2015-04-30 Emacs Hangout – hosted by Philip Stark

| emacs

Thanks to Philip Stark for organizing an Emacs Hangout that’s more conducive to European timezones! Here’s the video and the notes.

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Show notes (times might need a little adjustment):

  • 0:00:03 Introductions!
  • 0:03:03 A couple of Emacs semi-newbies =)
  • 0:03:52 Java and C# language support (autocomplete, refactoring, etc.); bridging the gap between Emacs and the runtime (Unity, Android, etc.). Batch mode for the latter. OmniSharp actually went pretty darn well this time around!
  • 0:06:10 OmniSharp demo
  • 0:06:13 https://github.com/MmmCurry/.emacs.d/
  • 0:07:23 OmniSharp + company config, demo of completion. Includes API. Jump to definition as well.
  • 0:10:59 Cool refactoring stuff. Ex: intelligent rename. Watch out for bugs. Still neat!
  • 0:12:30 MS Visual Studio Code seems to run on the same backend =)
  • 0:13:18 OmniSharp background info
  • 0:14:53 New participant, working out the tech issues
  • 0:16:28 Java? Haven’t looked into it much yet, lower priority. Pain point: Eclipse project build chain. eclim? May give it a second chance.
  • 0:19:37 Wishlist: batch mode Unity for headless testing?
  • 0:20:05 Emacs and Python – working through the Google Code Jam problems. C-c C-c to execute code in the REPL, so much fun. Suggestion: org-babel blocks? =)
  • 0:21:37 Discussion about Scala and Ensime. Ooh, Ensime does Java too. Neat!
  • 0:22:49 New to Emacs Lisp. Discovering things and implementing them – good enough, but not well-polished. Writing. Helm, etc. So many things to learn! Balancing studying the Emacs Lisp intro and manual, and discovering things day to day.
  • 0:25:00 Separate Lisp file loading for experimental stuff.
  • 0:25:30 Woodnotes guide? http://therandymon.com/woodnotes/emacs-for-writers/emacs-for-writers.html
  • 0:26:32 Emacs StackExchange, Reddit.com/r/emacs, Planet Emacsen
  • 0:29:17 Spacemacs, packaged defaults. Learning with index cards. Learning curve. Emacs community is obsessed with documentation. Phenomenal! =)
  • 0:34:23 Documented conventions, nicely-designed keybindings etc. for Spacemacs
  • 0:35:50 Spacemacs setup asks you which tradition you want to follow
  • 0:36:46 nerdtree replacement – neotree
  • 0:37:27 Goal is to not rely on Spacemacs, but for it to be a stepping-stone / scaffold
  • 0:38:30 Differences between Linux window managers; simplified workflows
  • 0:40:24 Looking at configuration frameworks piecemeal, learning workflows
  • 0:43:05 Discoverability is a big issue. helm-c-yasnippet has helm-yas-complete, helm-yas-create-snippet-on-region . Can be configured to display the keys. (setq helm-yas-display-key-on-candidate t) Has additional actions if you TAB.
  • 0:50:24 Hydra demo. Ex: moving lines up and down. Hydra for Helm?
  • 0:57:25 Lispy-mnemonic
  • 1:02:58 Usability
  • 1:05:30 Lispy-mnemonic workflow – minor mode
  • 1:06:15 back-to-indentation and restoring the binding in Lispy
  • 1:07:36 org-timer and meeting notes
  • 1:08:14 Make timestamps better! =)
  • 1:10:53 Cognitive overhead of new IDEs. Ex: SublimeText C-d marks a thing (Emacs equivalent: expand-region)? More organic, flexible commands versus specific ones, staying within your mental model.
  • 1:13:00 multiple-cursors, transpose-chars versus backward-kill-word.
  • 1:17:30 helm-swoop
  • 1:21:06 micro-optimizations, command-log-mode, keyfreq, mc/mark-all-like-this(-dwim), guru-mode
  • 1:26:06 Dealing with Eclipse wizards, things that shift you out of your mental model. Discussion of Helm and Ido. Also, helm-show-kill-ring.
  • 1:31:59 Hydra and leader keys.
  • 1:32:31 Dan’s intro. Figuring out workflow. Export Org Mode to HTML. Yasnippet for HTML5 declarations? Org Mode publishing project support (org) Publishing options
  • 1:37:20 Magit, git-timemachine, git-gutter-fringe, git-wip (for committing work in progress each time you save; https://github.com/bartman/git-wip), git-wip-timemachine (forked git-wip, https://github.com/itsjeyd/git-wip-timemachine)
  • 1:41:44 undo-tree
  • 1:42:57 git-messenger
  • 1:43:48 C-x v g, vc-annotate, colour-coding
  • 1:45:13 Emacs load times, profiling
  • 1:47:59 markdown and flycheck not finding an external command, checking the *Messages* buffer

Text chat:

M. Ian Graham 2:06 PM https://github.com/MmmCurry/.emacs.d/blob/master/lisp/init-csharp.el
M. Ian Graham 2:14 PM https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-server https://github.com/OmniSharp/omnisharp-emacs
Tim K 2:15 PM should be ok
Tim K 2:15 PM maybe someone has to unmute me
M. Ian Graham 2:15 PM https://code.visualstudio.com/
Tim K 2:15 PM i’ll just keep lurking for now then
me 2:18 PM https://github.com/senny/emacs-eclim
Tim K 2:19 PM tangentially related: ENSIME I used it for developing a web play framework project
M. Ian Graham 2:20 PM Ooo, scala goodness https://github.com/ensime/ensime-server
Tim K 2:21 PM yeah it targets scala BUT it works for java as well !!
Philip Stark 2:23 PM Excellent.. Thank you Tim !
M. Ian Graham 2:25 PM http://therandymon.com/woodnotes/emacs-for-writers/emacs-for-writers.html
Tim K 2:25 PM @Will: Are you on Emacs.SE?
Philip Stark 2:26 PM right?
Tim K 2:26 PM yes There’s lots of good content for non-programmers there
Philip Stark 2:26 PM cool. I gotta check that out.
me 2:27 PM Yakshaving: https://sachachua.com/blog/2015/03/the-balance-between-doing-and-improving-evaluating-yak-shaving/
Tim K 2:32 PM For people who know their way around some of the starter kits: You could definitely score some points answering questions on Emacs.SE. My impression is that there usually aren’t that many people around who can answer these types of questions.
me 2:32 PM Good point!
Will Monroe 2:33 PM Thanks, Tim. That sounds like a good place for someone like me to start.
Tim K 2:33 PM Prelude is probably the one you’re thinking of
M. Ian Graham 2:45 PM https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm-c-yasnippeta https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm-c-yasnippet
me 2:47 PM (setq helm-yas-display-key-on-candidate t)
Will Monroe 2:58 PM Hey everyone, I’ve really enjoyed listening to and talking with each of you. Have to go. See you all next time!
Tim K 3:03 PM Bye Will!
me 3:04 PM For the text chat: https://github.com/itsjeyd/lispy-mnemonic You might like https://github.com/magnars/expand-region.el
Tim K 3:12 PM Also: multiple cursors
me 3:23 PM keyfreq?
Tim K 3:25 PM guru-mode ?
me 3:41 PM https://github.com/bartman/git-wip
Tim K 3:41 PM https://github.com/itsjeyd/git-wip-timemachine
me 3:43 PM https://github.com/syohex/emacs-git-messenger
Philip Stark 3:43 PM https://github.com/syohex/emacs-git-messenger ah thx

Thanks, everyone!

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