April 30 Yay Emacs: Sacha and Prot Talk Emacs - Newbies/Starter Kits
I will livestream it and update this post with notes.
(America/Toronto, UTC-4) = Thu Apr 30 1030H EDT / 0930H CDT / 0830H MDT / 0730H PDT / 1430H UTC / 1630H CEST / 1730H EEST / 2000H IST / 2230H +08 / 2330H JST
The Emacs Carnival theme for April 2026 is newbies/starter kits. I'd like to chat with Prot about not only helping people get into Emacs but also supporting lifelong learning.
Prot had some notes on how he started with Emacs in 2019 in All about switching to Emacs (video blog) | Protesilaos. These notes were just a few months after he started, so his experience was pretty fresh.
In Computing in freedom with GNU Emacs | Protesilaos (2026), he said:
Remember that I started using Emacs without a background in programming. … I learnt the basics within a few days. I started writing my own Emacs Lisp within weeks. And within a year I had my modus-themes moved into core Emacs.
Prot has several projects that might be of interest to many newcomers to Emacs:
- modus-themes, which are part of Emacs core and are therefore just a
M-x load-themeaway - Emacs Lisp Elements, a book that helps people learn Emacs Lisp
- Where does this fit into people's learning journeys? How can they come across it and use it?
- perhaps Denote
- What would it take for people to learn enough to be able to use this?
He also offers Emacs coaching. I wonder if any newbies have taken advantage of that. There are a few other coaches listed on the EmacsWiki. (Ooh, Emacs buddy, that was neat.)
Other possible topics: Philip suggested the following general themes for the Emacs Carnival:
- What are your memories of starting with Emacs?
- What experiences do you have with teaching Emacs to new users?
- Do you think if starter kits are more of a hindrance in the long term or necessary for many users to even try Emacs?
- What defaults do you think should be changed for everyone (new and old users)?
- What defaults do you think should be changed for new users (see NewcomersTheme)?
- What is the sweet-spot between starter-kit minimalism and maximalism?