Experimental Emacs Hangout 2015-02-18

| emacs

In which we talked about Hydra (0:11), Helm (0:22), packages (0:25), Quelpa/quse-package (0:29), EWW (0:30), Org Mode (0:40), global-flycheck-mode (0:51), widget, TRAMP (1:15), conferences/hangouts (1:26), more Hydra (1:28), Emacs Lisp (1:32), command-history (1:35), Emacs (1:38), plans for getting better (1:44), latexmk (1:49), and other things. (Times are approximate.)

Other questions/comments:

  • Not a question, but I just learned about command-history. Which is a great way to whip up a function. I’m amazed that I just discovered it. – Jonathan Hill
  • I saw something in 24.4 change log about a notification system. Could that maybe solve your problem? – Mitchell Hunter
  • On Air viewers cannot see Sasha due to Sridhar presenting. – Marc Tamsky
  • Anyone using tabs? – Levi Strope

The next Emacs Hangout will be on March 18, 2015, at 8 PM Toronto time (12 midnight GMT) https://plus.google.com/u/0/events/cbj3rg26d8j9ifaiff5uq00ncr4

Want to get notified about upcoming hangouts? You can sign up for notifications at http://eepurl.com/bbi-Ir . We’ll experiment with starting off with a mini-workshop/demo of Org tasks and agenda (or maybe Helm, if that’s more interesting).

Text chat:

