Author Archives: jcs

A Comparison of Vim and Emacs

Posted on 2020-02-22 by jcs

Over at the YouTube DistroTube Channel, Derek Taylor has an even handed video that explores the question Vim Versus Emacs. Which Is Better? Taylor is a n00b with both editors but has come to the same conclusion that I have: … Continue reading →

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An Org Mode Workflow for Spacemacs

Posted on 2020-02-21 by jcs

Over at OutOfCheeseError there’s a useful discussion of an Org-mode workflow for Spacemacs. If you’re a member of the Spacemacs sect, you should take a look. Interestingly, the post is part of his .spacemacs file so it’s pretty much always … Continue reading →

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Progress Report

Posted on 2020-02-20 by jcs

I’ve almost completely recovered from the debacle with my old computer. At least recovered enough to resume posting to Irreal. I now have a brand new 13“ MacBook Pro complete with touch strip and bad keyboard. My old machine was … Continue reading →

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Red Alert

Posted on 2020-02-18 by jcs

Last night, I managed to spill my beverage of choice onto my laptop. As McCoy would say, “It’s dead Jim.” Until I can replace it (probably tomorrow) and download my backups (who knows how long that will take) Irreal will … Continue reading →

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Regular Expressions in 30 Lines of C

Posted on 2020-02-17 by jcs

I recently saw a pointer to a nice article by Brian Kernighan that describes some beautiful code written by Rob Pike for their book The Practice of Programming. As an example of the power of notation, they wanted to show … Continue reading →

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Dark-Mode vs. Light-Mode Again

Posted on 2020-02-16 by jcs

You’d think this would be dead horse by now but we always have fun with it when I post on the issue so here’s another episode. Via Kontra we have an article by Raluca Budiu on whether light-mode or dark-mode … Continue reading →

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Emacs Variables

Posted on 2020-02-15 by jcs

Emacs variables are at once both easier and more difficult than in other languages. On the one hand, Emacs variables are typeless so you can put whatever you like in them and even use the same variable to hold different … Continue reading →

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When Will They Ever Learn?

Posted on 2020-02-14 by jcs

Jacob Eisenstein is wondering at the madness that has overtaken the academic world. He wonders why in the world they are depending on someone else’s computer and SaaS to do one of their most important jobs: writing and publishing papers. … Continue reading →

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Org 9.3.6

Posted on 2020-02-13 by jcs

Bastien lets us know that Org 9.3.6 has been released: #emacs #orgmode 9.3.6, a bugfix release, is out. Enjoy! The next release will be 9.4, with new features. Coming soon. — Bastien Guerry (@bzg2) February 13, 2020 It’s another bug … Continue reading →

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How To Start a Common Lisp Project

Posted on 2020-02-12 by jcs

As I mentioned the other day, I haven’t been using Common Lisp much lately so I was a little rusty when I wrote my A Palindrome Predicate Coda post. It’s not that I forgot the Lisp itself, that’s sufficiently like … Continue reading →

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