My Emacs talk for FLOSS @ Oxford

Earlier today, at 20:00 Europe/Athens time, I provided an introduction to Emacs at the event FLOSS @ Oxford: https://ox.ogeer.org/event/computing-in-freedom-with-gnu-emacs-protesilaos-stavrou.

I had written the transcript ahead of time to make my presentation more accessible. The event was held live as a Jitsi call. There were questions from participants, which I answered. A recording of the event will be available before the end of this week. I will update this article to include a link to the video.

Below is the text of my talk. It is titled “Computing in freedom with GNU Emacs”. Note that some parts of my presentation only make sense in the video format, though I tried to describe in the transcript what I was demonstrating.

Emacs as a capable text editor
Emacs can display graphics alongside text
Emacs is an extensible text editor
The extensibility of Emacs happens live
Emacs puts you in control of your computing
The promise of an integrated computing environment
The integrated computing environment in practice
Integration gives you emergent properties
Consistency facilitates productivity
The consistency of Emacs in action
Use Emacs Lisp to configure everything
Emacs is the embodiment of software freedom
You do not need to be a programmer to use Emacs
The documentation culture of Emacs
Emacs has a steep learning curve
Why it is worth learning how to use Emacs
Good luck and have fun!

Hello everyone! My name is Protesilaos, also known as “Prot”. I am joining you from the mountains of Cyprus. Cyprus is an island in the Eastern Mediterranean Sea.

In this presentation I will talk to you about GNU Emacs, or simply, “Emacs”. Emacs is a program you run on your computer. I am using it right now for this presentation.

Emacs is free or libre software. It allows you to read all of its source code, to modify it, and to share it with your customisations. Thus you contribute to—and benefit from—a community of welcoming Emacs users.

I will tell you what all this means in practice and how you can improve your computing experience by switching to Emacs.

Emacs as a capable text editor

When you first start using Emacs, it feels like a regular text editor program. You move the cursor around and edit text. Nothing obviously impressive out-of-the-box. As a text editor, Emacs is highly capable. It has all sorts of keyboard shortcuts that let you efficiently operate on text. You can control Emacs without relying on the mouse, if you want.

Emacs supports the Unicode standard, which is essential for inclusivity of peoples. The world’s scripts can be expressed in Emacs. I am a native Greek speaker. I can use functionality that is built into Emacs to switch to the Greek alphabet in order to write something, such as to say «καλησπέρα», which means “good evening”. I can even spell out “Dao De Jing” (道德经), which is the title of a book from ancient China. Plus emoji: 🙃.

The multitude of scripts can be present in the same document. This is an advantage for multilingual people or those who do research that involves many natural languages.

Emacs can combine several fonts in the same page as well as different colours. Each fonts can have its own attributes, such as for its relative size and typographic intensity. Same idea for colours. On my screen right now, I am already combining two different font styles: that of the heading and the body of the text.

Emacs can display graphics alongside text

Emacs does not limit you to a text-only interface. It can also display images and PDF documents. Below I have a link to an image file. I will now type a keyboard shortcut to reveal this image. And I will do it again to hide it.

[Here is an image that I do not need to reproduce on my website: the specific image does not matter]

This, by the way, is a spot somewhere in my mountains.

Emacs is an extensible text editor

Although you can benefit from using Emacs as a generic text editor, what really appeals to people like me is the option to extend Emacs. “Extend” here means to introduce new functionality; functionality that is not available in the default program you install on your computer.

These extensions are written in the same programming language as most of Emacs. It is a programming language called “Emacs Lisp” or “Elisp”. You can extend Emacs on your own, by writing some program in Elisp, or you can download an existing extension that the community has made available.

For example, when I create a new extension for Emacs, I publish it under the terms of a free software license—the same terms that Emacs uses. Others can then download my extension and use it as they prefer. If they want, they can make their own modifications on top, which may introduce other extensions that I had not thought of in my original implementation. And if those users follow my example, then I can also benefit from their additions once they publish them.

