"). In the case of Emacs the boundary between + user and programmer is blurred as adapting the environment to + one’s needs is ,(ref + "https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html" "already an + act of programming with a very low barrier to entry"). Emacs + provides ,(em [practical]) software freedom and that’s one of the + main reasons why over the course of many years my perception of + it has slowly shifted from a belittled tool only old-fashioned + people use to the centre-piece of most of my daily computing + activities.]) + + (p [Yay for GNU Emacs, yay for free software!])) |