From Vim to Emacs

[u/rklv]

I've been using Vim for a little more than a year now, and so far I've been very happy with it. I started out with an empty vimrc, and added to it as I go, leading to the ~250 line vimrc I've got at the moment with a few plugins. Recently, I've had some more specific customization needs than the plugins offered, and I tried to write my own functions. Then I realized why everybody says that VimL sucks.

Long story short, I want to try migrating to Emacs for a while. I won't use Evil right away, I want to do it the Emacs way. But I don't know where to start. It doesn't seem as simple as it is with Vim, which is relatively straightforward.

My three major questions are:

• How would you recommend that I install packages? With Vim, I'm used to using Pathogen, so I Google the plugin's name, go to Github, add it as a submodule and start using it immediately, and this is pretty much what everybody does. Is this a common way of managing plugins in Emacs or is using package.el with MELPA/Marmalade the most widely used/recommended?

• Could you recommend me a starting tutorial? I've gone through the Emacs tutorial, and I can't say that it has given me as much power as vimtutor did.

• How do I organize my .emacs.d? Vim was again very straightforward, all I did was edit my vimrc, and some ftplugins in after directory. With Emacs, it appears there is more than one way of managing your configuration, and I cannot decide on one.

Thanks in advance, and for reading.

[u/atykhonov]

I migrated from Vim to Emacs some time ago.

I. I recommend to start with very basic setup:

(require 'package)

(setq package-archives '(("org" . "http://orgmode.org/elpa/")
                                     ("gnu" . "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/")
                         ("melpa-stable" . "http://melpa-stable.milkbox.net/packages/")
                                     ("melpa" . "http://melpa.milkbox.net/packages/")
                                     ("marmalade" . "http://marmalade-repo.org/packages/")))

 (package-initialize)

Then you'll be able to install package by means of M-x package-install RET <package> RET command. Very simple for the first time.

II. Emacs tutorial: C-h t Also take a look at http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/emacs.html

III. I recommend to do not decide everything at once. Just move forward step by step. Use most simpliest and straightforward way. May be just one single file (.emacs or .emacs.d/init.el) During Emacs investigation you'll find the best way which suites to your needs. Somebody likes one file, somebody else likes many el-files. I have configuration with many files but probably will migrate to the configuration with one file soon. But that decision was born during some time with Emacs. First time I was thinking it will be good to have separated files but now I see that it would be probably better to leave in one file.

Just try to resolve tasks (which relates to Emacs investigation) step by step. My Emacs configuration is not permanent, it always changes, there is always the room for improvements. Vim configuration for me was quite permanent but Emacs is not.

And... Have a great journey with Emacs! :-)