As such, there exists a community of enthusiastic users of Emacs who care about sharing their works with the rest of the world.

The extensibility of Emacs happens live

Users can extend Emacs by running some Emacs Lisp program. Such a program can be as small as a single line. Or it can be as long as it needs to be. It does not matter. Users run the program and Emacs immediately does what the program renders possible.

For example, I am doing this presentation inside of Emacs. But Emacs does not have a “presentation mode” built into it. I thus developed my own extension which empowers me to do what I am doing right now. Let me toggle off my presentation mode to show you what I mean.

Notice that the display has changed. My main font is monospaced now. The headings are smaller than they were before: they are the same size as the rest of the text. There is no number next to the heading anymore. Then, there is a bar at the bottom of my screen, with information about what I am working on. On the side, there are line numbers, indicating where my cursor is in this file. Plus, my current line is highlighted with a distinct background colour. Let me shift it up and down to illustrate this point.

All those elements are useful while I am programming. But they look distracting when I wish to focus on some portion of text. So, I just type the keyboard shortcut I have and—voilà!—I get the style I prefer.

Emacs puts you in control of your computing

You may wonder: why do I even need a customisable text editor? The answer is about control. You are in charge of what you use and how you use it. You can piece together a workflow that works the way you prefer.

This presentation mode I toggled on and off earlier behaves exactly how I want. I decided which set of interface tweaks to apply. Another user may have a different preference in this regard. For instance, they may like having line numbers on the side of the screen. There is no right or wrong answer. What matters is that Emacs gives us the means to do what makes sense to us.

Now apply this principle to everything you can use Emacs for: this will generally be a text-centric project. I run my agenda exclusively through Emacs. I handle all my email correspondence with Emacs. I do programming and I write prose, such as blog posts for my website and books or technical manuals.

For each of these, I know that Emacs will empower me to perform my tasks without arbitrary restrictions. Emacs lets me use Elisp to modify how I do my emails, for instance, and how I present tasks in my custom agenda view.

The promise of an integrated computing environment

Without Emacs, I would not be in a position to control my computing experience to the extent I do. The reason is that I would be relying on many different applications. Each application has its own interface and design paradigms. Each application is configured, if at all, in a way that is specific to it. Customisations in one application do not carry over to other applications. And, if we consider the important implementation details, each application may configurable in its own programming language.

In other words, that is not an integrated computing experience. To have the same degree of control that Emacs makes possible, I would have to hope that somehow all those disparate applications would conspire in my favour. That is wishful thinking. The reality is that piecing together many different applications is an exercise in frustration and the path to a life of ever-distracting context switching.

Having everything I need inside of Emacs ensures that things happen in a manner that is consistent. All customisations are written in the same programming language, namely, Emacs Lisp. What I define for one context, such as this “presentation mode”, can be used in another context. For example, I can have this presentation style enabled when I read emails. Why? Because it can make it more comfortable for me at a certain hour. And I can even automate this, so it happens on its own when I open a new email.

The integrated computing environment in practice

When you work with many applications that do not play nicely together, you cannot do something that the developers have not envisaged. For example, your email client likely does not have access to a “presentation mode”. Same for your other applications.

Similarly, your many applications will not necessarily know how to read and interpret the configurations you have in one application. Suppose you define your favourite colour scheme for your email client. You take the time to consider the harmonies and use precise typography to your liking. Now, you switch to your calendar application and none of that work carries over: you have to do it again, assuming it is even possible.

Colours and styles may seem like relatively small issues. But they are indicative of something greater: disparate applications do not work together seamlessly.

Emacs does not have this problem. You define something for one context you have in mind and, eventually, it can be used in another context that initially you had not even thought of. For example, in my Emacs I wrote a small function to quickly copy the “thing” at where the cursor is. This is useful when I do programming, as the “thing” can be an entire expression, like the definition of a function. But the “thing” may also be a link that I got in my email. I had not thought of that use-case in advance.

