Creation and conservation of computer files (C3F)

10.2.1 Windows ³³

(menu-bar-mode 0)

(setq-default fill-column 80)

(blink-cursor-mode 0)
(when (display-graphic-p)
  (setq-default cursor-type 'box))
(setq x-stretch-cursor 1)

(global-linum-mode 1)

(global-font-lock-mode 1)

(setq blink-matching-paren nil)
(show-paren-mode t)
(setq show-paren-delay 0)
(setq show-paren-style 'expression)

(setq ring-bell-function 'ignore)
(setq visible-bell t)

10.2.2 Frames ⁴¹

(setq frame-title-format '("the ultimate..."))

(scroll-bar-mode 1)

(tool-bar-mode 0)

(setq browse-url-browser-function 'browse-url-generic)
(setq browse-url-generic-program "chromium-browser")

(setq mouse-wheel-scroll-amount '(1 ((shift) . 1)))
    (setq mouse-wheel-progressive-speed nil)

10.2.3 Buffers ⁴⁷

(desktop-save-mode 1)
(setq desktop-restore-eager 10)

(require 'real-auto-save)

(require 'uniquify)
(setq uniquify-buffer-name-style 'forward)

(add-to-list 'load-path "/usr/share/emacs/site-lisp/ccrypt")
(require 'ps-ccrypt "ps-ccrypt.el")

(setq backup-inhibited 1)

(setq auto-save-default nil)

(add-hook 'write-file-hooks
          '(lambda ()
             (gcr/delete-trailing-whitespace)))

(prefer-coding-system 'utf-8)
(when (display-graphic-p)
  (setq x-select-request-type '(UTF8_STRING COMPOUND_TEXT TEXT STRING)))

(require 'undo-tree)
(global-undo-tree-mode 1)
(eval-after-load "diminish"
  '(progn
     (eval-after-load "undo-tree"
       '(diminish 'undo-tree-mode "↺"))))

10.2.4 Modeline ⁶⁰

(column-number-mode 1)

(display-time-mode 1)
(setq display-time-format "%l:%M%p")

(require 'diminish)

10.2.5 Mark and Region ⁶⁴

(delete-selection-mode 1)

10.2.6 Minibuffer ⁶⁶

(fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)

(setq resize-mini-windows t)
(setq max-mini-window-height 0.33)

10.3.1 Custom variables

(custom-set-variables
 ;; custom-set-variables was added by Custom.
 ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
 ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
 ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 '(custom-safe-themes (quote ("fc5fcb6f1f1c1bc01305694c59a1a861b008c534cae8d0e48e4d5e81ad718bc6" default))))
(custom-set-faces
 ;; custom-set-faces was added by Custom.
 ;; If you edit it by hand, you could mess it up, so be careful.
 ;; Your init file should contain only one such instance.
 ;; If there is more than one, they won't work right.
 )

10.3.2 Configuration

1. Intellisense (Auto Completion) ⁶⁸
   

   Can you thrive and profit without auto-completion? Surely. The feature is kind of a comfort blanket for most of us; you will never fail to bild a system without it (unless you are using Java, then you need IntelliJ). Still it is quite nice to have popup documentation.

   (require 'fuzzy)
   (require 'auto-complete)
   (require 'auto-complete-config)
   (ac-config-default)
   (setq ac-auto-start nil)
   (ac-set-trigger-key "TAB")
   (eval-after-load "diminish"
     '(progn
        (eval-after-load "auto-complete"
          '(diminish 'auto-complete-mode "↝"))))
   

2. Whitespace management ⁶⁹
   

   Do you need to see tabs and other control characters? Usually, yes.

   (require 'whitespace)
   (setq whitespace-style '(trailing lines tab-mark))
   (setq whitespace-line-column 80)
   (global-whitespace-mode 1)
   (eval-after-load "diminish"
     '(progn
        (eval-after-load "whitespace"
          '(diminish 'global-whitespace-mode "ᗣ"))
        (eval-after-load "whitespace"
          '(diminish 'whitespace-mode ""))))
   

3. Color visualizing ⁷⁰
   

   Nothing against the multitude of RGB hex value web finder web pages… it is just convenient to have it built right in.

