Monthly Archives: July 2022

Changing How Emacs Works

Posted on 2022-07-31 by jcs

Karthik has a nifty video on how to change the way Emacs works. We’re all fond of saying that Emacs is infinitely extensible and customizable but then we usually go out for a beer without saying how. Kathink remedies that … Continue reading →

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Improvements to dwim-shell-command

Posted on 2022-07-30 by jcs

Álvaro Ramírez has been busy making improvements to his excellent dwim-shell-command package. I’ve written a lot about this package recently but that’s okay because it’s something most Irreal readers would want to know about. The TL;DR is that the package … Continue reading →

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Red Meat Friday: Commit Messages Don’t Matter

Posted on 2022-07-29 by jcs

One of our sacred notions—never to be questioned—is the importance of writing good commit messages. There are hundreds of articles on how to write good messages and how to properly format them. Magit will even enforce a length limit on … Continue reading →

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Why Use Emacs in 2022

Posted on 2022-07-28 by jcs

Torstein Johansen has a short video that addresses the question of why he uses Emacs in 2022. The backstory is that every time he takes a new job or consulting position, the incumbents—who all use things like IntelliJ, Eclipse, or … Continue reading →

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Spacing in Displayed Mathematics

Posted on 2022-07-27 by jcs

Most Irreal readers probably don’t have much need to typeset mathematics but occasionally the need does arise and if you’re like me, you want it to look as good as possible. Most of us will never be as good as … Continue reading →

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DWIM Shell Command On Melpa

Posted on 2022-07-26 by jcs

A quickie with some good news. Álvaro Ramírez’s excellent dwim-shell-command is now available for download from Melpa. I’ve written several posts on this package [1, 2, 3] and really like what Ramírez is doing with it so I’m glad to … Continue reading →

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Programmers and the Flow

Posted on 2022-07-25 by jcs

Every programmer knows about the flow. They know about it even if they don’t know the word “flow”. Sadly, most other people are not familiar with the concept. Especially members of the management class. This cartoon captures the idea perfectly. … Continue reading →

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Digital Nomads in 2022

Posted on 2022-07-24 by jcs

Long time readers know that I’ve been fascinated by the idea of digital nomads since reading Mike Elgan’s article on The New Bedouins in 2007. Back then, it was mostly journalists and a few IT people who were able to … Continue reading →

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The Case for Emacs, Vim, and Nano

Posted on 2022-07-23 by jcs

Over on the Red Hat site there’s a post that makes the cases for the Emacs, Vim, and Nano editors. That may seem like blasphemy to some but different people do have different needs and expectations from their editors. The … Continue reading →

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Red Meat Friday: Seek Help

Posted on 2022-07-22 by jcs

Here’s a stunning example of retro abuse. I get that it’s fun—for some people—to revisit old tech but if this looks good to you, seek help. I’m old enough to have worked with those terminals—both the green and amber versions—and … Continue reading →

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