Integration gives you emergent properties

The integrated computing environment of Emacs is more than the sum of its parts. This is because you can combine different pieces of functionality in ways that the original developer had not foresaw. You do not simply have your writing, your email, your agenda, et cetera, in Emacs. You have the functionality of one in tandem with the functionality of another. And you draw linkages between them as you see fit.

Consider once again this presentation I am now doing. What I have in front of me is the transcript of my talk. This is a plain text document, which I can edit live. Let me CAPITALISE THIS to illustrate the point. But I have made this file look a little bit like a series of slides. Notice that if I scroll up and down, which I will do now, you only get the current section I am reading from: you do not have access to the rest of the document. This is a feature known as “narrowing”. Let me “widen” the view and then try to scroll again. You will now be exposed to the rest of the text.

The original developer of this “narrowing” facility did not know how someone like me would make use of it. I have it here for my presentation. Each heading becomes its own pseudo-slide. I have narrowing for my emails, when I want to read a portion of the text in a more focused way. It is all about how I choose to do my computing.

Consistency facilitates productivity

For many years before switching to Emacs, I did not enjoy using the computer. I needed too much time to accomplish every single task. I could never find any of my files in a timely fashion because there was no program that would enforce on my behalf a predictable file-naming scheme.

All my notes were eventually not retrievable. My music collection was inconsistent because I needed special software to write the metadata… In short, I was not as productive as I would like to be. And, above all, it was not fun.

Most of my work at the time was centred around the email client and a word processor. The email client had its own subsystem for handling reminders for tasks. The format of those tasks was not interoperable with other programs. I could not access it with my favourite text editor. I thus had to use the clunky interface of the email client, which was never designed for task management—and was not configurable.

And then I had all the cognitively burdensome annoyances of my two applications looking quite different from each other. My emails did not behave like my documents, which made it harder for me to flip between the two and continue writing.

The consistency of Emacs in action

Emacs has elevated my computing experience. I have been much more productive ever since I switched to it. Allow me to demonstrate a tiny bit of what I do each day. I will temporarily exit the presentation mode in this window. Then, in the bottom half of my screen, I will open my email client to read a message I got. After that I will switch to my agenda to record a task and review what I have to do. All this is done inside of Emacs. Time for action!

Use Emacs Lisp to configure everything

What I just demonstrated is a very small part of what I do every single day. There is much more, though I cannot cover it all in this presentation. The point, however, is the consistency of the experience; consistency throughout.

I have customised my email client by writing some Emacs Lisp code for it. I have done the same for the custom agenda I have. And much more.

Every time I work with Emacs Lisp, I acquire skills that are applicable outside the confines of the problem I am solving. For example, by configuring email the way I want, I pick up programming skills that I can then apply to the design of my custom agenda.

This is an investment that pays off more and more. Emacs will grow or shrink to match my evolving needs. Each new workflow I incorporate in my Emacs setup will thus benefit from all the knowledge and features I have accumulated.

I do not have to relearn everything. I do not have to throw away all the work I did. It is here to stay. I do not feel the pressure to try the new shiny app of the day. And, because I am rooted in this stability, I remain productive and efficient.

Emacs is the embodiment of software freedom

I mentioned earlier that Emacs is free or libre software. This means that you can read its source code, modify it, and share your changes with others. Emacs has a license that gives users power. There is no corporation that can take Emacs away from us. It belongs to the community and we all tend to its wellness.

Software freedom is not just about the license. Emacs makes such freedom an irriducible part of its functionality. You can, at any moment, ask Emacs what does a keyboard shortcut actually do. What is the definition of a function. What is the value of a variable. And you may even access the source code to check for yourself.

I actually learnt to program in Emacs Lisp by exercising this freedom. I would tinker with Emacs and continuously check on its state. I wanted to learn how, for example, we move down a line. From there, I learnt that we can move down many lines at once. I then figured that we can move down the lines and then also do something else, such as place the cursor at the end of the line and create a pulse effect to bring attention to it.