   (require 'rainbow-mode)
   (eval-after-load "diminish"
     '(progn
        (eval-after-load "rainbow-mode"
          '(diminish 'rainbow-mode "ω"))))
   

4. Templating ⁷¹
   

   Code complating is nice to have; but the second you install it and learn how to use it, you will never find the need to again. Accept it and move on.

   (require 'yasnippet)
   (yas-load-directory (concat (cask-elpa-dir)
                               "/yasnippet-20140306.5/snippets"))
   (eval-after-load "diminish"
     '(progn
        (eval-after-load "yasnippet"
          '(diminish 'yas-minor-mode "✂"))))
   (yas-global-mode 1)
   

5. Searching / Finding ^{72 , 73}
   

   There are many ways to easily find what you need, for a command, for a file, and this mode seems to be a quite nice way.

   (require 'ido)
   (require 'flx-ido)
   (ido-mode 1)
   (ido-everywhere 1)
   (setq ido-create-new-buffer 'always)
   (flx-ido-mode 1)
   (setq ido-use-faces nil)
   

6. Project management ⁷⁴
   

   Not everyone likes projects, but I do. There is no perfect middle ground though, that is until this library came along. It is such a joy to use.

   (projectile-global-mode 1)
   (eval-after-load "diminish"
     '(progn
        (eval-after-load "projectile"
          '(diminish 'projectile-mode "⌕"))))
   

7. Expression Management ⁷⁵
   

   There are a lot of nice options ^{76 , 77 , 78 , 79 , 80}. For the longest time, paredit was all that I used, but then I started using Emacs for everyone else besides Lisp and was kind of stymied not having great expression management tools. Smartparens seems to have emerged as king, so here it sits. While I was setting up the new config I set this up last… that was a major mistake. After using a good symbolic expression management tool, you quickly forget the nightmare of having to keep expressions balanced yourself. Sure we did fine with VI… but it is so nice to have the tool do it for you. Remember what Olin Shivers said?

   I object to doing things that computers can do.

   You get a lot of niceties that you would expect like balanced brackets and since there is a strict mode it acts just like Paredit. Additionally you may wrap selections with pairs, auto-escape strings that occur within other strings, and showing matching pairs (of any supported form).

   (require 'smartparens-config)
   (smartparens-global-strict-mode +1)
   (show-smartparens-global-mode +1)
   (eval-after-load "diminish"
     '(progn
        (eval-after-load "smartparens"
          '(diminish 'smartparens-mode "⚖"))))
   

8. Remote file access ⁸¹
   

   TRAMP stands for "Transparent Remote (file) Access, Multiple Protocol". It is really, really beautiful.

   (setq tramp-default-user "gcr")
   

9. Selection style ⁸²
   

   IntelliJ Idea is yet again to blame for being awesome; even the author of this library suffers, or rather enjoys, this phenomenon. When you make a selection of text you typically want to do it in a smart way, selecting the first logical block, then expanding logically outwards, and so on. It could mean selecting a variable, then its definition statement, and then the entire code block for example. Before now I really never had many uses for the C-u universal argument functionality for method calls, but if you pass in a negative value before calling er/expand-region it will have the nice feature of reversing its incremental selection.

   (require 'expand-region)
   (global-set-key (kbd "C-=") 'er/expand-region)
   

10. File-system/directory management ⁸³
    

    The last file or filesyste management tool that I used wast Norton Commander ⁸⁴ and then Midnight Commander ⁸⁵, but my usage was pretty basic. Beyond those basics, I can do even more, basic stuff, in bash. Lately I've wanted something a little more consistent, powerful, and memorable, and that led me here. Dired is a user-interface for working with your filesystem; you select files and directories and then choose what to do with them. The ability to customize what you see is included out of the box, and there are additional helper packages ⁸⁶, too.

