The C-u C-u trick at 2:03 is such a neat hack.
Goes to show how with Emacs you don't have to compromise between customization and productivity: a true hacker can have both.
I'd recommend starting from scratch. The whole point of emacs is it's super easy to hack and make your own. So you'd just end up "undoing" everything in a starter kit anyway. But you should definitely look at those starter kits to see what you can do.
I feel like doing that with doom emacs. I'm not sure what is a feature or a package and it feels like a bunch of things are overlapping in terms of functionality.
If you start with framework you might not learn enough to solve problems later, but using it later to simplify your config should be ok. For example ergoemacs http://ergoemacs.github.io/ is a nice way to make Emacs more ergonomic and easier to use(if having problems with default configuration).
I think the only thing I couldn't live without is evil mode. I'd install that right off the bat. I'm using doom but it feels like it's doing too much behind the scenes for my taste.
Of course, you should really be using the Doom module or Spacemacs layer to add another level of abstraction that will definitively fix any issues you might have run into.
I use Emacs as my daily driver, but everyone needs a quick editor for config files and the like. I started using GNU Nano for that purpose a year or so ago, but until then I was using ed. That would make it the longest-running program I've ever used: 1976 to 2022.
I wish Vim, when started in Ex mode, wouldn't set current cursor line to lowest regardless of whether the cursor is already on it. It wastes screen, making backscroll unusable. I researched ways to configure Vim not to do that and didn't find any one that works well together with Vim's terminal support. This is the only obstacle to using Vim like ed.
In Emacs the editor is the operating system. To type "blimpy" you download a software package and install it.
In Vim the editor is one part of a larger operating system, called Unix. To type blimpy in Vim, combine several Unix tools and read the output. Type this:
honestly Vim is pretty slow, and it utterly sucks with long lines. you can do "g" motion, but I cant seem to get my muscle memory to remember that. to me "down" should always use whats visible on the screen, not just dumbly move to the next line.
> you can do "g" motion, but I cant seem to get my muscle memory to remember that. to me "down" should always use whats visible on the screen, not just dumbly move to the next line.
You could always add key mappings to your .vimrc file so it works this way.
you're supposed to learn the mechanics of vim and then configure it in a way which you find intuitive. i find that much more natural than software which tries to anticipate (and indirectly reinforce) some arbitrary "common sense".
Ok I got you mane.. you have 2 solutions. By the way, there is a sort of "common" set of configurations that probably 90% of people have in their vim config, like turning off the bell and stuff. Obviously there are exceptions because those people know what they're doing, but my point is that don't give up on it until you at least try a common config to remove a lot of the basic annoyances.
Solution 1: Add this to your vimrc. This will make it so when going up and down, wrapped lines are properly interpreted and not skipped
```
" better up and down
map j gj
map k gk
```
Solution 2: If you want to make it where the cursor literally goes ANYWHERE in the document, including in space that doesn't even exist, do this below. I used this mode for a very long time and it's amazing. I only switched recently just to try something new to see if I like it more, and right now I'm just 50/50 on if its better or not
```
" allow cursor to go anywhere
set virtualedit=all
```
Lastly, try using `vimtutor` from terminal and practice commands right there in your terminal.
And, if by "slow" you are talking about literal performance, try Neovim. Neovim is basically a fork of nvim that gets rid of vimscript (but still allows it if you want to use it) and instead implements Lua, which is an extremely (the fastest, actually) scripting language. (The other comment you asked about was a Neovim lua configuration which does the same thing as the vimscript version).
Part of the Neovim idea is that they also set a lot more "sane" default config thats more modern.
The best part about Neovim is that it supports LSP's in a much better way, so you can complete VS-Code like IDE experience, rather than relying on a complex array of plugins. If you decide to do that, check out lsp-zero for the easiest setup possible.
I recently transferred 10+ year vim config to lua and neovim, and I saw people recommending this over and over. Because I wasnt familiar with it I thought "I dont need that, i want to start fresh". Well after doing that for nearly a month, I realized how good kickstart is, it REALLY is quite good, and does lots and lots that you would want without doing too much. I didnt use it, but i took tons of inspiration from it for setting up LSPs.
Let me know if you have any questions I'd love to not lose vim friend over something stupid like moving on long lines.
The rogue blimpy optimizing AI will one day enslave us all into typing blimpy. If you know how to do it the Correct Way in Emacs, you'll get to live a little longer before your matter is harvested for the blimpy typing nanobots.
No, I think the word was just chosen because it sounds kind of funny. The crux of the video is making fun of how simultaneously annoyingly fidgety and powerful emacs packages can be.
Am I the only (former) emacs user in this thread very confused by the "--INSERT---" line at the bottom of the screen in this video? That's clearly a vi-ism?
It is supposed to be funny, the author of the video is obviously faking seriousness while presenting a joke package for emacs. That's a kind of a sketch comedy with a computer.
