Tag: Lisp

org-ref for delightful LaTeX citation management in org-mode

Having avoided setting up a nice LaTeX/BiBTeX build chain in org-mode, and instead leaving it all to the latter, it was wonderful to watch this overview of org-ref. There is a lot of discussion on the org list about different folks workflows. This looks like a really, really nice one with org-ref.

3 articles on Dired that every Emacs user must read

This post will send you to these 3 other posts. Cherish the experience of reading these exquisite expositions of the power of Dired mode. Simply reading them will immediately illuminate the part of your mind that used to say things like “What is the big deal about Dired? I’ll just use Finder/Explorer instead… it is the same thing”. It isn’t. It is better. It is so, so powerful and you will love it after reading those 3 articles.

Line snippet helper for posting code

On the org list there are a few ways that people post code indicate the start and end of that code. This is my version that might work in any mode:

(defun gcr/insert-noticeable-snip-comment-line ()
  "Insert a noticeable snip comment line (NSCL)."
  (interactive)
  (if (not (bolp))
      (message "I may only insert a NSCL at the beginning of a line.")
    (let ((ncl (make-string 70 ?✂)))
      (newline)
      (previous-line)
      (insert ncl)
      (comment-or-uncomment-region (line-beginning-position) (line-end-position)))))

ADDENDUM: 2014-06-22T10:18:59-0500: Added newline first

Only use in-line footnotes unless your document is very very small

Footnotes in org-mode are really, really great. Before you really get into using them, take a bit of time to think about how you want to use them.
If you have 5 footnotes or less, then don’t think anymore about it. If more then read on.
This topic is not unique to org first of all, it just isn’t something that you consider much until it is too late. Once you get into the org lifecycle, you start tossing and slinging document and code fragments with ease, especially while refactoring. This is all find and well, until you realize that your footnotes will be left sad and alone, abandoned for some cruel fate. In particular, it will break your document.
The better way is to define them all in-line; that will allow simple and easy refactoring in a quite pleasant manner.
Forgot a key point, as I only revisited this today: also generate random IDs. The kind folks in the org community on-list explained this to me. That prevents name collisions. Here is what you need:

(setq org-footnote-define-inline +1)
(setq org-footnote-auto-label 'random)
(setq org-footnote-auto-adjust nil)

ADDENDUM: 2014-06-22T09:07:09-0500
As FUCO1 pointed out, there was something wrong with my approach as I was still using randomly generated IDs. That was my intent. What I wanted was in-line and still reference-able footnote definitions, but without adding them to the Footnote section/heading. After reading the code, I see now the right setting; it was the above plus no auto-adjusting the footnotes. I just updated the code to correct that.

Emacs Lisp programmers must know about pcase

Pattern matching is available in a bunch of programming languages. For some reason, I never thought to look for a library in Emacs Lisp for it, and it is here in pcase.
There is this weird thing that happens when you start using Emacs Lisp. Unlike other languages where you start learning it for “its great features”, most of us only learned it to configure Emacs. Because of this, our brains kind of turn off when it comes to using the language. Or perhaps instead, our expectations change. They are just, lower, and it makes our minds slower. That is why you see so many posts like “if you are programming Emacs Lisp then you must…”.