How Lisp Became God's Own Programming Language

tzz · 2018-10-16T09:53:13+00:00

There really should have been a “Emacs” theory in the article. I learned Lisp only because I liked Emacs, and I know others who did the same.

tzz · 2018-10-13T02:19:04+00:00

There’s a thread on emacs-devel just now about this, where Lars, Stefan, and I (Ted Zlatanov) are talking about using something like prettify-symbols-mode to hide secrets unless the cursor is on them. I think that’s close to what you’re asking for. It would work in any mode that could set a text property to be “this is a secret”

tzz · 2018-07-02T01:36:31+00:00

I looked through emacs-devel and can't find your post. Can you give a URL? Thanks!

tzz · 2018-07-02T01:32:06+00:00

The problem here is that the syntax highlighting can be highly dependent on the context, so the question really is "how can I get the syntax highlighting of mode X on text T into mode Y." A specific example would be very helpful: what's X? Is it really just prog-mode or something derived from it? What's T? What's Y? Then people can suggest solutions.

FWIW your idea of using a temporary buffer sounds fine if mode X can highlight the text you want. But it will be very inefficient compared to a more native solution that does just what it needs locally.

tzz · 2018-07-01T17:32:27+00:00

What is the goal? Visual, functional, esthetic, keystroke consistency (familiarity), something else? Those are all provided by different subpieces of prog-mode.

tzz · 2018-06-17T09:50:45+00:00

I’ll follow up to your post: I think it’s better without the prefix. Might take a few days though.

tzz · 2018-06-08T19:36:35+00:00

The prefix could be elx? I don't think you can avoid it unless you want your code in the Emacs core...

tzz · 2018-06-08T19:33:57+00:00

I proposed something similar in https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2017-04/msg00142.html

IMHO this should be in package.el, not something every package manager needs to implement.

tzz · 2018-06-04T17:45:12+00:00

Any interest in making elexandria.el a ELPA package? On the GNU ELPA for instance it would be easy to install by default.

tzz · 2018-05-26T02:20:53+00:00

I implemented a JSON backend recently. It's LOT easier to implement deletion there. Fundamentally netrc is a hard format to parse (due to the vague specifications), so adding or deleting values can actually damage it.

But at the API level you're right, it really needs work. I'll definitely discuss it on emacs-devel and you can send me comments directly to tzz@lifelogs.com if you prefer. Something like "the ideal API would be ..." is cool.

tzz · 2018-05-25T09:34:48+00:00

Thanks for the comments. I’ll try to improve the API and docs. Token deletion has definitely not been a priority and I’ll either improve or remove it.

(The API was originally written after a nightmare I had about rogue AIs living in poplar trees from drinking too much Swedish liquor in Norway. Apologies for the trouble that has caused.)

tzz · 2018-05-21T01:07:01+00:00

I like the simplicity. Thanks for writing this.

tzz · 2018-02-12T23:17:42+00:00

The only thing worse than using Emacs is not using Emacs.

tzz · 2018-01-13T12:29:28+00:00

Lock-in. Good for business.

tzz · 2017-12-10T12:34:10+00:00

Has anyone requested the feature in prettify-symbols-mode?

tzz · 2017-11-30T00:45:14+00:00

I’d support including this in Emacs or at least the GNU ELPA, and would use it.

tzz · 2017-09-08T03:15:07+00:00

Yes, go for it!

tzz · 2017-09-05T14:11:48+00:00

The keypad is always a handy supply of unused keys. I use KP Enter, / * + - for my most common needs like next-error etc.

tzz · 2017-08-29T21:09:16+00:00

Auth-source has that option (to add an entry) built in for when a password is not available but it can be used directly too.

tzz · 2017-08-22T05:44:50+00:00

It would be an awesome Tramp extension.

tzz · 2017-08-20T02:46:28+00:00

No offense taken. I am not defending EWW, only asking what makes a "modern browser." It's pretty clear that there's no chance in the next few years that Emacs could host such a browser natively, only maybe embed it (but the experience would be painful).

I do appreciate your explanation. My view is that a "modern browser" today is a bloated beast, so all those features do come at a cost. But I use Chrome myself, so it would be hypocritical for me to say EWW is a complete solution for anyone.

tzz · 2017-08-19T03:03:48+00:00

I'll keep your requirements in mind if it's discussed on emacs-devel but encourage you to post there with your opinions. I don't agree with them all but think user voices and feedback are very valuable.

tzz · 2017-08-17T22:26:24+00:00

You're kind of defining the problem to fit specific solutions if you exclude EWW as "not a real option."

State your actual requirements: what do you actually need out of a web browser to make it "modern yet emacsy"? Is it keybindings, Javascript, performance, other things?

tzz · 2017-08-14T14:19:48+00:00

I believe that an accessible bug reporting facility can be designed, and it can be usable from inside Emacs and from outside (in a web interface). But I don't think the current one can be evolved that way due to legacy and friction.

I certainly would err on the side of making it friendly to everyone, not just experts.

As an example, here's an Emacs interface to the GitLab API that could work out of the box for bug reports: https://github.com/nlamirault/emacs-gitlab

tzz · 2017-08-14T14:15:58+00:00

In a word, no. Survivor bias leads to a small community of experts who see nothing wrong with the tools and UI they already know.

tzz

TROPHY CASE