Emacs Challenge?

Some of the most popular posts here at Irreal are those in which I attempt bring the power of Emacs to bear on VimGolf problems. I like those posts too because I always learn some new tricks both by working on the problem myself and from the (usually better) solutions that readers contribute. Commenters on other blogs have lamented that there’s no EmacsGolf to challenge and entertain users of the one true editor. I’ve been wondering if there’s really any interest in that.

To me the value of such a site would be the opportunity to try some challenges working the way the typical Emacs user works and thus learn new techniques both self-discovered and from others. That means that the rules should be a bit different from VimGolf. Here’s some ideas off the top of my head

  • Any ELPA package from the standard sites could be used because, after all, that’s how we actually do our work.
  • External tools accessed through mechanisms such as 【Ctrl+u Meta+|】 are allowed for the same reason.
  • Solutions would be held for a week, say, and then posted all at once.
  • Maybe favor real-world problems so that the solutions are more generally applicable.

Is there any interest in such a thing? If so, we can start off easy by posting the challenges and solutions here at Irreal. If there’s enough participation, it would probably be worth moving it to its own site. I am definitely not a front-end person so if I do all the heavy lifting, even the new site would be WordPress (or something) based. If someone with the requisite skills wants to get involved we could make it more like the VimGolf site or whatever seems best.

If you would be interested in this leave a comment. Feel free to suggest additional or alternative rules. If enough people respond positively, I’ll make up some challenges (and solicit them from readers) and start posting them here at Irreal. If we get enough traction, I’ll mount a separate site.

I thought about calling this thing EmacsGolf or something similar but that seems a bit derivative so I’m thinking along the lines of The Emacs Challenge or something like that. Suggestions welcome.

Update: 【Ctrl+|】 → 【Meta+|

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