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0 pointstsimionescu1y ago0 comments

As a five+ year Emacs user who primarily codes in Go and some Python, and is aware of eglot, other LSPs, elpy, etc: I fully agree that VSCode is the only real option. If you happen to have a passion for Emacs, as I do, awesome. But it's not realistic to start using Emacs when you need to switch off of another editor. I would never suggest to a new co-worker "try Emacs", though I would be more than happy to help them if they wanted to.

Emacs is an extremely esoteric program, from shortcuts, to documentation, to package management (should you use elpa? melpa? melpa-unstable), to configuration (I love Lisp, but it's much more esoteric than JSON), to bugs (who has regular UI locking as an expected part of the experience, e.g. when using eglot, in 2024?).

I love emacs, and tinkering with it, and will probably never stop using it. That doesn't mean it's a real option for someone who doesn't want to make it a hobby.

0 comments

zkry1y ago

As an enthusiast myself I'd be tempted to come to the same conclusion but I'm surprised with the options and learning resources out there how quick some people can get up to speed in Emacs. Yeah, it will probably take a good weekend project worth of time, but it's pretty easily doable to make the switch.

tsimionescuOP1y ago

Learning the basics you need is just one part. It takes far longer to get used to actually using what you learned. Whereas switching from IntelliJ to VSCode, you'll need the basic setup and appropriate plug-ins, and then you'll be basically fully up to speed. You'll take much longer just to get used to M-w instead of Ctrl+C.

pxc1y ago

> Emacs is an extremely esoteric program [with respect to] documentation

I sort of get the other points, but I really don't get this at all. How is Emacs documentation esoteric? Emacs is without a doubt the best-documented application I've ever used. I can't think of a single thing with documentation as comprehensive, accessible, navigable, interactive, searchable, or genre-spanning as Emacs' documentation.

Emacs' documentation is so far from assuming that you already know how Emacs works that it'll literally teach you not only how to use the available configuration options for its built-ins (and any external packages you choose to install) or the language used to set them, or even how to write code in that language, but what computer programs even are.

Someone with zero programming knowledge whatsoever could sit down at a computer with no internet connection, open Emacs and its manuals, and learn everything they need to use, understand, and modify Emacs all the way to the point of contributing their own Elisp code to popular packages or Emacs itself. All that without reference to a single external document or a minute of personal instruction. Emacs documentation covers everything from how to change your colorscheme to what a loop is. How is that 'esoteric'?