9 Tips for the aspiring Emacs playboy

Introduction

I consider myself a beginning Lisper. I've been developing my software in Emacs for 8 months now. At first, I was clumsy at it. Emacs can be difficult and daunting. The terminology is different from what I'm used to, the key bindings are different, and there are just so many commands, configurations, and modes. But I've persevered and I now find myself quite nimble with key bindings and structured editing. And yet there's still more to learn.

The subject of what to learn is treated in many online tutorials and printed books. But here, now, I thought I'd share some tips I use to keep the key bindings in my head from being garbage collected.

1. Post up a cheat sheet

Create your own cheat sheet with ten key bindings you'd like to learn. No more than 10. Don't burden yourself with a gigantic list you'll have to search through. You won't be able to find them quickly enough, and you'll stop referring to the sheet.

Make it a point to use bindings from the cheat sheet while you code.

At first, your cheat sheet will have the basic commands you need to master. But it will evolve as you do . . .

2. Don't use the mouse

The mouse is a crutch for the beginner. It will keep you from learning keyboard commands. Using the keyboard will let you edit faster than the mouse ever can.

Get rid of the tool bar (tool-bar-mode -1) and the menu bar (menu-bar-mode -1).

Don't touch the mouse. If you find yourself using the mouse too much, open up emacs in a terminal instead of in X. When you find yourself reaching for the mouse, think of a way to use the keyboard to get to where you want. In no time, you'll be flying around the text like a crazy rocket-powered hamster on steroids instead of some wimpy mouse.

3. Read other people's .emacs file

Lots of people post their .emacs file for bragging/demonstration purposes. These often have great tips/insights into a configuration/mode that you didn't know about. This is like getting a look directly into the brain of an experienced Emacs user. Cut and paste and read the comments.

4. Write down any interesting commands you discover

While perusing help, reading .emacs files, loitering in the newsgroups, or surfing the web, you'll invariably find an Emacs command that you'll want to remember. You won't remember it unless you write it down. Sure, you may remember some, but not all. Keep a list of key bindings you don't want to forget. You will not be able to find it again.

5. Update your cheat sheet

Ok, so you've got a cheat sheet. Now what? After a week or two of using a single, ten item cheat sheet, go through the sheet and decide which key bindings you've graduated from.

For each item on you cheat sheet, ask yourself these questions:

Do you use it often enough not to forget it?

Do you want to forget it?

Will you remember it without the cheat sheet?

Do you remember what it does?

When you've whittled down your sheet so that it again contains only those key bindings that you want to remember but don't, add some more from the list of interesting commands you've been keeping. But don't exceed a total list size of ten!

6. Keep your key bindings standard

There are a lot of key bindings that are universally accepted as standard. When you're still learning, you won't know which those are, and you'll destroy any chance you have of fluency in another Emacs window if you change them. There's nothing worse than sitting down at a terminal and being totally lost with the commands because you're used to rebinding most of them. You might even do something awful.

It's like being parachuted into a foreign country where "Hello, I come in peace." means "Your mother is ugly but she's good in bed." But at the same time, you might use some commands so much you want to rebind them to something more useful. It's a dilemma but I suggest keeping as many of the original key bindings as possible, especially at first.

7. Use help

Online help is a great help (wow, really bad pun). Some help commands that you might find helpful (not again):

• describe-key (C-h k): Asks you to strike a keystroke and describes the command it is bound to.
• describe-bindings (C-h b): Lists all of you key bindings.
• command-apropos (C-h a): Search all of the commands in the system, and gives you a brief description of each matching command(with its key binding).
• view-order-manuals (C-h RET): View all help commands

Also, watch when you you type a command using M-x. If there is a key binding for it, it will tell it to you.

8. Experiment

In order to strengthen the human-Emacs symbiotic bond, you should experiment with different editing commands and editing modes. Most text editors only offer a couple of ways of navigating text. Here are some common ones: Arrow Keys, Home/End keys, PageUp/PageDown, and find. One of the strengths of Emacs is that you can treat the same text differently depending on what command you use. For instance, you treat it as characters with C-f and C-b. But you treat it as words with M-f and M-b. You treat it as s-exprs with C-M-f and C-M-b. Etc.

In order to know when it is best to use which command, experimentation is your best option. Try out different commands and learn their strengths and weaknesses.

9. Create keyboard macros

Keyboard macros are a great thing to learn in their own right, but they can help you learn commands like a pro. When recording your macros, you have to think: "How can I do this so that this command will work perfectly a hundred times?". The thought process you have to go through to compose those commands will reinforce all of the possible ways to perform an action.