    You can use the usual machinery to work with the files. Highlight a region and operation selections occur for all files in that region. Commands are sheduled, and then executed, upon your command. Files can be viewed in modify or read-only mode, too. There is an idea of =mark=ing files, which is to select them and perform operations on the marked files. There are helper methods for most things you can think if like directories or modified-files or whatever, meaning you can use regexen to mark whatever you like however you like. If that suits you, then don't be afraid of using the regular expression builder ⁸⁷ that is built into Emacs. Bulk marked file operations include additionally copying, deleting, creating hard links to, renaming, modifying the mode, owner, and group information, changing the timestamp, listing the marked files, compressing them, decrypting, verifying and signing, loading or byte compiling them (Lisp files).

    g updates the current buffer; s orders the listing by alpha or datetime.

    find-name-dired beings the results back into Dired, which is nifty.

    Wdired lets you modify files directly via the UI, which is interesting. Image-Dired lets you do just that.

    = creates a new directory. dired-copy-filename-as-kill stores the list of files you have selected in the kill ring. dired-compare-directories lets you perform all sorts of directory comparisons, a handly tool that you need once in a while but definitely do need.

    (setq dired-listing-switches "-alh")
    (setq dired-recursive-deletes  +1)
    (require 'dired-details+)
    (setq-default dired-details-hidden-string "")
    

11. Save history of all things ^{88 , 89 , 90}
    

    It is nice to have commands and their history saved so that every time you get back to work, you can just re-run stuff as you need it. It isn't a radical feature, it is just part of a good user experience.

    (setq savehist-file "~/.emacs.d/savehist")
    (savehist-mode +1)
    (setq savehist-save-minibuffer-history +1)
    (setq savehist-additional-variables
          '(kill-ring
            search-ring
            regexp-search-ring))
    

12. Code folding ^{91 , 92}
    

    Code folding really isn't a hugely important function. You just use it once in a while and you notice it when you don't have it. For years I used this ⁹³ and it is fine, but I figured I ought to stick with a more feature rich option, just to give it a try. Here are some of the other options: ^{94, 95, 96, 97}. If you know org-mode, then using that style of control makes it easier to use then the built in bindings.

    (setq hs-hide-comments-when-hiding-all +1)
    (setq hs-isearch-open t)
    (require 'hideshow-org)
    ; Displaying overlay content in echo area or tooltip
    (defun display-code-line-counts (ov)
          (when (eq 'code (overlay-get ov 'hs))
            (overlay-put ov 'help-echo
                         (buffer-substring (overlay-start ov)
                                          (overlay-end ov)))))
    
        (setq hs-set-up-overlay 'display-code-line-counts)
    ; How do I get it to expand upon a goto-line?
    (defadvice goto-line (after expand-after-goto-line
                                    activate compile)
            "hideshow-expand affected block when using goto-line in a collapsed buffer"
            (save-excursion
               (hs-show-block)))
    

13. Copyright ⁹⁸
    

    Copyright management includes only two problems: keeping the near up to date and choosing the right one. The built in functions will insert a generic copyright and also update the year, and that is pretty nice. It would be nice to have something like this ⁹⁹ created, though. Even an OSS license chooser would be nice ¹⁰⁰, but I haven't found a nice option yet.

14. Spellchecking ¹⁰¹
    

    There are two ways to spell-check: run-at-a-time or interactive. Both delegate the actual checking to aspell, ispell, and hunspell. Both styles are quite nice options, and flyspeel will even integrated with compilers to help report those kinds of errors to you, too, but my personal preference for now is run-at-a-time. The taxpayers didn't pay so much to make flyspell have to do all the hard work for me. aspell most UNI*, running ispell from Emacs just does the right thing.

15. Binary file editing ^{102 , 103}
    

    Long ago it was quite common to edit binary files if not for adding lots of cheats to games then to see CAFEBABE written in Java class files (if you can't enjoy either of those things then you are too serious). Hexl mode comes built into Emacs, and it is great to know that it is there.

