Re: [tlug] Learning Emacs

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@example.com>]

>>>>> "Micheal" == Micheal E Cooper <network-admin@example.com> writes:

    Micheal> a yoki senpai suggested vi 'because no matter what flavor
    Micheal> or how old, any *nix system has vi."

Sure.  They also have head, tail, and echo, and you can get a lot of
editing done with those three tools and judicious redirection.

Not to knock vi, I use it too; Emacs exposes far too much of the
operating system for comfort on a web-facing server, but pico and nano
(not to mention head/tail/echo) lack the essential navigation tool of
regexp search.  The right tool for the job.

But you should remember that the whole point of free software (besides
creating a religious cult -- does anybody have an URL to the page with
side by side JPEGs of rms and Shoko Asahara?) is that you _can_ adapt
the system to yourself.  You don't have to settle for for something
that is installed everywhere, because nowadays everything is
"available" everywhere.

Of course, us old-timers (not to mention a lot of wet-behind-the-ears
young whippersnappers ... but I digress) tend to focus on the
micro-micro "tune your Emacs the way you tune your Cinelli" aspects,
but _everybody_ (including my late mother) can benefit from the macro
aspects.  I mean the explosive diffusion of easy-to-use tools for
adapting your system by installing and upgrading applications.  Of
course Linux systems are famous for yummy, aptly named tools spinning
at high rpm at the core of the distro, but the *BSDs have gone in a
different direction: creating ports or packages distros that run on
_many_ systems.  DarwinPorts of course started with the Mac but most
ports can be installed on Linux, FreeBSD, NetBSD, and OpenBSD (and
theoretically Solaris, but I've not seen any reports of that).  The
NetBSD pkgsrc distro can be set up on practically any *nix including
Solaris and HP/UX (and I know of people who have installed XEmacs via
pkgsrc on Solaris, HP/UX, and even AIX).  The GNU system isn't bad,
either, you've got Cygwin and MSYS for Windows, but it's not as
automated as pkgsrc or DarwinPorts.

You will run into employers who strictly control what is installed on
their systems, for good reasons and bad.  If it's that important to
keep Emacs (or whatever your weapon of choice is) out of the system,
then they'd better be willing to pay for it, either in training you in
what they do make available or waiting for you to get up to speed.
Sure, you'll miss the occasional job, but when you do land a position,
both you and your employer will be more productive and happier.

You'll have to decide how bad you want that first interview to turn
into an offer, but at least think about productivity in the long run
as a potential tradeoff here.



-- 
School of Systems and Information Engineering http://turnbull.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp
University of Tsukuba                    Tennodai 1-1-1 Tsukuba 305-8573 JAPAN
               Ask not how you can "do" free software business;
              ask what your business can "do for" free software.