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diff --git a/web/blog/posts/emacs-is-underrated.md b/web/blog/posts/emacs-is-underrated.md new file mode 100644 index 000000000000..afb8dc889e53 --- /dev/null +++ b/web/blog/posts/emacs-is-underrated.md @@ -0,0 +1,233 @@ +TIP: Hello, and thanks for offering to review my draft! This post +intends to convey to people what the point of Emacs is. Not to convert +them to use it, but at least with opening their minds to the +possibility that it might contain valuable things. I don't know if I'm +on track in the right direction, and your input will help me figure it +out. Thanks! + +TODO(tazjin): Restructure sections: Intro -> Introspectability (and +story) -> text-based UIs (which lead to fluidity, muscle memory across +programs and "translatability" of workflows) -> Outro. It needs more +flow! + +TODO(tazjin): Highlight more that it's not about editing: People can +derive useful things from Emacs by just using magit/org/notmuch/etc.! + +TODO(tazjin): Note that there's value in trying Emacs even if people +don't end up using it, similar to how learning languages like Lisp or +Haskell helps grow as a programmer even without using them day-to-day. + +*Real post starts below!* + +--------- + +There are two kinds of people: Those who use Emacs, and those who +think it is a text editor. This post is aimed at those in the second +category. + +Emacs is the most critical piece of software I run. My [Emacs +configuration][emacs-config] has steadily evolved for almost a decade. +Emacs is my window manager, mail client, terminal, git client, +information management system and - perhaps unsurprisingly - text +editor. + +Before going into why I chose to invest so much into this program, +follow me along on a little thought experiment: + +---------- + +Lets say you use a proprietary spreadsheet program. You find that +there are features in it that *almost, but not quite* do what you +want. + +What can you do? You can file a feature request to the company that +makes it and hope they listen, but for the likes of Apple and +Microsoft chances are they won't and there is nothing you can do. + +Let's say you are also running an open-source program for image +manipulation. You again find that some of its features are subtly +different from what you would want them to do. + +Things look a bit different this time - after all, the program is +open-source! You can go and fetch its source code, figure out its +internal structure and wrangle various layers of code into submission +until you find the piece that implements the functionality you want to +change. If you know the language it is written in; you can modify the +feature. + +Now all that's left is figuring out its build system[^1], building and +installing it and moving over to the new version. + +Realistically you are not going to do this much in the real world. The +friction to contributing to projects, especially complex ones, is +often quite high. For minor inconveniences, you might often find +yourself just shrugging and working around them. + +What if it didn't have to be this way? + +------------- + +One of the core properties of Emacs is that it is *introspective* and +*self-documenting*. + +For example: A few years ago, I had just switched over to using +[EXWM][], the Emacs X Window Manager. To launch applications I was +using an Emacs program called Helm that let me select installed +programs interactively and press <kbd>RET</kbd> to execute them. + +This was very useful - until I discovered that if I tried to open a +second terminal window, it would display an error: + + Error: urxvt is already running + +Had this been dmenu, I might have had to go through the whole process +described above to fix the issue. But it wasn't dmenu - it was an +Emacs program, and I did the following things: + +1. I pressed <kbd>C-h k</kbd>[^2] (which means "please tell me what + the following key does"), followed by <kbd>s-d</kbd> (which was my + keybinding for launching programs). + +2. Emacs displayed a new buffer saying, roughly: + + ``` + s-d runs the command helm-run-external-command (found in global-map), + which is an interactive autoloaded compiled Lisp function in + ‘.../helm-external.el’. + + It is bound to s-d. + ``` + + I clicked on the filename. + +3. Emacs opened the file and jumped to the definition of + `helm-run-external-command`. After a few seconds of reading through + the code, I found this snippet: + + ```lisp + (if (get-process proc) + (if helm-raise-command + (shell-command (format helm-raise-command real-com)) + (error "Error: %s is already running" real-com)) + ;; ... the actual code to launch programs followed below ... + ) + ``` + +4. I deleted the outer if-expression which implemented the behaviour I + didn't want, pressed <kbd>C-M-x</kbd> to reload the code and saved + the file. + +The whole process took maybe a minute, and the problem was now gone. + +Emacs isn't just "open-source", it actively encourages the