Is GNU Emacs still worth it?
Seems like with all AI-enabling and just works out of the box experiences with VSCode and alike GNU Emacs is becoming absolete. I’m aware of AI packages for GNU Emacs, but don’t think is worth the investiement so much; I would mostly save it for org mode, TUI, and some other few packages. But for programming, it doesn’t seem lile worth the investlent, and use VSCode instead.
Where I work people have written multiple, dense 4-5 page guides on just how to install and get Microsoft VSCode to run, yet it is tauted as a great out-of-the-box experience.
I don't know how Microsoft manages to woo developers with a yet undeveloped point of view so well, but this too shall pass, I hope.
As a long time Emacs user I am biased, of course.
nyl
Adam SjøgrenM-x doctor.
Copilot’s integration with VSCode is slick. But so were ActiveX plugins back in the day, and any number of other technologies from them. Microsoft isn’t doing this out of the goodness of what passes for a heart. There will be an inevitable enshittification process, one that you can avoid by not getting into their ecosystem in the first place.
On the plus side, I just ask chatgpt to generate code and I copy/paste it and fix it up in emacs. It’s not as slick but it works fine. It’s honestly probably better than being able to just hit enter and accept whatever is generated. I’ve been on a screenshare and seen people hit enter or whatever to accept copilot’s suggestion, and then spend a bunch of time debugging the subtly wrong code because making it that easy meant they didn’t think about it.
Also, it’s only a matter of time before it becomes practical to run your own good-enough model locally and have an Emacs package that integrates with that. The hardware and models are already ready for it, there just needs to be integration work.
Copilot’s integration with VSCode is slick.
Copilot violates a number of licenses, possibly including mine, by mixing other people’s code into yours without giving proper credits.
It’s always nice to see a computer do your work for you. I agree. ;-)
However, GNU Emacs can do that too.
Is it the right tool for every job? Probably not any more, but it’s still the right tool for many.
I have migrated to VSCode for most of my daily dev work because its language support is undeniably better (especially on a corp machine), but I always keep an emacs window open for a whole bunch of different stuff:
I also think this is the way. Glad to know I am not alone. Thank you!
PS: I have a pretty nice and modularized GNU Emacs config, but it’s to me just as Lex we are missing a ton by constraining only on GNU Emacs.
I have migrated to VSCode for most of my daily dev work because its language support is undeniably better
GNU Emacs’s auto-indentation is superb. Nothing comes even close.
it’s a domain specific language
Yeah, but it’s very configurable and has some extensions that have really changed how I work in an editor, that I can completely change the internals for on the fly, which is not a priority for vscode I have no strong attachment to lisp and I agree having to learn it is a con and a time sink, but I’ve done some small extension development for vscode and hated it Nevermind that you already know the language when it’s behind layers of api cruft and a seperate compiler, then the debugger gives you minifed javascript bleh Commercial arguments are a thing, but a bit reductive no? How would vscode extension development help you earn a job that grinding leetcode or that specific role would be better suited for
development
Commercial arguments are a thing, but a bit reductive no?
I meant you’re putting into practice a language/tech that has real and great demand than one that has little to none outside the specific domain of a text editor
@nyl Personally, I'd be going *out of my way* to disable information-leaking features like that.
#Proprietary suggestion & AI engine? No thanks.
@nyl Given that as much I can, I exclusively use #FreeSoftware, that's possible but very unlikely.
There was a #Libre offline translation tool from an EU grant iirc that does seem interesting but I've yet to try it out.
Using AI to substitute for thought is not a good thing for one's capacities.
Using it to substitute boilerplate is the wrong response. The boilerplate-heavy language should be deprecated in favor of something like #CommonLisp where a few macros handle that just fine.
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