Not only did I learn how to configure Emacs, I even wrote tens of extensions for it. I have also authored a libre book titled “Emacs Lisp Elements”. This freedom is not theoretical. I did not have a background in programming, yet was empowered to act.

You do not need to be a programmer to use Emacs

Emacs is extended with Emacs Lisp. If you know how to program in that language, you can be extra opinionated and particular about the way Emacs facilitates your work.

But even without any expertise of this sort, you can still do much of what you like. This is because the Emacs community has developed a rich corpus of extensions. We call these extensions “packages”, as they are distributed in a way that makes them easy to install and then use directly.

The Emacs program you will download on your computer ships with plenty of packages built-in. Depending on your needs, you may not even have to install anything from what the community has to offer.

For example, Emacs ships with a package called org or “Org mode”. At its core, this is a markup language. I am using it right now in this document. Notice how lines that start with an asterisk function as headings. This is what the markup does. Org lets you write documents, including books, handle your tasks, organise your agenda, and much more. It is a powerhouse. There are so many things to discover. Emacs provides high quality documentation that explains everything.

The documentation culture of Emacs

When you install Emacs, you get with it plenty of technical manuals. There is also an interactive tutorial to help you make sense of the basics. Furthermore, when you ask Emacs for help about the definition of a function or the value of a variable, you receive the documentation for the thing you are looking for.

The expectation for all contributions to the official Emacs program is that the code is well-documented and the manual is updated accordingly.

This is true also for packages that the community develops. For example, my denote package has a manual that is over 7500 lines long. It exceeds 52000 words. In it users find detailed instructions as well as code snippets that they can copy and use outright. And this is not the exception. All my packages are like that, to the extent necessary. Most other developers do the same.

As a community, we have access to so much knowledge for free and in freedom. If we are committed enough, we can learn from others and thus become better ourselves. We do so in a spirit of sharing and caring. For me, specifically, all this was of great help. I am self-taught because I received all those great resources from the community. I consider it my duty to give back in kind.

Emacs has a steep learning curve

Because Emacs is extensible, there is practically no limit to what you can do with it. At least this is the case for all tasks that are text-heavy. Emacs will just gracefully evolve to match your requirements, provided you know how to extend it.

The downside, however, is that it is not easy to become proficient in it. If you are committed, you can learn the basics within the first few days. Though you will need to invest a few weeks or months to become skillful. It depends on how much effort you put into it.

What I can say with confidence is that Emacs is not for tourists. You cannot switch to it with the expectation that you will have a good time right away. No. That will not work. There simply is no shortcut to excellence.

I thus encourage you to adjust your expectations. Emacs will make you more productive, provided you are patient enough to unlock its virtually boundless potential. Take it slow and be methodical. Rely on the official manual. Read from it and gradually incorporate its insights into your workflow. The community has plenty of resources to complement that study. But do not skip the official manual. Learning it slowly means that you will become proficient faster than you otherwise would.

Why it is worth learning how to use Emacs

I already talked about the technical side of things with regard to the integrated computing environment. Now combine that with two facts:

Emacs is free software. This means that we as a community are its custodians.
GNU Emacs has been around since the 1980s. It will stay relevant for decades to come.

Emacs is not old, it is timeless. This is because it can be extended in a spirit of freedom. Whatever new technology or idea we have as a collective, we can eventually bring it into Emacs. This way, our integrated computing environment adapts with the times.

Couched in those terms, the initial effort you will put into learning Emacs is actually not that much. You have to maintain a longer-term view of this project. If are patient, Emacs will be one of the most reliable tools you will ever use throughout your life. And I say this as a handy man myself, having built the house I am in, among others.

I switched to Emacs in the summer of 2019. It is almost 7 years already. I see no reason not to use it for the next 7 years, if I can. I will still want to write articles, do programming, maintain my agenda, and probably make presentations like this one.

Good luck and have fun!

Remember that you will not learn Emacs over the weekend. You are in it for the long-term. Take it slow and you will enjoy the experience.

This is all I have for you today folks. Thank you very much for your attention!