Comment by iLemming

Comment by iLemming 5 hours ago

I think the problem that most beginners try to explore the editor features, instead of focusing on main fundamental truth about Emacs - it's not just an editor, it's a Lisp system with a built-in editor.

I think focusing on understanding how Lisp drives Emacs can remarkably speed up the pace of learning it. Every key press and button click hooks up to a Lisp function. Even complex keyboard macros translate to Lisp command sequences.

1. Figure out structural editing commands to move s-expressions freely - those parens only feel annoying initially, later they become friendly.

2. Understand REPL-driven development - any expression can be evaled in-place.

3. Try the build-in profiler.

4. Learn the debugger.

5. Use the describe- commands. Emacs can "describe" to you every key, function, command, symbol, input methods, themes, fonts, characters, etc.

Emacs is really not about "what it can or cannot do" in general sense. It's all about "what you can do with it". Learn some basic elisp - and you will be able to achieve a lot.

BeetleB 4 hours ago

I'm going to give a counterpoint to this (common) take.

I was an Emacs power user for almost a decade before I learned Emacs Lisp. I knew just the bare minimum to populate my .emacs file, and occasionally copied others' config snippets.

No need to rush into learning Elisp.

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iLemming 2 hours ago

You just unironically proved my point. Who's got a decade to spare, when they can wield the power in just a couple of months?

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- BeetleB 2 hours ago
  
  > Who's got a decade to spare, when they can wield the power in just a couple of months?
  I was a power user within months - a year tops. I didn't say it took me 10 years to become a power user.
  Ever since I learned Elisp (it's been many years), I wouldn't say my expertise and abilities has grown exponentially. It is merely an incremental improvement. It definitely is nice that I can now code away annoyances, but it's not the game changer people make it out to be.
  
  Reply View | 3 replies
  
  iLemming 24 minutes ago
  
  > I wouldn't say my expertise and abilities has grown exponentially
  Things always look easier only after you solve a problem, aren't they?
  That is a known as hindsight bias (also called the "knew-it-all-along" effect). Once you've solved a problem or seen the solution, it seems obvious and you tend to overestimate how predictable or easy it was.
  There's related phenomena known as the curse of knowledge - difficulty imagining not knowing something once you know it.
  "The Mythical Man-Month" - discusses on why we underestimate complexity, it explains the psychology behind it.
  There's also "forgetting the beginner's journey" or the "fourth stage" of learning where skills become so automatic you can't easily explain them.
  ___
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hindsight_bias
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Curse_of_knowledge
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Four_stages_of_competence
  
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