Charles Choi makes an astute observation about the Emacs initialization file from the point of view of the new user: there’s no obvious way of loading it or even knowing that it exists. The problem is especially acute on the Mac where the File → Open menu uses the Mac file loading routines that don’t show dot files. Not very helpful even if you know the name of the file.
Choi is surprised that this far on the problem hasn’t been fixed. It’s hard to argue. On the other hand, I don’t remember having this problem. I have no memory at all of how I overcame it but I and thousands of others have. That doesn’t mean that the problem isn’t real, though.
Choi offers a solution. It’s a simple function that loads the init file even if it hasn’t been created yet. His idea is that the function would be builtin and automatically available to the new user.
Of course, the problem is how does the new user discover this function, or for that matter, what to do with the init file once it’s loaded. It seems to me that at the very least there needs to be some instructions on the startup screen—you know, that screen we all turn off as soon as we learn how. That would help but it’s probably not enough.
What’s really needed is a new-user file that explains how to get started. It could be linked from the startup screen. It wouldn’t need to be long or complicated; just enough to bootstrap the new users and point them to the tutorial.
One thing for sure: Choi is right. It’s really harder than it should be for a new user to learn enough to get up to speed with Emacs.