16. Games ¹⁰⁴
    

    Sometimes you need a break, and you aren't a gamer any more, but that doesn't mean you can't have fun. life and doctor alone will give you something to ponder and practice not taking too seriously.

17. LaTeX ^{105 , 106}
    

    There is great support for LaTeX via AUCTeX and Ebib. For a while I used TeXWorks ¹⁰⁷ and I was and remain very happy with it. Two things drew me back to Emacs for doing TeX primarily org-mode support for Ebib for managing my citation database. There is nothing more to it than that. This secion is a bit bare at the moment, as I will be filling it up as I move back to doing my work here. Perhaps a bigger project is figuring out where XeTeX fits in my future. ¹⁰⁸ RefTeX looks too quite helpful ¹⁰⁹ especially considering how well it seems to integrate with org-mode.

18. Command execution helper ¹¹⁰
    

    When I call commands, I usually end up running the same commands over and over. There are of course keybdings to deal with this, and also command history. What I really prefer though is just being able to type an abbreviation for the command to access it, like org-html-export-to-html for example. Smex makes it happen.

    (require 'smex)
    (smex-initialize)
    (global-set-key (kbd "M-x") 'smex)
    (global-set-key (kbd "M-X") 'smex-major-mode-commands)
    (global-set-key (kbd "C-c C-c M-x") 'execute-extended-command)
    

10.3.3 Application Modes ^{111 , 112}

1. Auto Modes ¹¹³
   

   (setq auto-mode-alist
         (append
          '(("\\.scm\\'" . scheme-mode)
            ("\\.rkt\\'" . scheme-mode)
            ("\\.ss\\'" . scheme-mode)
            ("\\.sls\\'" . scheme-mode)
            ("\\.sps\\'" . scheme-mode)
            ("\\.html\\'" . web-mode)
            ("\\.json\\'" . web-mode)
            ("\\.asc" . artist-mode)
            ("\\.art" . artist-mode)
            ("\\.asc" . artist-mode))
          auto-mode-alist))
   

2. All modes
   

   Anything that should always happen goes here.

   (add-hook 'before-save-hook 'whitespace-cleanup)
   

3. Text
   

   (defun gcr/text-mode-hook ()
     (rainbow-mode)
     (turn-on-real-auto-save)
     (fci-mode)
     (gcr/untabify-buffer-hook))
   
   (add-hook 'text-mode-hook 'gcr/text-mode-hook)
   

4. Org ^{114 , 115}
   

   (require 'org)
   
   (defun gcr/org-mode-hook ()
     (fci-mode)
     (gcr/untabify-buffer-hook))
   
   (add-hook 'org-mode-hook 'gcr/org-mode-hook)
   
   (setq org-todo-keywords
         '((sequence "TODO" "IN-PROGRESS" "WAITING" "REVIEW" "DONE")))
   
   (org-babel-do-load-languages
    'org-babel-load-languages
    '((css . t)
      (dot . t)
      (ditaa . t)
      (emacs-lisp . t)
      (js . t)
      (latex . t)
      (org . t)
      (plantuml . t)
      (R . t)
      (scheme . t)
      (sh . t)))
   
   (setq org-confirm-babel-evaluate nil)
   
   (setq org-startup-with-inline-images nil)
   
   (require 'htmlize)
   
   (setq org-completion-use-ido t)
   
   (setq org-footnote-auto-adjust t)
   
   (when (not (string-equal (org-version) "8.2.5h"))
     (display-warning
      'org-mode
      (concat
       "Requirements not met. Expected 8.2.5h. Found " (org-version))
      :emergency))
   

5. Graphviz ^{116 , 117 , 118}
   

   (let ((f (concat (cask-elpa-dir)
                    "/graphviz-dot-mode-20120821.1441/graphviz-dot-mode.el")))
     (if (file-exists-p f)
         (load-file f)
       (warn "Could not locate a lib file for Graphviz support: %s" f)))
   

