Wicked Cool Emacs: get in on the action!
| emacs, wickedcoolemacs, writingEver since I started on this “Wicked Cool Emacs” project with No Starch Press, I’ve run into all sorts of amazing geeks who have been working on something similar. For example, Ted Roden‘s further along in writing the book than I am. It would be a shame to waste that effort. <laugh>
I would love to work on this book with other people. I think that it would become an even better book than I could write by myself, just as Emacs is better because all these people have worked on it. Besides, I’d love an opportunity to widen my Emacs network!
So here’s the outline I planned:
| Preface | 15 pages |
| A Day in the Life | 30 pages |
| Customizing Emacs | 20 pages |
| Working with Files | 80 pages |
| Working with Code | 40 pages |
| Browsing the Web | 15 pages |
| Reading Mail with Gnus | 30 pages |
| Being Big Brother | 30 pages |
| Taking Notes | 35 pages |
| Managing Tasks | 35 pages |
| Managing Your Schedule | 20 pages – DRAFTED AND SENT, YAY! |
| Other weird stuff | ? |
I’d be totally happy to co-author this book with someone else who can commit time over the next year to help me do it. Take a look at the first chapter I’ve written: Organizing your schedule (OpenOffice.org document). I know you can do better than that. =) Let’s find out how wonderful we can make this book.
If you’re seriously interested in coauthoring this, get in touch with me and we’ll talk to the folks over at NSP.
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10 comments
JM Ibanez
2007-12-02T08:55:08ZI'd be interested in at least contributing to the working with code chapter, especially with emacs as a java ide. :-)
Charles Cave
2007-12-02T23:48:05ZSacha,
Another great chapter for your book would be
"Publishing an Article". I am about to write an
article on how to publish an article using
org-mode. THis will cover writing an article
to publish on the web (HTML) as well as print
(LaTeX). I might even include tips on outlining
and generating ideas.
What do you think? I will send you my writing.
Charles
Sacha Chua
2007-12-03T05:08:09ZCharles - I think that would be great. Linux Journal or something like that? Go for it!
I've got a bit of that planned for "Taking Notes" (Allout, Planner, Org, Howm, + publishing for the ones that make sense). I'm focusing on a different chapter (Tasks) this month, but I'm looking forward to seeing what you highlight! =)
Kamen
2007-12-29T03:10:41ZSacha,
This is a great project indeed. One thing I use Emacs for a lot on a daily basis
is as my primary work activity is for translation - there are heaps of tools and
goodies available for that, but hardly any centralised source of information. So
I might be of help there.
Otherwise, thinking about the book project, and being well aware of what's been
published out there already, I'd say that one very important dimension of Emacs
which most publications leave out is, well, life in Emacs, or Emacs as a hub for
80% of a user's computer- and life-related activity. Call it "your Emacs
lifestyle", if you will. Most books tend to start with the basics (they kinda
have to), and then veer off into the most relevant programming extensions - but
few talk about the "lifehacking" functionality of it. Btw, this is something
which you yourself tend to excell at - since most of what you write is almost
always derived from a direct, day-to-day use of Emacs to solve real problems.
Just some thoughts, really.
Sacha Chua
2007-12-29T04:04:51ZKamen - Thanks for the encouragement. =)
I can't help but talk about life hacking. Emacs has taught me a lot about productivity. That is, Emacs geeks have taught me a lot about productivity, and I want to share that to other people as well. I'll keep writing about an Emacs way of life, then. =)
Nascif
2008-02-17T18:12:07ZHi Sacha,
Just heard about your blog (trackback from org-mode) and while going over yours notes I found this book. Great idea! I am really looking forward to it.
Cheers,
Nascif
Nascif
2008-02-18T03:58:48ZAnd a suggestion - interfacing Emacs with the rest of the world. From PDAs (saving HTML output generated by Emacs to Palm using Plucker is cool, but I would love to know how to get notes taken in my Palm back into Emacs) to enterprise applications like OutLook, to apps that support plugins like Firefox ("it's all text" extension works great for that) and Eclipse (when you give up trying to work without macros! :-)
Thanks again for working on this.
Nascif
Fredrik
2008-06-17T11:37:44ZI just stumbled on to your site and got curious about your bookproject. Maybe I can help with some insight but unfortunately the files you link to for your book doesn't exist anymore...
Tom Dye
2009-04-26T21:06:00ZSacha Chua,
Are you still working on this book? I found the bits and pieces of it very helpful when I was setting up org-mode and am hoping to be able to apply your know-how to other things I'd like emacs to do. BTW, I have time to write to you because org-mode has helped me get my nose above water at work for the first time in years.
Thanks for your help.
Tom
Sacha Chua
2009-04-27T01:10:57ZI'm glad to hear that Org's been working out really well for you!
Ian Eure's taken over the book now. =) He's awesome too!