Re: Proposal for an Emacs User Survey

[Rasmus]

Hi Adrien,

Thank you for putting together the questions.

I think they are some good questions there, although I am not 
quite sure what exactly the “research question” is.  But I guess 
it’s just understanding users broadly...

Adrien Brochard <abrochard@gmx.com> writes:

> ** How would you characterize your use of Emacs? 
>    - Use it for work - I use it for serious "hobby" projects - 
>    I'm just tinkering - I use it for my studies - Other 

I would’t want to limit my choice to one here.  I use Emacs for 
work (when I can) and for hobby projects.

IOW: Multiple choices would be nice.

> ** What do you use Emacs for? 
>     - Software development - Research writing - Data science - 
>     Writing - Other 

As above.

> ** What OS do you primary use? 
>     - Linux - Windows - MacOS - BSD - Other 

As above.

> ** Describe your configuration 
>    - I am using vanilla emacs (little to no configuration).  - 
>    Custom configuration - Spacemacs - 
>    https://github.com/syl20bnr/spacemacs - Doom Emacs - 
>    https://github.com/hlissner/doom-emacs - Prelude - 
>    https://github.com/bbatsov/prelude - purcell emacs.d - 
>    https://github.com/purcell/emacs.d - magnars emacs.d - 
>    https://github.com/magnars/.emacs.d - Emacs Starter Kit - 
>    https://github.com/eschulte/emacs-starter-kit - oh-my-emacs - 
>    https://github.com/xiaohanyu/oh-my-emacs - Better Defaults - 
>    https://github.com/technomancy/better-defaults - Graphene - 
>    https://github.com/rdallasgray/graphene - ohai-emacs - 
>    https://github.com/bodil/ohai-emacs - ergoemacs-mode - 
>    https://github.com/ergoemacs/ergoemacs-mode - Rho Emacs - 
>    https://github.com/GChristensen/rho-emacs - Radian - 
>    https://github.com/raxod502/radian - Centaur Emacs - 
>    https://github.com/seagle0128/.emacs.d - Other 

Well done finding all of those.  I haven’t heard of most of those.

> ** What keybindings do you use? 
>    -  Emacs defaults -  Evil/Spacemacs/Doom-Emacs (all the 
>    vim-likes) -  CUA-mode -  God-mode -  Boon -  Xah-Fly-Keys - 
>    Custom modal (ryo-modal, etc) -  Custom modifiers (Emacs from 
>    scratch) -  Other 

It may also be interesting to ask which keybinding you initially 
used.
I would guess a lot of people started with CUA and moved to 
vanilla keybindings.

> ** Prior to using Emacs what was your primary editor? 
>    - VIM - VScode - Eclipse - Notepad++ - Sublime - Intelij - 
>    Other 

None/don’t know? (I used TeXnicCenter but it is hardly an editor).

> ** How do you manage third-party elisp? 
>     - built-in package.el - Spacemacs does it for me - 
>     straight.el - borg - leaf - el-get - Nix - git submodules 
>     without Borg - git subtrees - git clones - guix - quelpa - 
>     cask - No third-party deps - other 

Again, I’m impressed that you put together such a long list!

> ** How do you get emacs packages(if applicable)? 
>     - No repos - Gnu Elpa - Melpa/Melpa Stable - Directly from 
>     the source (e. g. using straight). 

GNU ELPA is configured by default so is no repos necessary?

> ** Can you list some of your favorite package? 
>
> ** What package do you use for error checking? 
>    - Flymake - Flycheck - None 
>
> ** Do you use TRAMP? 
>
> ** DO you use Magit? 

What is the purpose of this question?  There are many VC programs 
and Magit can only be used for git.  So if we care about “do you 
control VC from Emacs” then the question might not be precise 
enough. 

> ** Do you use shell/terminal emulator in Emacs? 
>     - eshell - shell - term - ansi-term - do not use. 

“None” for consistency?

> ** Do you use mail client in Emacs? 
>     - Mu4e - Gnus - Mut - notmuch - do not use 


“mu4e” and “Mutt” I guess?
And “None” for consistency.

> ** What is your Elisp proficiency? 
>     - Beginner/No knowledge - Basic elisp understanding - 
>     Intermediate - Advanced - Expert 

I would find it very hard to decide here.  Could something like 
this be split into more easily quantifiable choices? Like do you 
know how to use ‘defmacro’?

> ** do you use a language server with lsp-mode? With what 
> languages? 

Maybe mention eglot as well?

> ** Have you ever contributed to GNU Emacs core/Elpa? 
>     - No - No, but I would do that if the process is 
>     changed(e. g. using 
> github pull requests instead of the mailing list, no papers, 
> etc**. 
>     - I do PRs from time to time - I provide PRs regularly - I 
>     am active contributor/maintainer 

Nitpick: would “patches” be more well-understood than PR?

> ** Have you ever contributed to Melpa package? 
>     - No - I do PRs from time to time - I provide PRs regularly 
>     - I am a package maintainer 

Nitpick: I guess you mean something more broad than “melpa” here? 
I guess I should understand it as “non-core packages” or “packages 
not shipped with Emacs” (that’s also not entirely correct as it 
may cover ELPA).

> ** What Emacs community forums have you visited in the past 
> year?  Answers would be things like 
>     - r/emacs - Emacs mailing list - irc - Emacs meetups - I 
>     follow twitter Emacs related accounts - Other 


Maybe include the Emacs stack exchange or does that not qualify as 
a forum?

   https://emacs.stackexchange.com/

It would also be good to have a banner there once the survey is 
“up”.


> ** If there is another survey in 2021, would you be opposed to 
> it containing optional & general demographics questions? 
>    It could include age backets, gender, country or language

Can’t you just put those in and make them optional?

Kind regards,
Rasmus

--
Human: An animal that complicates things more than strictly 
necessary