6. Lispy
   

   (defconst lispy-modes '(emacs-lisp-mode-hook
                           ielm-mode-hook
                           lisp-interaction-mode-hook
                           scheme-mode-hook
                           geiser-repl-mode-hook))
   
   (dolist (h lispy-modes)
     (add-hook h 'rainbow-mode))
   
   (dolist (h lispy-modes)
     (when (not (member h '(ielm-mode-hook)))
       (add-hook h 'turn-on-pretty-mode)
       (add-hook h 'gcr/newline)
       (add-hook h 'turn-on-real-auto-save)
       (add-hook h 'gcr/untabify-buffer-hook)
       (add-hook h 'gcr/disable-tabs)
       ; Adds 3 characters to newlines in org-html-export-to-html
       ; (add-hook h 'fci-mode)
       (add-hook h 'hs-org/minor-mode +1)))
   

7. Emacs Lisp
   

   Make it obvious whether or not it is lexically scoped ¹¹⁹ or not and don't show that message whenever you enter a scratch buffer ¹²⁰.

   (defun gcr/elisp-eval-buffer ()
     "Intelligently evaluate an Elisp buffer."
     (interactive)
     (gcr/save-all-file-buffers)
     (eval-buffer))
   
   (defun gcr/elisp-mode-local-bindings ()
     "Helpful behavior for Elisp buffers."
     (local-set-key (kbd "<f5>") 'gcr/elisp-eval-buffer)
     (local-set-key (kbd "<f6>") 'eval-print-last-sexp))
   
   (require 'lexbind-mode)
   
   (defun gcr/elisp-mode-hook ()
     (gcr/elisp-mode-local-bindings)
     (lexbind-mode)
     ;; https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/emacs/Lisp-Doc.html
     (turn-on-eldoc-mode))
   
   (add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook 'gcr/elisp-mode-hook)
   
   ;; https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Startup-Summary.html
   (setq initial-scratch-message nil)
   

8. Scheme ¹²¹
   

   You should probably only use Geiser, forever. ¹²²

   (require 'geiser)
   (setq geiser-active-implementations '(racket))
   
   (defun gcr/scheme-eval-buffer ()
     "Save and then evaluate the current Scheme buffer with Geiser."
     (interactive)
     (gcr/save-all-file-buffers)
     (geiser-mode-switch-to-repl-and-enter))
   
   (defun gcr/scheme-mode-local-bindings ()
     "Helpful behavior for Scheme buffers."
     (local-set-key (kbd "<f5>") 'gcr/scheme-eval-buffer))
   
   (add-hook 'scheme-mode-hook 'gcr/scheme-mode-local-bindings)
   

9. Javascript ^{123 , 124}
   

   (defun gcr/js-mode-hook ()
     (local-set-key (kbd "RET") 'newline-and-indent)
     (setq js-indent-level 2)
     (turn-on-real-auto-save)
     (fci-mode)
     (gcr/untabify-buffer-hook))
   
   (add-hook 'js-mode-hook 'gcr/js-mode-hook)
   
   ; ln -s ./javascript-mode ./js-mode
   (let ((f (concat (cask-elpa-dir)
                    "/auto-complete-20140208.653/dict/js-mode")))
     (if (file-exists-p f)
         (load-file f)
       (warn "Could not locate a lib file for auto-complete JavaScript support: %s" f)))
   

10. Web ¹²⁵
    

    JSON support is included here, too.

    (require 'web-mode)
    (setq web-mode-engines-alist
          '(("ctemplate" . "\\.html$")))
    
    (defun gcr/web-mode-hook ()
      (whitespace-turn-off)
      (rainbow-turn-off)
      (local-set-key (kbd "RET") 'newline-and-indent)
      (setq web-mode-markup-indent-offset 2)
      (setq web-mode-css-indent-offset 2)
      (setq web-mode-code-indent-offset 2)
      (setq web-mode-indent-style 2)
      (setq web-mode-style-padding 1)
      (setq web-mode-script-padding 1)
      (setq web-mode-block-padding 0)
      (gcr/untabify-buffer-hook))
    