JJ Asghar 8:01 PM Russell: http://blog.binchen.org/posts/notes-on-using-gnus.html
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:01 PM http://www.srid.ca/emacs/
Michael Hoffman 8:03 PM hi sorry i need to hook up my camera
Jason Lewis 8:04 PM https://marmalade-repo.org/packages/winner-mode-enable
Michael Hoffman 8:05 PM brb tech issues
Michael Hoffman 8:07 PM sorry guys looks like my mic isn’t going to work without a reboot sure, thanks so much
Michael Hoffman 8:08 PM can someone repost that gmail/gnus link? that sounded awesome
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:08 PM http://blog.binchen.org/posts/notes-on-using-gnus.html
Michael Hoffman 8:09 PM thanks Sridhar
Bob Erb 8:09 PM ace-jump-mode
Michael Hoffman 8:12 PM I find `guide-key-mode` very helpful for remembering keybindings as well
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:13 PM https://github.com/abo-abo/hydra
Michael Hoffman 8:14 PM Sacha can you increase your font siz e? thanks
Michael Hoffman 8:19 PM that’s just an example this is my guide-key setup (require-package guide-key guide-key) (setq guide-key/guide-key-sequence ‘(“C-x” “C-c”)) (setq guide-key/recursive-key-sequence-flag t) (setq guide-key/idle-delay 0.7)
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:20 PM pretty useful
Michael Hoffman 8:20 PM I don’t see any reason why not to set it up for everything C-x if you set it up with an idle-delay of 0.7 or something then it usually won’t bother you unless you can’t remember
JJ Asghar 8:23 PM ;; i need tab complete (define-key helm-map (kbd “<tab>”) ‘helm-execute-persistent-action)
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:23 PM thx
JJ Asghar 8:23 PM
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:23 PM (we are talking about https://github.com/emacs-helm )
Michael Hoffman 8:25 PM has anyone tried the eww web browser it’s definitely a curiosity more than a useful thing
Russell Black 8:25 PM I agree
Michael Hoffman 8:25 PM although i can see cases where it would be useful i keep my .emacs in version control
me 8:26 PM I’ve tried eww a little bit, but I haven’t quite gotten the hang of using it.
Michael Hoffman 8:26 PM i set up a macro to require or install a package
Jacob MacDonald 8:26 PM https://github.com/jaccarmac/quse-package
me 8:26 PM Mostly I just use browse-url to open things in Chrome
Michael Hoffman 8:27 PM ;; XXX: seems to hang when trying to (package-install) at compile time? (defmacro require-package (feature &optional package) “Require FEATURE or `package-install` PACKAGE. Default PACKAGE is FEATURE.” ;; for debugging (message “(require-package %s %s)” feature package) (let ((package (or package feature))) ; XXX: can I have a macro produce multiple forms instead of nesting like this? `(eval-and-compile (eval-when-compile (unless (or (require ‘,feature nil t) (fboundp ‘flycheck-byte-compile-dest-file)) ; don’t run within flycheck (package-install ‘,package))) (require ‘,feature nil t)))) WARNING: does not always work i gotta run guys, this has been great thanks so much sacha
Jacob MacDonald 8:28 PM See ya!
me 8:28 PM Bye, Michael! Oops, missed him
Jacob MacDonald 8:29 PM https://github.com/jaccarmac/dot-emacs-dot-d
me 8:30 PM Hi Howard!
Jacob MacDonald 8:31 PM I used Conkerer for a few months to get the Emacs experience with a decent frontend for JS, etc.
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:32 PM eww renders images fine; but the layout is not correct
Russell Black 8:32 PM I have to run to an appointment. Thanks guys!
Howard Abrams 8:33 PM Never renders perfectly,. but if you are selective in what you are browsing, it is useful for things like programming documentation that fails to supply a info version.
srid@srid.ca 8:33 PM jittery audio. reconnecting..
srid@srid.ca 8:34 PM i can’t hear anyone
Sod Oscarfono 8:39 PM how about time tracking sacha?
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:39 PM how many people here already use org-mode?
Jacob MacDonald 8:39 PM I use it primarily for literate programming and a little for note taking.
Sod Oscarfono 8:39 PM i love org-mode! couldn’t live without it
Bob Erb 8:40 PM couldn’t live w/o org-capture – allows mind like water
Sod Oscarfono 8:41 PM sorry no mic or camera here, but that is exactly what i needed thanks Sridhar!
me 8:45 PM Yay!
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:45 PM Pomodoro org-pomodor
Sod Oscarfono 8:47 PM great stuff thanks Sridhar!
Jacob MacDonald 8:52 PM I’m interested in getting my config to work across multiple OSs. The “correct ” thing to do is to (defvar variable) i believe
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:52 PM I’m yet to use emacs for git
Jacob MacDonald 8:52 PM It’s like any other linter, you have to prioritize the messages.
Sridhar Ratnakumar 8:53 PM anyone using Emacs 25? apparently supports concurrency
Jacob MacDonald 8:53 PM I build Emacs from Git, so that’s … fun Look at the use-package source .
Bob Erb 8:57 PM (when (memq window-system ‘(mac ns)) (exec-path-from-shell-initialize))
Sod Oscarfono 8:57 PM i just stick to nix based systems so that saves me any hassle there
Sod Oscarfono 9:04 PM you seasoned professionals maybe already know this but i recently discovered the ability to export org to open office docs and pdfs from org: C-c C-e o for open office C-c C-e p for pdf.
Jason Lewis 9:05 PM @sridhar, magit is really nice for using git from emacs
Sridhar Ratnakumar 9:06 PM http://www.srid.ca/emacs/ is generated from C-c C-e h h
Sod Oscarfono 9:10 PM hahaha… there’s an app for that -itis!
Bob Erb 9:11 PM there’s a mode for that
Jacob MacDonald 9:18 PM I’m out. Thanks for the great discussion! I hope to have more to contribute in the future.
Sod Oscarfono 9:18 PM do you key forward also in bash?
Sridhar Ratnakumar 9:18 PM Howard – what font do you use in Emacs, per the screenshot in http://www.howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/literate-devops.html ?
Jason Lewis 9:19 PM https://github.com/adobe-fonts/source-code-pro
Sod Oscarfono 9:25 PM workflow/project and time management/ literate programming. maybe a session where we scrutinize/optimise init files ? we spoke a bit about it already but its always good
Sod Oscarfono 9:30 PM i concur.. thanks sacha
Sod Oscarfono 9:32 PM cut and paste ninja over here.. hahaha
Jason Lewis 9:33 PM I’ve still not managed to make the jump to writing much lisp hope to one day
Bob Erb 9:34 PM URL for Sacha’s book?
me 9:34 PM https://sachachua.com/read-lisp-tweak-emacs
Jason Lewis 9:35 PM cool nice tip thanks
Zachary Kanfer 9:36 PM http://emacsnyc.org/videos.html#2014-06
Howard Abrams 9:40 PM http://www.howardism.org/Technical/Emacs/tao-of-emacs.html
Sod Oscarfono 9:40 PM for those who like sublime style layout i use the graphene starter kit which i think bundles “projectile” … i think.. bad memory sorry… anyways it is now my must have next to org-mode
Sod Oscarfono 9:41 PM i show those people org-mode and that usually gets them interseted
me 9:41 PM Sod: Nice!
Sod Oscarfono 9:42 PM for me the prospect of never having to change screens… ie buffers at will
Sod Oscarfono 9:43 PM yea and just being able to fire up a familiar environment on other systems is super pro
Bob Erb 9:46 PM Cat!
Sod Oscarfono 9:46 PM i’m currently experimenting with desktop publishing from emacs
Zachary Kanfer 9:48 PM my init file: https://bitbucket.org/zck/.emacs.d
Sod Oscarfono 9:48 PM org-mode to pdf to bypass creative cloud / scribus.. but learning latex also. ah thats what i needed to hear cheers jason for sure.. i’m glad i stopped by maybe we also look at where is emacs deficient? can we collaborate on a tool, a bug or whatever. good idea. or we spit out our command history for ideas
Jonathan Hill 9:53 PM I missed all the great suggestions.
Bob Erb 9:56 PM Thank you, Sacha.
Sod Oscarfono 9:56 PM thank you all so much
Jason Lewis 9:57 PM thanks Sacha! bye
Zachary Kanfer 9:57 PM bye! Thanks again, Sacha!
You can comment with Disqus or you can e-mail me at sacha@sachachua.com.