Linux Club @ UMD

Aiming for 30 minutes, so these have to fit within that.

• elisp/emacs primer
  • setq, types (t, nil), quote/unquote
  • major/minor modes, hooks
• Semi-comfortable
  • Good colorschemes
  • Annoyances handled
    • Code indentation
• Aware of basic keysequences and commands with pointers to learn more and practice.
• Aware of how to use the built-in help facilities to learn about the editor and remind themselves.
  • Help, Info, describe-*, …
• Aware of how to install/configure additional packages.
• Configs for particular languages
  • ??? Cover configuring the basics/general aspects of configuring the editor for a new language.
  • Have basic configs for popular languages, or at least mention the recommended packages for popular languages.
    • Target languages should be those taught in the CS courses
    • Java, C/C++, Rust, Racket, Python, OCaml, Ruby, Markdown, JS
• Compare and contrast to other editors audience may be familiar with.
  • Should probably compare to VS Code
• Big ideas
  • Everything is a buffer
    • Everything uses the same keybinds.
  • ??? Literate programming. We may be using a literate Org file for the config. Not an Emacs-specific idea so maybe don't go into too much detail.
  • ??? Interacting with REPLs? SLIME-style REPLs?
  • ??? Everything in Emacs. Maybe at least mention the possibilities, while emphasizing that it is not necessary to have a good experience.
    • Email

• https://karthinks.com/software/batteries-included-with-emacs/

Might not cover all of them verbally, but should be in supplementary materials.

• setting indentation settings. Changing them per-mode. e.g. c-basic-offset variable. tab-width variable. indent-tabs-mode?
• custom-file variable? Storing config made through the customizations system in a different file than init.el?
• delete-by-moving-to-trash variable
• Backup files. I think the default is FILENAME~, which can be annoying.
• global-display-line-numbers-mode
• sentence-end-double-space variable
• Interactions with system clipboard.
• winner-mode?
• font configuration
• colorscheme
  • Have 2-6 good colorschemes configured by default in the sample config.
  • Prot's themes have gotten lots of attention recently due to their detail and accessibility:
    • ef-themes
    • modus-themes
    • standard-themes

• Managing, storing, version controlling, backing up configs and dotfiles?
  • Maybe out of scope but should at least mention it.
• Customization system
• Help system, info system, other docs.
• Built-in tutorial
• Recommended external information resources.
• Defining your own keybindings
• Installing and configuring packages.

• use-package
• which-key
• Some search/completion package like Vertico and friends?
• magit
• org-mode
• evil-mode
• cua-mode
• eglot / LSP stuff (requires installing LSPs separately)
• tab-completion (corfu / company)
• tree-sitter (requires installing tree-sitter binaries separately)
• built-ins: eww, dired, tramp, games

• Mention Wayland stuff in case people have blurriness? Linux users are rare but Ubuntu has Wayland as default so some might face this issue.
  • solution is to use PGTK build in emacs 29+
• Make sure instructions work or at least are likely to work for Windows and macOS.
  • TODO: Where are Emacs configs stored on Windows?