    (add-hook 'web-mode-hook 'gcr/web-mode-hook)
    

11. CSS
    

    (defun gcr/css-modehook ()
      (fci-mode +1)
      (whitespace-turn-on)
      (rainbow-turn-on)
      (gcr/untabify-buffer-hook)
      (local-set-key (kbd "RET") 'newline-and-indent))
    
    (add-hook 'css-mode-hook 'gcr/css-modehook)
    

12. Make
    

    (defun gcr/make-modehook ()
      (fci-mode +1)
      (whitespace-turn-on)
      (rainbow-turn-on)
      (local-set-key (kbd "RET") 'newline-and-indent) ())
    
    (add-hook 'makefile-mode-hook 'gcr/make-modehook)
    

13. Markdown ¹²⁶
    

    Since org-mode exports to just about everything; my Markdown usage will be mostly limited to working with files on Github.

    (autoload 'markdown-mode "markdown-mode"
       "Major mode for editing Markdown files" t)
    
    (add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("README\\.md\\'" . gfm-mode))
    

10.3.4 Diagramming, UML creation, Workflow

1. Setup
   

   (setq org-ditaa-jar-path "~/java/jar/ditaa0_9.jar")
   

10.5.1 Control Files

alias clear recenter 0
alias d 'dired $1'
alias g git $*
alias gb git branch $*
alias gco git checkout $*
alias gpom git push origin master
alias gst git status
alias la ls -lha $*
alias ll ls -lh $*
alias s ssh $*
alias top proced

10.5.2 Config ^{137 , 138}org-

(setq eshell-prefer-lisp-functions nil
      eshell-cmpl-cycle-completions nil
      eshell-save-history-on-exit t
      eshell-cmpl-dir-ignore "\\`\\(\\.\\.?\\|CVS\\|\\.svn\\|\\.git\\)/\\'")

(eval-after-load 'esh-opt
  '(progn
     (require 'em-cmpl)
     (require 'em-prompt)
     (require 'em-term)
     (setenv "PAGER" "cat")
     (add-hook 'eshell-mode-hook
               '(lambda () (message "Entering Eshell…")))
     (add-to-list 'eshell-visual-commands "ssh")
     (add-to-list 'eshell-visual-commands "tail")
     (add-to-list 'eshell-command-completions-alist
                  '("tar" "\\(\\.tar|\\.tgz\\|\\.tar\\.gz\\)\\'"))))

(setq eshell-prompt-function
  (lambda nil
    (concat
     "[" (user-login-name) "@" (getenv "HOSTNAME") ":"
     (eshell/pwd)
     "]$ ")))

11.1.1 Runtime

(when (or
       (not (= emacs-major-version 24))
       (not (= emacs-minor-version 3))
       (not (string-equal system-type "gnu/linux")))
  (display-warning
   'platform
   (concat
    "Requirements not met. Expected v24.3 on Linux. Found v"
    (number-to-string emacs-major-version) "."
    (number-to-string emacs-minor-version) " on " (symbol-name system-type))
   :emergency))

11.1.2 Cask ¹³⁹

;-*-Emacs-Lisp-*-

(source gnu)

(depends-on "rainbow-mode")

(source marmalade)

(depends-on "real-auto-save")

(source melpa)

(depends-on "color-theme-solarized")

(depends-on "fill-column-indicator")

(depends-on "fuzzy")
(depends-on "auto-complete")

(depends-on "yasnippet")

(depends-on "diminish")

(depends-on "flx-ido")
(depends-on "projectile")

(depends-on "geiser")

(depends-on "smartparens")

(depends-on "undo-tree")

(depends-on "htmlize")

(depends-on "pretty-mode")

(depends-on "lexbind-mode")

(depends-on "web-mode")

(depends-on "expand-region")

(depends-on "dired-details+")

(depends-on "hideshow-org")

(depends-on "markdown-mode")

(depends-on "smex")

(source org)

(depends-on "org-plus-contrib")

(require 'cask "~/.cask/cask.el")
(cask-initialize)