Re: GNU Emacs raison d'etre

[xristos]

On Sun, 24 May 2020 15:45:08 +0200, 
Arthur Miller <address@hidden> wrote:
> Yes, indeed,  you are onto something here. It would be nice if there
> were different smaller tutorials, for example one for text, one for file
> managing, one for email etc. I guess everybody could agree with that,
> and probably only reason why it didn't happened yet is because somebody
> actually have to produce those, which is not as trivial as it might
> sound, I guess. There are some floating resources, tutorial-like blog
> posts, some YT content etc. I don't know if Emacs could link to those
> as extra resources etc.

It is important to stress the need for interactivity. Emacs is an
interactive environment and the existing tutorial -aptly- acknowledges
that by also being interactive. Emacs can link to hundreds of additional
resources that don't even come close to having the same impact a more
extensive, _interactive_ tutorial would.

> > That should include familiarization with all introspective commands,
> > configuration and customization, how buffers and processes work, and a
> > practical introduction to Emacs Lisp, including showing IELM and what one
> > can do inside it (e.g. Set working buffer).

> Yeah, a tutorial on help, a tutorial och semantic navigation, a tutorial
> on remote editing, etc. A set of more focused shorter tutorials. But as
> said I am affraid that the problem is that somebody has to put
> voluntarily work into making this, which might take substantial time.

I am bringing this up here to first determine if what I proposed resonates
with others and build some form of consensus. The necessary time & effort
investment can then be more easily justified.

Let me finish by saying that I've been using & programming Emacs daily
for more than a decade, but most of my observations are based on what
I see others come to #emacs on Freenode to ask questions about. It is my
understanding that very few newcomers read the -extensive- Emacs manuals
and even if they do, a lot of them still lack a basic understanding of
the fundamental models (buffers and processes) that Emacs is built on.
And these are the areas that I would suggest be included first (rather
than specialized areas like semantic navigation, remote editing which can
be added later).

It may be helpful to think of the tutorial as a programmable mode that
can be extended by additional libraries. That way, a library author can
provide a mini-tutorial for his library that plugs into Emacs's. But
let me stress that these are secondary considerations and that plenty of
low-hanging fruit can be plucked by simply extending the existing tutorial
to include material that covers the fundamental models of Emacs and provides
a simple interactive introduction to Emacs Lisp and IELM.