Author Archives: jcs

A Wish List for Emacs 25

Posted on 2014-11-04 by jcs

Artur Malabarba has a nuanced list of things he’d like to see in Emacs 25. While most of us are still getting used to Emacs 24.4, Malabarba has thought carefully about what Emacs needs to move forward. I’m sure most … Continue reading →

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The Two Programmer States

Posted on 2014-11-03 by jcs

I know the feeling. So true. “@georgeb3dr: The two states of every programmer. pic.twitter.com/5wYfzzgRjb” — publicfarley (@publicfarley) October 10, 2014

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Keyboard Macros Video

Posted on 2014-11-03 by jcs

I’ve written before about the excellent videos that Emacs NYC produces from their monthly meetings where one of the members gives a talk on some aspect of Emacs. This month, Jacob O’Donnell gives a nice talk on keyboard macros. It’s … Continue reading →

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SBCL 1.2.5 is Available

Posted on 2014-11-02 by jcs

When I set up my new machine, manfredII, I just copied the then current SBCL’s directory from my iMac, aineko, to manfredII and reinstalled the already built binary on the machine. This got me past not having a Lisp compiler … Continue reading →

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A Highbrow Explanation of Why MS Word is Terrible

Posted on 2014-11-01 by jcs

Regular readers know that I have a profound dislike of word processors and especially of Word. I consider it the apotheosis of broken and user-hostile software. To me, Emacs and Org Mode are so far superior that Word would not … Continue reading →

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Abusing the Patriot Act

Posted on 2014-10-31 by jcs

Remember how I told you that law enforcement will always abuse surveillance powers? Here’s the latest proof. Despite the solemn promises, less than 1% of sneak-and-peek warrants are actually for terrorism investigations.

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New MELPA URL

Posted on 2014-10-31 by jcs

If you’re a MELPA user you might have heard that the URL for the site has changed. It’s easy to miss the significance of that for your Emacs configuration though. You have to change the package-archives list to reflect the … Continue reading →

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2600

Posted on 2014-10-30 by jcs

The New Yorker has a nice article about the 2600 magazine. If you’re familiar with 2600, you’ll enjoy reading about the history of magazine and its editor. If you’re not familiar with it, here’s your chance to see why it’s … Continue reading →

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Compiling aspell with OS X Yosemite

Posted on 2014-10-30 by jcs

While I was setting up my new machine, I had to rebuild aspell. The last time I did that it built without any problems. This time, despite the fact that it was the same version as before, there were several … Continue reading →

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Common Lisp Notes and Tips on Symbols

Posted on 2014-10-29 by jcs

Jean-Philippe Paradis has updated hit notes and tips on Common Lisp symbols. He’s added cross references and polished it up a bit more. It’s still a work in progress but is useful in its current form.

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