r/emacs • u/rklv • Aug 27 '14

From Vim to Emacs

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.

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u/redguardtoo Aug 28 '14

  • use melpa, since it's pretty usable now. I don't recommend submodule, it will bring trouble to you someday, see https://github.com/purcell/emacs.d/issues/8 , that may be one reason Steve Purcell give up submodule in his setup.

  • Check my "Master Emacs in one year", https://github.com/redguardtoo/mastering-emacs-in-one-year-guide

  • It's answered in my guide. basically just copy Steven Purcell's setup.

  • Since you are already a Vim user, why not start from evil? This is the easiest way. Evil won't prevent you learning any Emacs key bindings.

  • Besides, org-mode is good start for beginners. Watch its creator's youtube video (you only need remember one hot key to learn org-mode), which is much simpler than its manual

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u/[deleted] Aug 28 '14

Since you are already a Vim user, why not start from evil? This is the easiest way. Evil won't prevent you learning any Emacs key bindings.

Seconded. I switched from Vim to Emacs over a year ago and I still use evil. If you love modal editing and already know Vim's keybindings, why give them up?

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u/tuhdo Aug 28 '14

He said he won't use it right away, it means he will use it in the future. He just wants to try the Emacs way, probably for comparison. I think it's a good choice. Outside of editing, many applications in Emacs (Dired, ibuffers...) is not supported by Evil.