Emacs: ParEdit, Smartparens, Lispy, and ErgoEmacs, xah-fly-keys

For programing lisp in emacs, there are several packages to help you.

• ParEdit http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/ParEdit
• smartparens https://github.com/Fuco1/smartparens
• lispy https://github.com/abo-abo/lispy

Here's a method, i think is simpler and can compete with packages similar to paredit in efficiency.

• have 1 key to move cursor backward to any left bracket
• have 1 key to move cursor forward to any right bracket.
• have 1 key to select current lisp expression unit. When on open bracket, it selects the whole. Press again to expand selection to parent branch.
• have 1 key to move to the corresponding open/close bracket.
• have 1 key insert bracket pairs, place cursor in between. If there's a selection, bracket that selection.
• have 1 key to indent current sexp tree up to current root. (all lines) This is critical.

The gist, is to never treat lisp code as lines. In particular, never manually indent/format by line. 〔see Emacs: Why I Don't Use paredit〕

if you want to try, the commands are:

• xah-backward-left-bracket, xah-forward-right-bracket at Emacs: Move Cursor to Bracket 📜
• xah-extend-selection at Emacs: Extend Selection 📜
• backward-sexp, forward-sexp, in emacs. 〔see Emacs: How to Edit Lisp Code〕
• xah-insert-paren at Emacs: Insert Brackets by Pair 📜
• xah-elisp-prettify-root-sexp at Emacs: Xah Elisp Mode 📦
• xah-delete-backward-char-or-bracket-text at Emacs: Delete Brackets by Pair 📜

The above are general, is extremely useful to me in any programing mode too, such as those with {} [] ().

You can pull those commands out from above, and set keys for them yourself. 〔see Emacs Keys: Define Key〕

Or, you can just use Xah Fly Keys and Xah Emacs Lisp Mode. All the commands are there, with keys setup.

These commands are also in ergoemacs-mode at http://ergoemacs.github.io/, except “xah-elisp-prettify-root-sexp”.

Bracket Highlight

You should also turn on bracket highlight.

〔see Emacs Init: Highlight Brackets〕

Always Insert Brackets in Pairs

You should ALWAYS insert/ remove brackets in pairs. Make this a habit.

Use xah-insert-paren

〔see Emacs: Insert Brackets by Pair 📜〕

Navigating Brackets

Moving cursor to brackets is one of the most important navigation command. Because, all programing language source code, use brackets (){}[] extensively as a unit.

Use • xah-backward-left-bracket • xah-forward-right-bracket

〔see Emacs: Move Cursor to Bracket 📜〕

Select Lisp Expression

To select a lisp expression, xah-extend-selection once or twice.

• Emacs: Extend Selection 📜

Move Lisp Expression

Select it first, then just press 1 key to cut. Then paste it elsewhere.

Delete Lisp Expressions

put cursor on the right of a bracket, then xah-delete-backward-char-or-bracket-text.

Always delete Brackets in Pairs

To delete bracket pairs (not including inner text), put cursor on the right of a bracket, then Ctrl+u then xah-delete-backward-char-or-bracket-text.

Remove Empty Lines; Compact Ending Brackets

To remove empty lines:

In xah-elisp-mode, press Tab with cursor before a word. The command is xah-elisp-prettify-root-sexp. 〔see Emacs: Xah Elisp Mode 📦〕

Or see:

• Emacs: Delete Whitespace around Cursor 📜
• Emacs: Clean Empty Lines 📜

Pretty Format Lisp Code

In xah-elisp-mode, press Tab with cursor before a word. The command is xah-elisp-prettify-root-sexp. It will re-indent the extire lisp expression the cursor is in. 〔see Emacs: Xah Elisp Mode 📦〕

If you are not using xah-elisp-mode, then you can select the whole, then Alt+x indent-region 【Ctrl+Alt+\】

Thanks to [ Jorge Dias ] https://twitter.com/dias_jorge .