[Discuss] On Rebooting (was Re: ssh issue)

[daniel at syntheticblue.com (Daniel M Gessel)]

That's a good list - I should try some out. Thanks!

On 2024-06-21 15:33, Kent Borg wrote:
> On 6/21/24 10:56, Daniel M Gessel wrote:
>> I haven't been able to switch to an IDE - I still go to the command 
>> line to build and test, but now it's just for fun and curiosity - 
>> productivity takes a back seat. 
>
> I still use a command line, too. But emacs itself turns out can be a 
> good IDE, and some IDE stuff I do need (to try to keep up with the 
> kids and their terrible Jetbrains IDEs).
>
> What I have is roughly:
>
> 1. Code completion (start typing a function or variable name and it 
> suggests actual existing functions, variables, etc.),
>
> 2. Documenting functions (hover and stuff pops up, start typing a 
> function call and details pop up as I fill out the parameter list),
>
> 3. Navigation (jump to the the definition or implementation of this 
> thing, and of this next thing, then go back, and go back again),
>
> 4. Searching (see all references in another buffer, a bit like M-x 
> grep but much faster to invoke and more specific, and not just string 
> search but savvy search for the right kind of thing, such as the 
> variable named foo, not other things called foo, and not comments 
> including the word "foolish"),
>
> 5. Some automated code editing (such as rename this thing 
> everywhere??except I discovered it seems to only apply to open buffers),
>
> 6. There is some inconsistent auto-typing of things like closing 
> braces but that seems to annoy me at least as much as help,
>
> 7. There are some code refactoring that I haven't figured out yet, I 
> don't know whether it be useful.
>
> 8. Syntax coloring, which is always iffy, particularly because I don't 
> like current fashion of dim gray on a dimmer gray background, so I'll 
> get, say, yellow that on white is pretty much invisible, but this is 
> still mostly useful territory.
>
> 9. At least in Rust as I type code it will complain about problems, a 
> little like a continuous compiler run. Not too annoying, even. And I 
> can see a list of problems in another buffer, if I want. This can't 
> work as well in C because the C compiler doesn't know as much, but I 
> don't have enough experience with that to really know, yet.
>
> There are probably more features I have left out.
>
> Other than #3, these features are easily discoverable, making the 
> learning curve of emacs as an IDE easier than that of the crappy GUI 
> programs!
>
> Much of those features work in a pure text UI. Some are right-click 
> features, but there might be a keyboard way to do that. Mouse hover is 
> obviously going to be tricky in a pure text UI, but maybe some key 
> equivalent exists.
>
> I have used the Rust features *far* more than I have C, I certainly 
> don't yet have all of that working in C. Things like rename and savvy 
> search might never work as well in C because C is more wild-west and 
> ambiguous. Seems to me things like refactoring might be particularly 
> tricky (and valuable!). Donno.
>
> My most recent C additions included something called "helm" was really 
> annoying and I seem to remember wanted to do lots of stuff I do on the 
> command line and have no interested in, so I commented it out.
>
> Cool discovery: The key bindings for navigation and searching seemed 
> to be the same between C and Rust!
>
> Balancing of things like brackets has been in emacs for ages, and so 
> has auto-indenting when I start a new line, and typing tab to move the 
> line to its logical indentation??these seem mostly unchanged,
>
> For years I have appreciated gdb support in emacs: showing me what 
> line I am at, letting me see and toggle breakpoints, but I still use 
> the keyboard to do other stuff, "step in" and "stop over" buttons just 
> use up valuable screen real estate, in my opinion. I don't think I 
> have anything new in this department.
>
> Some of these popup things are annoying as they block what I am trying 
> to see, or an "informative" and too-big emacs buffer appears, taking 
> up space, but I have started to learn how to minimize that frustration 
> (I think I do things like move my mouse or my cursor in from another 
> direction, get out of these soft modes quickly, etc., I forget what all).
>
> No expensive Jetbrains license needed! Better than MS's free "code", too.
>
>
> If you are interested in how I set it up, I'm happy to share. Just 
> don't expect me to be able to answer many questions, I have never 
> learned emacs lisp, and I mostly don't know how to make any sense of 
> what is in ~/.emacs/?
>
>
> -kb
>
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