user to +modify it, discover what to modify and experiment while it is running. + +In some sense it is like the experience of the old Lisp machines, a +paradigm that we have completely forgotten. + +--------------- + +Circling back to my opening statement: If Emacs is not a text editor, +then what *is* it? + +The Emacs website says this: + +> [Emacs] is an interpreter for Emacs Lisp, a dialect of the Lisp +> programming language with extensions to support text editing + +The core of Emacs implements the language and the functionality needed +to evaluate and run it, as well as various primitives for user +interface construction such as buffers, windows and frames. + +Every other feature of Emacs is implemented *in Emacs Lisp*. + +The Emacs distribution ships with rudimentary text editing +functionality (and some language-specific support for the most popular +languages), but it also brings with it two IRC clients, a Tetris +implementation, a text-mode web browser, [org-mode][] and many other +tools. + +Outside of the core distribution there is a myriad of available +programs for Emacs: [magit][] (the famous git porcelain), text-based +[HTTP clients][], even interactive [Kubernetes frontends][k8s]. + +What all of these tools have in common is that they use text-based +user interfaces (UI elements like images are used only sparingly in +Emacs), and that they can be introspected and composed like everything +else in Emacs. + +If magit does not expose a git flag I need, it's trivial to add. If I +want a keybinding to jump from a buffer showing me a Kubernetes pod to +a magit buffer for the source code of the container, it only takes a +few lines of Emacs Lisp to implement. + +As proficiency with Emacs Lisp ramps up, the environment becomes +malleable like clay and evolves along with the user's taste and needs. +Muscle memory learned for one program translates seamlessly to others, +and the overall effect is an improvement in *workflow fluidity* that +is difficult to overstate. + +Also, workflows based on Emacs are *stable*. Moving my window +management to Emacs has meant that I'm not subject to the whim of some +third-party developer changing my window layouting features (as they +often do on MacOS). + +To illustrate this: Emacs has development history back to the 1970s, +continuous git history that survived multiple VCS migrations [since +1985][first-commit] (that's 22 years before git itself was released!) +and there is code[^3] implementing interactive functionality that has +survived unmodified in Emacs *since then*. + +--------------- + +Now, what is the point of this post? + +I decided to write this after a recent [tweet][] by @IanColdwater (in +the context of todo-management apps): + +> The fact that it's 2020 and the most viable answer to this appears +> to be Emacs might be the saddest thing I've ever heard + +What bothers me is that people see this as *sad*. Emacs being around +for this long and still being unparalleled for many of the UX +paradigms implemented by its programs is, in my book, incredible - and +not sad. + +How many other paradigms have survived this long? How many other tools +still have fervent followers, amazing [developer tooling][] and a +[vibrant ecosystem][] at this age? + +Steve Yegge [said it best][babel][^5]: Emacs has the Quality Without a +Name. + +What I wish you, the reader, should take away from this post is the +following: + +TODO(tazjin): Figure out what people should take away from this post. +I need to sleep on it. It's something about not dismissing tools just +because of their age, urging them to explore paradigms that might seem +unfamiliar and so on. Ideas welcome. + +--------------- + +[^1]: Wouldn't it be a joy if every project just used Nix? I digress ... +[^2]: These are keyboard shortcuts written in [Emacs Key Notation][ekn]. +[^3]: For example, [functionality for online memes][studly] that + wouldn't be invented for decades to come! +[^4]: ... and some things wrong, but that is an issue for a separate post! +[^5]: And I really *do* urge you to read that post's section on Emacs. + +[emacs-config]: https://git.tazj.in/tree/tools/emacs +[EXWM]: https://github.com/ch11ng/exwm +[helm]: https://github.com/emacs-helm/helm +[ekn]: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/efaq/Basic-keys.html +[org-mode]: https://orgmode.org/ +[magit]: https://magit.vc +[HTTP clients]: https://github.com/pashky/restclient.el +[k8s]: https://github.com/jypma/kubectl +[first-commit]: http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/commit/?id=ce5584125c44a1a2fbb46e810459c50b227a95e2 +[studly]: http://git.savannah.gnu.org/cgit/emacs.git/commit/?id=47bdd84a0a9d20aab934482a64b84d0db63e7532 +[tweet]: https://twitter.com/IanColdwater/status/1220824466525229056 +[developer tooling]: https://github.com/alphapapa/emacs-package-dev-handbook +[vibrant ecosystem]: https://github.com/emacs-tw/awesome-emacs +[babel]: https://sites.google.com/site/steveyegge2/tour-de-babel#TOC-Lisp |