E2: Emacs for Efficiency
  • What?
    • Customized GNU Emacs.
  • Why?
    • Greatly increased productivity in software development.
    • Reduced workplace repetitive stress injury.
    • More enjoyable work.
  • How?
    • Advanced graphical user interfaces have made many complex tasks in software development easy. Yet, they often make complex tasks with which the user is already familiar (and that are performed often by the user) slow and cumbersome. This adds up to a lot of wasted time and money.
    • It is not difficult to learn keyboard-based ways of accomplishing many tasks that are often done with the mouse.
    • Using the keyboard instead of the mouse reduces or eliminates the shoulder and hand pain associated with mouse use.
    • Emacs, particularly GNU Emacs, is one of the best editors for doing tasks without having to use the mouse.
    • Emacs is one of the oldest and most established editors.
    • Emacs is free.
    • Emacs is cross-platform (Windows, Unix (Linux, Solaris, etcetera), Mac).
    • There is no contradiction between an editor such as Emacs and a graphical IDE (Integrated Development Environment) oriented to point-and-click. Emacs can be used in parallel and simultaneously with graphical IDEs if a graphical IDE is needed or useful for a given type of work. So, importantly, the issue is not command line or GUI -- it's effective use of both.
    • Creating code is speeded and aided so much by a good Emacs customization that it can really be fun!
      • GNU Emacs does not come with the necessary customizations to make it a productive tool.
      • However, the configuration file and a screenshot below shows one example of how GNU Emacs may be customized for programming in several modes.
        • Example: Use the Emacs-based w3m text Web browser to quickly access Javadoc while coding Java in Emacs set to the JDE mode (Java Development Environment).
    • TreeLogic Software Engineering, with years of Emacs use experience, offers consulting services on how to use Emacs at your company. Contact TLSWE (emacs A-T treelogic-swe D-O-T com) for details.
  • Where?
    • View screenshots of a sample, highly-effective GNU Emacs customization.
    • View the configuration file for this customization.
      • You can create a completely configured Emacs based on the information in this configuration file.
    • View the reference card for this customization (PDF or JPG formats).
    • GNU Emacs homepage.
    • One of many good Emacs hyperlink collections is the Emacs Wiki.
emacs A-T treelogic-swe D-O-T com

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