Xah Emacs Blog Archive 2016-05

xah emacs tutorial on github?

am thinking to put my emacs tutorial on github. That is, this entire website ergoemacs.org's content.

2 things might happen.

if nothing happens, then i might as well not do it.

but why would i want people to download it? hard to say, but i guess it's basic human thing. I enjoy it when being helpful, it feels good to see results, and there's also the implicit thought that people will buy/pay for my tutorial more, or donate.

Now, a separate question: “you have written a lot tutorials, many seems good, why isn't your tutorial popular?”

I took a walk and asked myself about putting on github, and thus talked to myself for 20 minutes of logical analysis of the above and subsequent related questions, which prompted me to write it out now.

First, note that my tutorial is somewhat popular but probably could've been far more popular. For example, many free tutorial stuff on github has tens of thousands or hundreds of thousands stars or forks. So, if i put mine out to github, why am i struggling for even 1k stars?

I think the short answer is: i'm offensive.

i don't give a fk to tradition, convention, organization, and i feel free to howl the most blunt criticisms sprinkled with four language thru-out. Oh, and i don't stick to English writing convention, nor programing conventions, because i think they are —if you disregard traditions, and dip into detail— stupid.

and, for example, on reddit there's a section of tutorial links. I do not expect, nor will i ever ask, people to put mine there. I NEVER, do marketing. (well in recent years i've tried a bit, but it's like asking water to churn out fire.)

since my life have faltered in late years, it feels uncomfortable to be myself, in my writings, as i've ask for donation, and many, many, have helped. There are few individuals i really like to thank, and there are quite many in total too. And, so, sorry if i sounded arrogant here for a moment.

in the past 5 years, i've mellowed out. Partly because of getting old, i think. When you no longer have it, you don't brag about it anymore. e.g. Ali, Tyson, Madonna. Time moved on.

also, coming out to beg money, was not a good thing. I'm sure, am now remembered by younger generation, as that programer who begged money to survive.

ok, back to the upload to github question. In the above, we just explored the related question of popularity.

Now, on the question of if put on github, will it get over 1k stars/download? It's hard to say. Possibly it might, or it might not.

If i don't promote it, like, starting to say nice thing, positive things, think of ways to tweet stuff, create emacs puzzles, etc, things like that, and do nothing as much as i do now, i think it will not get over 1k stars on github. Probably just few hundred quiet downloads.

ok, so far we've analyzed the situation. The 2 possible outcomes, the likely one, and why. But now, what about, what do i want?

recently i feel like just putting it out on github and not caring about anything else, only the fact the whole's a easy download. (by the way, it has been that way, of a zip file, for few years in the beginning, 2008 or so. And there was not any ads. The ads are added 2013 or so.)

PS this bit is addressing my readers, not talking to myself: Xah Lee's emacs tutorial, is best emacs tutorial out there, in depth, in breadth, in quality, in the ratio you can learn vs time for majority of people, as can be tested by scientific means, by far of any existing emacs tutorial out there, even all of them combined.

I put out a vote, on twitter and Google Plus here:

emacs tips aside, room for rent near google

1 room for rent. 1 mile from Googleplex or downtown Mountain View. San Francisco Bay area. $800. 2 bedroom + 1 bath apartment. contact xahlee@gmail.com , let your friends and co-worker know. Thanks.

New emacs tutorial is out. Now the Keybinding, Keyboard section has navigation panel on the side. The updated version will be sent out to supporters this weekend.

Buy, retweet. Thanks. Buy Xah Emacs Tutorial

ELisp: Command Wrapper Calling Shell, Python Code (rewritten. Chopped off verbiage.)

Emacs: Clean Empty Lines 🚀 (minor update. Fixed a bug where if the repeated space is at last line.)

Using Piano to Type Text , more efficient than steno machine. For emacs keybinding too.

Kinesis Savant Elite2 Foot Pedal review, and how to use it with emacs.

one old keyboard rant hit hacker news. https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=11611635

i don't seem to be able to see who submitted it. But thanks to whoever did it.