More than anything else I'm confused by the positive response this is getting.
* Very few people use Emacs
* Anyone who nevertheless is using Emacs should be willing to read documentation. The only way to learn Emacs is through reading the docs.
* As illustrated, copy-pasting a use-package clause is an easy way to get started with something. The pain point is the alternative ways to set a package up that are distracting.
* This doesn't hit the traditional Emacs stereotypes of crazy keyboard chords, insane customisability or digs at lisp syntax.
Can anyone articulate why there is a group of people who seem to really like this video?
one time I was in Kyrgyzstan staring down a band of armed marauders with AKs, me holding nothing but my pre-Lenovo Thinkpad. The battery had long since died (it only lasts about 38 minutes) and of course the WiFi doesn't work due to proprietary drivers but I was able to plug in the six-pound AC adapter to the back of a Unimog and after waiting for the 10 minute boot process to complete I quickly typed "C-c b" which is my personal keybind for blimpy. The marauders were so impressed that they gave me a camel and sent me on my way.
As a long time emacs user, I've definitely felt this sinking my teeth into a novel package and I imagine lots of people have felt the same.
The fact that emacs even has a coherent package story is a testament to people's dedication to making it work. On the surface, it should be impossible; the editor is so configurable that there was no particular guarantee that a coherent family of behaviors would emerge. But the fact that packages and package management not only exist but interoperate with each other speaks volumes to the dedication of the software engineers who made that happen.
> Anyone who nevertheless is using Emacs should be willing to read documentation. The only way to learn Emacs is through reading the docs.
Ah, assuming that's how people learn things these days is our first mistake. ;) Emaxs does have excellent built-in documentation... But in the StackOverflow era, I think a lot of people learn their software by hopping from solution to solution instead of digesting all of the documentation.
Didn't you see that sharky blimp in the GitHub repo? Or is it a blimpy shark? I find that funny. Also, as transpires elsewhere in this thread, “blimpy” seems to be an alternative spelling of “bloated”. Could be emacs users not taking themselves too seriously for a change. Refreshing!
And the comments here, how everyone's imagination goes off with associations and interpretations? I'm not even sure there is a single consistent explanation for all of this and how it's funny. Maybe it cannot really be explained. Forget reason for a minute, if you can, and just enjoy :)
I'm with you, I don't get it. Is this an example of the emperor's new clothes where nobody gets it (because it doesn't make sense) but pretends to find it funny because they assume it must be funny if only they understood emacs?
I believe it was mocking a redditor that has been spamming /r/emacs with short how to videos with somewhat complicated ways to do super trivial things.
Well... one of the things groups do to bond is they develop memes and in-jokes that are objectively nothing and exist only to show who is in- and out- of the group. One of the signs people are doing that is one word responses like "blimpy". That sort of activity is purposefully low-content because it is supposed to signal group membership and nothing more. Which is what I think this is. That turns up in every group although it can be a bit subtle at times.
But this is a bit weird because this isn't what Emacs users have traditionally bonded over. The traditional stuff is things like https://xkcd.com/378/ leaning on "Emacs does everything and has long key combinations". This is more saying the package manager is bad or something? Which isn't a traditional joke. So either this is a new group of Emacs users I'm not familiar with or there is a good joke here that I've missed.
And I optimistically asked for an explanation of the joke in case it is the latter. Based on the comments in response I think this is a wave of Emacs users I'm not familiar with doing group bonding. Which, fair enough. They do their thing. Although even then the number of people involved seems high and it'd be interesting to know where they are coming from.
The joke is that it's overly complicated to do a simple thing in Emacs, and you have to rely on blindly running shakily-trustworthy third-party code to do that thing for you. (I like Emacs very much, I use it every day, but there is a kernel of truth to this and I laughed.)
Definitely a younger crowd. Back in my day if you blindly copied code without reading the documentation thoroughly there is no way that Emacs would be doing anything remotely useful. That was the sort of thing Emacs was mocked for, in fact - you really needed to get in amongst Elisp to customise it and nobody goes out of their way to learn Elisp.
Being able to blindly copy use-package statements has been one of the best parts of the Emacs modernisation effort.
I mean I think if you compare to, say, VSCode, writing any amount of [Emacs] Lisp to customise anything at all is "hard". I like it! It means I can customise more or less whatever I like, but it's a different universe.
I use Emacs casually, but oh dear it can get absurdly complicated for very little payoff. Yak shaving if there ever was. This blimpy plugin/module points it out in a deadpan way. It also reflects on a lot of tech in general. Who hasn’t spent a lot of time messing about with a system for no apparent benefit?
It has little twists too like indirectly bringing vi into it by supporting evil mode, furthering the futility of adding options and configurability to ostensibly “simplify” something. The video points out so many absurdities of IT life through the lens of an editor and its ecosystem.
"Vim Exit% Speedrun [WR - 2.50:13]"
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TLbfqZBL8t8