Comment by cryptarch | Hacker News Reader

Comment by cryptarch | Hacker News Reader

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Thank you for the well-thought-out and very helpful post, I feel like you've given me a model of thinking that will help me get started faster.

Would you happen to have ideas about pinky-saving layouts/modifications to Emacs? I'm not quite ready to ascend to Dvorak layouts but anything short of that I'll try, I'll need to with the state of my fingers.

It's my first week, so I guess I should read the manual instead of deep-diving without scuba gear and trying to manage with Evil-tutor and wishful thinking :')

I'll start with Org mode, I've been meaning to move away from Google Calendar and into Org mode for months anyway.

Thanks again :)

It really helps to go through the manual in order. It is a quick read. There is also a great GNU elisp intro -- https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/pdf/eintr.pdf

Work through that before any other lisp resource. I found it he most authoritative.

Caps to control is a life saver. I mostly roll with default key bindings. It just makes life easier. I don't have any hand issues. If you do you might rethink shortcuts .... Some folks are convinced key chording is not good for their hands, but I don't have an issue with it. I don't even notice it. Good luck if that is a concern, but Emacs is extremely customizable so that helps, but get at least some level of muscle memory for the default key bindings .

Once you know what you use a lot and have the basics down you can figure out how to start customizing.

I highly recommend general: https://github.com/noctuid/general.el It lets you easily bind keys in a vim leader-like way. For example, I use a macro that defines binds under a `M-SPC` leader key:

    (ap/general-define-key
      "fs" 'save-buffer)

Now I can press `M-SPC f s` instead of `C-x C-s` to save a file.

That is a neat module. I will have to play with it. But C-x C-s is burnt into my memory now.

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