the Modernization of Emacs
in [Lisp]
|
From: Greg Menke on 11 Apr 2006 17:52 David Kastrup <dak(a)gnu.org> writes: > Alan Mackenzie <acm(a)muc.de> writes: > > Uh, gleaming efficiency? Sorry to disagree, but Emacs is a traveling > junk yard and freak show. A junk yard which has got everything, and > building materials for building everything else. It's not as much > "honed" rather than having lots of people making it their home and > improving their personal corner of the junk yard. People are always > running around with soldering irons and swapping their favorite pieces > of scrap and construction recipes. It is a gathering ground for Mad > Scientists(TM) in the text processing area. > > > Most other editors I find clumsy indeed. > > They are not necessarily clumsy. Just not accommodating. Emacs is > probably the clumsiest and most dissociated piece of software ever. > But it works with you, lives with you. It's a walrus tangoing with > you, following your lead like a feather. If you have learnt how to > properly lead and don't make it flap on your feet. This is probably the best appraisal of Emacs I think I have ever read. Many thanks! Gregm
From: Alan Mackenzie on 11 Apr 2006 17:29 David Kastrup <dak(a)gnu.org> wrote on Tue, 11 Apr 2006 23:07:50 +0200: > "Tim Bradshaw" <tfb+google(a)tfeb.org> writes: > Emacs has been beaten into a black hole. Get too close to it, and > you'll never escape again. It bends reality. David, is there anything which makes you happy? ;-) >> And for all sorts of reasons, in almost all cases you're better off >> learning it as it is than trying to make it fit with whatever is >> fashionable today: in the same way that you're better off learning the >> guitar than inventing a new, better guitar. > A harp. Lots and lots of strings, and pedals, so that you are not > restricted to A minor, but can also play M-C-major. Harp harp harp. 47 strings and 7 pedals, actually. Also 88 rotating disks, just as a piano has 88 keys. A harp is as different from a guitar as Emacs is from Nano. Principally, the strings are at an angle to the soundboard rather than being parallel to it. Also, the strings on a harp are at a _much_ higher tension than those of a guitar, so you get both a higher volume of sound and calloused fingers from it. A typical harp weighs 35 - 40 kg, and is a bloody pain to cart around. > David Kastrup -- Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm(a)muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a").
From: Alan Mackenzie on 11 Apr 2006 17:55 David Kastrup <dak(a)gnu.org> wrote on Tue, 11 Apr 2006 21:17:30 +0200: > Alan Mackenzie <acm(a)muc.de> writes: >> Sacha <no(a)address.spam> wrote on Tue, 11 Apr 2006 13:02:20 GMT: >>> "Tim Bradshaw" <tfb+google(a)tfeb.org> wrote >>>> Emacs is like a guitar: imperfect, hard to learn, but you can do >>>> great things with it. >>> Agreed, that's why i choose to easy route...learn the keystrokes >>> while not being stuck with emacs itself... When i'll feel more >>> comfortable, maybe i'll switch... I just feel it is pretty bad that >>> we have to work with this ages old tool. >> I think it's good that we've got the choice. Emacs is decades old >> rather than months old, and it has been honed to gleaming efficiency >> in that time. > Uh, gleaming efficiency? Sorry to disagree, but Emacs is a traveling > junk yard and freak show. Just like the human body after a few gazillion years of evolution, you mean? > A junk yard which has got everything, and building materials for > building everything else. It's not as much "honed" rather than having > lots of people making it their home and improving their personal corner > of the junk yard. But it's just brilliant for editing a TeX file or a C file, though. > People are always running around with soldering irons and swapping > their favorite pieces of scrap and construction recipes. It is a > gathering ground for Mad Scientists(TM) in the text processing area. And what other editor can offer that? :-) >> Most other editors I find clumsy indeed. > They are not necessarily clumsy. Just not accommodating. Emacs is > probably the clumsiest and most dissociated piece of software ever. > But it works with you, lives with you. It's a walrus tangoing with > you, ..... yeah, but I'm not a carpenter[*]. > .... following your lead like a feather. If you have learnt how to > properly lead and don't make it flap on your feet. [*] For those from non-English speaking cultures: "The Walrus and the Carpenter Were walking close at hand: They wept like anything to see Such quantities of sand: 'If this were only cleared away,' They said, 'it would be grand.'" From "Through the Looking Glass" by Lewis Carroll. Do you think we're sufficiently off-topic, yet? > David Kastrup -- Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany) Email: aacm(a)muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter (like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a").
From: Tim Bradshaw on 11 Apr 2006 18:27 Alan Mackenzie wrote: > Also, the strings on a harp are at a _much_ > higher tension than those of a guitar, so you get both a higher volume of > sound and calloused fingers from it. I'm not sure about *much* - the only set of strings I have to hand for a guitar have tensions from 15-20lb, and some very casual searching inidcates harps might have up to 30-something. But those guitar tensions are or fairly light strings (10-46). I'd guess that heavily-strung guitars might double the tension. Of course nylon-strung guitars have much lower tensions (and necks without truss rods...). Are harps all wood? Do they have problems with falling to bits under load like wooden-framed pianos used to? --tim (now what does this have to do with Lisp?)
From: Miles Bader on 11 Apr 2006 18:50
"Tim Bradshaw" <tfb+google(a)tfeb.org> writes: > It should be able to keep up when I type. Yes, I mean even with > font-lock turned on. Er, can it not now? I'm using rather old hardware (450 MHz PIII), but even the latest Emacs with all the goo-goo turned on feels rather speedy and light-weight -- especially compared to typical modern bloatware (for a truly slothful experience, try Eclipse or VS...). [Of course this probably doesn't apply when you're trying to process that massive database in a text-buffer using elisp!] -Miles -- "1971 pickup truck; will trade for guns" |