I hope my question makes sense.

I am using Doom Emacs for a while now and have become fairly proficient. But I feel like whenever I am browsing emacs content online there are still many topics for me to discover. So I was wondering if there is anything that I might be “missing” yet which might help with my productivity or improve my development skills.

Sofar I what have learned, on top from my head:

  • Org/Org Agenda (refile etc.)
  • Magit
  • Vterm
  • LSP Commands
  • Multiple Cursors
  • Literal Config
  • Navigating Emacs itself (which key, debugging, reading Emacs-Lisp (abit))
  • Using Language specific commands, i.e. send buffer to repl
  • Using Undo with Vundo

Only thing I know that I still need to learn is beeing more proficient with vim keybindings, but with that I know where to start.

I know the question is quite broad, but maybe there some “killer features” worth to explore which I am not aware of yet.

I’d appreciate any input.

  • Psionikus@alien.topBEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    Elisp manual. Helpful. Completions for variables, functions. Apropos.

    I’m starting work on a video series called for Speedrunning Emacs in the “I want to hack everything in Elisp” sense. Emacs is a programmable interface to a computer, so my interpretation is that using Emacs and using Elisp are inseparable.

    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QU30EZiHNQw

    It’s super new, so I’m recording right now and mainly covering things incidental to setting up casting for now and going over packages I’ve already published. Excited to get dug out of that hole and cover some of the things I want to.

  • noooit@alien.topBEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    I don’t get the concept of learning vterm, you just start it and use it with Emacs key bindings. Just stop using garbage like Doom Emacs and evil, and start making your own set up.

    • uniteduniverse@alien.topBEnglish
      0·
      10 months ago

      What even is vterm? I’ve never heard of this tool before.

      And I agree, if your gonna use Emacs regularly your most likely gonna want to start customising it to your liking. Though configs like Doom and Space are decent for beginners, eventually they are just gonna get in the way of progress.

  • ideasman_42@alien.topBEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    I’d suggest not to attempt to become proficient at Emacs for the sake of it, instead.

    • Use Emacs for whatever you need an editor for.
    • Ensure your workflow is good.
    • If you see some room for improvement, investigate packages/configuration.
    • If you need to scratch an itch, write your own commands/packages.

    Once in a while you might like to play & explore areas you didn’t dig into before but you don’t have to. Have a nice workflow, get your work done - and leave it at that :)

    For some context, packages I’ve developed: https://codeberg.org/ideasman42

    • albcorp@alien.topBEnglish
      0·
      10 months ago

      I completely agree with this summary. Find something in your existing workflow that could do with improvement, and seek out a solution. For example: you want to jump quickly between windows, look up Ace Window; or, you want to jump quickly across the text visible on the screen, look up Avy; or, you want to jump quickly between files and text in your repository, look up Counsel.

      Invest in a few well made frameworks, but only one at a time, and allow yourself to internalize their concepts and key bindings. It is helpful to write out the keybindings that you intend to memorize. A framework or package will often have dozens, but you will probably only ever commit to a handful. Review the list after a month or two, and you will likely find the ones that stick with you.

      I have used Emacs exclusively since the early nineties, so I’ve seen whole frameworks come and go. I’ve also wasted a lot of time on some of them, e.g., Org Mode is something I swore off almost a decade ago. What I appreciate most about Emacs is that learning it has truly been an investment, since it has had incredible staying power and there’s enough in the vanilla install that I can install the package on a new Linux box and immediately be productively editing files

      • cljnewbie2019@alien.topBEnglish
        0·
        10 months ago

        e.g., Org Mode is something I swore off almost a decade ago.

        I’m curious (not arguing) why you swore off Org-Mode? This is why I came to emacs from more of a vim background and keeping notes in markdown.

  • MegaNerdyFox@alien.topBEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    Honestly if you want a better understanding of the software you could always try switching to vanilla and writing your own config. Also if you aren’t too familiar with vim keybinds why not try Emacs keybinds, they’re honestly quite good and work well. I swear by them

  • arthurno1@alien.topBEnglish
    0·
    10 months ago

    How can I become a more “proficient” Emacs user?

    Just use it. It is that simple.

    I also suggest being patient and looking up the documentation and the built-in help whenever you have a problem.

    Don’t fall into some of the common pitfalls I see people here do often:

    Don’t insist on super customized Emacs according to your liking from the early beginning. Be patient, and do stuff Emacs way, or live with some more irritated moments, and leave minutiae customization for later, when you are more familiar with Emacs. Emas is to be customized by each and every one and bent to your needs and personality, but it may take some deeper knowledge of Emacs in some areas, so to save yourself some frustration and lots of time, proceed gently at customizing Emacs in the beginning. This will probably be a somewhat controversial tip for some people, but what I mean is, prefer to do the work you have to be done, over how you do it in Emacs. In the beginning, bend yourself around Emacs, and keep in mind, that the more you are used to Emacs, it will be easier and faster to bend Emacs around you.

    Yes, there are many tips and stuff accumulated on the Internet, but you can not learn everything at once. With the amount of information available, it is probably better to concentrate on using Emacs to do your work, and focus on exploring only those topics that give you the most in terms of how you perform your work; for example to solve some very irritating thing or to automate something, etc. You don’t have to start using Emacs for everything immediately, let it come with the time as you are getting more and more used to Emacs. What might be a killer feature for someone, might not be a killer feature for yourself.

    Being popular does not always mean very good. Popularity goes in waves. You can spend all your time just re-learning “popular” frameworks and things. Instead of focusing on which package you should use for this or that; choose one and just use it. Once you find some true shortcoming that irritates you, than look for another package or for tips on how to change it, etc. If you are using Doom, I am quite sure they have already included something that is good for most people. I personally just use whatever is default in Emacs and have had no issues with it; for like 25 years now, or something there and counting.