emacs

Setup

When Emacs is started, it normally tries to load a Lisp program from an initialization file, or init file for short. This file, if it exists, specifies how to initialize Emacs for you. Emacs looks for your init file using the filenames ~/.emacs, ~/.emacs.el, or ~/.emacs.d/init.el; - GNU Emacs Manual

Changelog 12/21/2023

• Due to my org file reaching over 2000 lines I have decided to modularize my own config and write it in multiple elisp files
• this is unstable until I have developed seriously with the new config and ensured everything has continued to work
• I am utilizing early-init (starting emacs 27) and my own Components folder and have moved my org file MarinMacs.org to the backups for now

Old

• In my case the file is init.el which will launch my MarinMacs.org file. Both should be made inside the .emacs.d directory
• You can automate this if you cloned my dotfiles and ran the configure.sh script
• Reference alt-Configs folder for either more minimal or alternative implementations of my config (I currently use Ivy but I have a helm and an icomplete version of my configuration as well in the folder)

Custom Img

• The img folder contains snapshots of my configuration in action as well banners that could be used for the emacs start up screen (the script looks for ~/.emacs.d/img/targetBanner.png but will display a default icon if nothing is found so you don’t have to worry about the config crashing)

Contact

• Email me if any issues/questions/things can be better: wbbmarin5@gmail.com

Purpose:

• Initially, I made this repo for myself to keep track of my configurations…
• Now I want to make it more of a guide for anyone trying to switch to emacs whether its from another editor and/or is confused about what packages to install and how to configure.
• Make a guide that welcomes anyone from any editor.
• Achieve the divine workflow

How I got here

My first editor was Sublime Text, followed by Atom, followed by VScode (Tried Clion as well for a little bit). I then tried spacemacs using vanilla emacs keybindings(not really knowing what vim was), switched to vanilla emacs for a while and began building this configuration. I then decided to learn vim keybindings and used vim as my editor for awhile. I concluded that I liked the vim keybindings more than the emacs ones. I tried spacemacs, this time with vim keybindings, once again but I felt it was bloated and I liked having my own configuration and that is how I got here.

Who this config might be useful to

• Vim users wanting to switch and use emacs while keepings their vim keybindings
• Anyone wanting to use Emacs for its own keybindings and extensibility but hates configuring
• People who want more productivity but are limited because of their current text editor
• People who already use emacs and maybe want to see if there is anything new they can learn from my config
• Me whenever I forget or want to reference something

Why Make This Into More Of A Guide?

• Emacs is extremely powerful but has a ton of packages and it can be really confusing to pick the right ones, much less configure them
• Installing each package requires going to different sites and/or blogs to see how each individual one works, its better to have all the information you need in one place
• Not everybody likes spending time customizing and configuring. They also like a place they can reference
• Emacs provides a lot and the configuration should not be what keeps people using editors such as emacs or vim

Notes-Before-Beginning

Bindings

• My setup utilizes evil mode which emulates vim inside emacs
  • if you like everything about the config except that it uses vim bindings, simply erase the section titled ‘Evil-Mode’
    • this will , however, mean you have to do some key mappings for the certain package(s)/hydras you want to use
  • if you are a vim user, you should feel right at home; if not, no problem — everyone has their preferences.

Some things to be aware of

• Depending on how you installed emacs, certain packages might be preinstalled into it
• In emacs C = ctrl, M = alt, S = shift, s (hyper key) = command key (MacOS) windows key(MS-Windows), RET = enter key SPC = space
  • Example: M-x = alt + x C-x C-f = ctrl + x ctrl + f
• If you wish to browse through Emac’s packages `M-x package-list-packages RET` will open up the package list
  • Additionally, you can run `M-x package-install RET package_name RET` if you know the exact package that you want
  • Generally , use-package takes care of automating package installation
• If you just want to get it over with, simply copy my init.el and MarinMacs.org (or whatever you want to name your org file)
• Once again, the files should be created inside the .emacs.d folder which you can create.
• All the packages should install and configure automatically (power of use-package), however you would still have to install the langauge servers to enable autocomplete
• You can open links present in the MarinMacs.org file in a separate window with C-c C-o (assuming you are editing this file in emacs)

Getting the best out of this configuration

• This config is centered around vim bindings but also occasionally utilizes emacs bindings
  • to get the smoothest experience (in my opinion), map your caps lock to escape when tapped and caps lock when pressed down
  • mapping caps lock to esc should also feel relatively smooth
• If you are new to emacs and are looking to learn, I tried my best to document packages and what certain settings do
• My advice is rather copying my entire config, learn the basics of emacs without any configuration and just know the difference between buffers, windows, and frames
  • afterwords copy my config little by little, research the packages further and see if you actually like using them
• If you are here to just inspect my config and see how it differs from yours, welcome and I hope something here gives you insight or is of some help