Xah Emacs Blog Archive 2014-01

On Mac OS X, you can set up the right ⌘ command key or right ⌥ option to be ▤ Menu key. You can also set the CapsLock to be Home. Use PCKeyboardHack. See: Mac Keyboard Software Guide

Emacs: Xah Fly Keys (updated)

Mac OS X. DoubleCommand is revived. See Mac Keyboard Software Guide

a emacs tip. When doing a shell command that generates tens thousands lines of output, such as git checkout a huge 2G repository, don't do it within emacs. Because, the huge amounts of output will slow down the process. Emacs seems to have some sort of buffering… the display slows down to a crawl (when your cursor is at the bottom), but am not sure if it actually throttles (slows) the input. Anyone knows?

post comment at https://plus.google.com/113859563190964307534/posts/cWVxw15KGAu

Computer Keyboard: Using Number Keypad as Function Keys (updated)

keys, keys, i want moar keys. Programable Keypads (updated)

Apple's “Menlo” Font for Coding

“Menlo” is a fixed-width (monospaced) sans-serif font introduced in Mac OS X 10.6 (Snow Leopard; 2009)

it is almost the same as “DejaVu Sans Mono”. (my fav. [see Best Unicode Fonts for Programer] ) Both are based on “Bitstream Vera Sans Mono”

now i got a “Apple MacBook MD760LL” Buy at amazon. Haven't been using a Mac since 2009. [see Why I'm Switching from Mac to Windows] Now, am going to a lot things on Mac again.

Emacs Init: Setup Font (minor update)

several layouts. Xah's Truly Ergonomic Keyboard Layouts. More interesting there is the related article about layouts, at bottom.

Programing: Decimalize Latitude Longitude

sometimes i post programing challenges. This is a old one from 2012. Programing: Decimalize Latitude Longitude

Just cleaned up and tested everyone's solutions. Also, I finally put my solution up. My solution does some extra input validation.

usually, when i post a programing challenge, the plan was, that i'll collect all solutions, and verify them, but actually go thru everyone's code, and give analysis and commentary on each person's algorithm, compare their efficiency. And, supply code in JavaScript, perl, python, php, that doesn't have entries. That was the master plan. But great master plans often fail. The prospect of spending days on it stopped me from making progress. Usually, i just end up posting my own solution, verify people's solutions, and comment on some of them.

just collecting and verify people's code actually take a huge amount time. Because, often, they do not always work, or the input output need to be tweaked in order to compare. You also need to add the right credit, people's name, source of the code. Profiling each also takes a lot time. Also, understand each person's code.

for this one, my plan was big. I myself have a solution in emacs lisp. But due to master plan, never actually got to post my own solution. At least now i post it. I mean to add explanation on exactly how my code differ from others, and i still haven't wrote commentary on how each solution works… oh well, maybe next time. I didn't do that yet because to read my own code will take 20 min or so. Yesterday i already spent a hour to verify and tweak all the solutions so that they are in one consistent format good for comparison.

you are still free to supply solutions in your favorite language. Post in comment, and or with link to your github or pastebin.

this is the best companion to your keyboard, for real hacker use for coding. Best Keypad: Razer Orbweaver, Mechanical Keys

basic emacs lisp. ELisp: URL to HTML Link + Date (minor update)

Is Mouse Bad for Programer?

added a video review of the Naga Hex. Best Mouse for Programers: 17 Buttons

Every time i post about mouse, a lot hacker type of coder will gratuitously say programer don't need mouse, or something similar. See Mouse vs Keyboard: Is Mouse Bad for Programer?

Best Mouse for Programers: 17 Buttons (new mouse, Razer Naga Hex)

Emacs: View Info Page (minor update)

emacs's “describe-” commands

emacs has describe-function command, and many other that starts with “describe-”. They are in general giving you help or info.

by default, there are 2 keys to invoke them, F1 or Ctrl+h. e.g.

[see Emacs Keys: Overview]

here's my own usage, ordered roughly in frequency of use. (with my own keys, plus a few of my own commands)

hourly:

<menu> h f      describe-function
<menu> h k      describe-key
<menu> h 3      man
<menu> h 9      xah-lookup-word-definition
<menu> h 8      xah-lookup-wikipedia
<menu> h 7      xah-lookup-google

daily:

<menu> h 4      elisp-index-search
<menu> h c      describe-char
<menu> h m      xah-describe-major-mode
<menu> h v      describe-variable
<menu> h e      view-echo-area-messages

monthly:

<menu> h a      apropos-command
<menu> h l      view-lossage
<menu> h s      describe-syntax
<menu> h 0      lookup-all-dictionaries

yearly:

<menu> h C      describe-coding-system
<menu> h F      Info-goto-emacs-command-node
<menu> h I      Info-goto-emacs-key-command-node
<menu> h L      describe-language-environment
<menu> h S      info-lookup-symbol
<menu> h b      describe-bindings
<menu> h d      apropos-documentation
<menu> h i      info
<menu> h n      view-emacs-news
<menu> h p      finder-by-keyword
<menu> h r      info-emacs-manual
<menu> h w      where-is

if you want my elisp commands:

The ▤ Menu key is chosen because it's a easy starting key, right under thumb on the Truly Ergonomic Keyboard. See Emacs: Xah Fly Keys

Emacs: How to Edit Lisp Code (minor update)

Evaluate Emacs Lisp Code (minor update)

Emacs: Lookup Function Documentation (minor update)

use elisp-index-search

When doc string isn't enough, elisp-index-search is useful. Call it, type the function name. It'll go to the elisp manual on that.

by default, elisp-index-search doesn't have a key. I use it often, so i give it a easy key. Like this:

(global-set-key (kbd "<f8>") 'elisp-index-search)

[see Emacs Keys: Define Key]

Mark Tarver, inventor of Qi and Shen lisp, provided a solution. Programing Challenge: Constructing a Tree Given Its Edges (sorry i haven't had time to look at the lisp solutions)

emacs package. Add git's change mark +++--- in the left margin. this might be interesting. I haven't tried yet. https://github.com/syohex/emacs-git-gutter-fringe (via [ finalpatch ] [2014-01-15 http://weibo.com/u/1885517634 ])

some re-organization of emacs keys articles. Emacs Keybinding, Keyboard, Articles Index.

ELisp: URL Percent Decode/Encode

few days ago, we had a programing challenge. Constructing a Tree Given Its Edges. several people posted python solutions. See the page for detail. There is only one emacs lisp. So, if you are learning emacs lisp, it's a good time to get your hands dirty. There are also a couple Common Lisp solutions. I might port the best solution to JavaScript. [see JavaScript Tutorial by Example] If you are learning a new lang, it's a great exercise.

Emacs: Copy Current Line If No Selection 🚀

Emacs: Move Cursor by Text Block 🚀 (on its own page)

lisp's cons, get rid of it!

if you haven't read this yet, you should. Guy Steele on Parallel Programing: Get rid of cons!.

Lisp's cons, is the MOST damaging thing in lisp, bar none. It is the worst thing in computer language history. [see Programing Language: Fundamental Problems of Lisp]

programing challenge. Python: Constructing a Tree Given Its Edges. See if you can do in emacs lisp.

did you know that Scheme Lisp co-inventor Guy Steele's language, Fortress, uses Unicode brackets? Problems of Symbol Congestion in Computer Languages; ASCII Jam vs Unicode

New version of emacs tutorial is out. Buy Xah Emacs Tutorial. I'll be emailing out the update. Thank you for support.

Emacs: Backup Current File 🚀 (updated)

Emacs: Init File Tutorial (updated)

Emacs: Turn Off Auto Backup~ (on its own page)

emacs: list buffers, switch buffer

split into 2 pages:

Keyboards without Numeric Keypad (updated) The best quality/price ratio is probably the Cooler Master.

Logitech has a new mouse. Logitech G602 Wireless Gaming Mouse with 250 Hour Battery Life Buy at amazon

[see ROCCAT Gaming Mouse with Linux Support]

long tooth blog-like article. ELisp: Process HTML, span, code, Key, Title, Markups. Sometimes it's good to see blog-style articles, because it leaves a trail of history, record, and you can see what you were thinking, where were you, your progress.

ELisp: Unicode Escape Sequence

emacs moving to git, we hope!

ground-breaking news. It seems, emacs repo would move to git in the near future.

thanks to, the controversial head Eric S Raymond. See the thread here: http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2014-01/msg00005.html

every time i dip into emacs dev list, it pains me to see the utter inefficiency and arguments there. Everybody argues. Argue, and argue, philosophy waxing, and argue, and you see one hundred weird utterly stupid wild ideas (excuse me) on everything, from dinosaurs of the 1980s insisting their ways, to clueless FSF fanatics who haven't wrote a single line of code but is gung-ho about emacs. In between is every cock who think only he knows how things should be, meanwhile, those who have written respected software or contributed tons of elisp, are treated just like nobody — a complete egalitarian dystopia.

emacs, sucks the weirdos of the world. Count me in.

On this, we must also thank John Wiegley, who daringly and humbly pushed for git 9 months ago. See http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2013-03/msg00776.html

Emacs: Repeat Last Command

linux, working on remote server

sometimes working on remote server, there is no emacs. (For example, server must kept lean, etc.) So, some vim and terminal skill is good.

here's a vim/emacs comparison cheatsheet. http://karl-voit.at/vim-emacs-cheatsheet_of_freezing_hell.txt

thanks to [Kev Percy https://plus.google.com/109780024399559352796/posts] for the tip.

for some other tips, see https://plus.google.com/113859563190964307534/posts/RkyCEhBmFqN

also, tmux is essential. Suppose you are in a coffee-shop. Then, got a emergency call to fix server. You ssh in and start to work on it. After 1 hour, the coffee-shop is closing and you have to leave. If you close your laptop, you'll be disconnected. But, if you are using tmux, you can just say tmux detach. Then, when you get on internet again, you can resume by tmux a. Btw, there's also GNU screen for the same purpose, but tmux is better.

Mac OS X: How to Create Keyboard Layout and Keybinding ⌨ (old goodie)