# emacs-lisp Published articles for emacs-lisp. This is one page of public article previews, not the complete archive. Follow Next page to continue. Summaries are not the original full articles. ## Emacs Lisp: Font Lock for Clojure's Partial DevFeed: [Emacs Lisp: Font Lock for Clojure's Partial]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jay (noreply@blogger.com) Published: 2013-05-15T12:00:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Jay Fields]() Topics: [Clojure](), [Emacs](), [Lisp](), [function](), [Code]() Tags: [clojure](), [code](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [emacs-live](), [function](), [lisp](), [standard-library]() ### AI overview The article explains how to use Clojure mode font locking in Emacs to display the standard Clojure partial function in a single character space while retaining the familiar partial function in the code. ### Source excerpt I love using partial, but I dislike the length of the function name. There's a simple solution, define another function with a shorter name that simply calls (or is) partial. This is exactly what I did in the jry library. I liked the use of % due to partial feeling similar to creating a function using #(), and % having a special meaning inside #(). I thought they tied well together. Unfortunately, there's an obvious problem, things would be very broken if you tried to use the '%' function in an anonymous function defined with #(). Somewhere along the way this issue caused me to stop using jry/%. Using partial is great: it's part of the standard lib, and I don't need to explain it to anyone who joins my team or any future maintainers of the code I write. Still, I want something shorter, and I've always had a background thread looking for another shorter-than-partial solution. While recently contributing to emacs-live I found the solution I was looking for: clojure-mode font lock. The following code can now be found in my emacs configuration. This solution feels like the best of both worlds. My code still uses the function from the standard library, my colleagues still see a function they already know, and 'partial' only takes up one character space in my buffer. The image below is what you'll see if you put the above emacs-lisp in your config. © Jay Fields - www.jayfields.com ## Emacs Lisp: Toggle Between a Clojure String and Keyword DevFeed: [Emacs Lisp: Toggle Between a Clojure String and Keyword]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Jay (noreply@blogger.com) Published: 2013-05-02T14:41:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Jay Fields]() Topics: [Emacs](), [ClojureScript](), [Refactoring](), [Lisp]() Tags: [clojure](), [conversion](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [refactoring](), [ruby](), [string]() ### AI overview This article presents an Emacs Lisp solution for toggling between Clojure strings and keywords, motivated by a refactoring task that required converting multiple Clojure keywords to strings. It also references a video demonstrating the behavior. ### Source excerpt When I was doing a fair bit of Ruby I often used the TextMate's shortcut (Ctrl+:) to convert a Ruby String to a Symbol or a Ruby Symbol to a String. It's something I've periodically missed while doing Clojure, and yesterday I found myself in the middle of a refactoring that was going to force the conversion of 5+ Clojure Keywords to Strings. The following emacs lisp is my solution for toggling between Clojure Strings and Keywords. The standard disclaimers apply - it works on my machine, and I've never claimed to know emacs lisp well. A quick video of the behavior: © Jay Fields - www.jayfields.com ## Emacs Conference DevFeed: [Emacs Conference]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2013-03-04T12:58:00Z Content type: news Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [Lisp]() Tags: [conference](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [event](), [london]() ### AI overview An Emacs Conference is scheduled to take place in London at the end of the month. The free event has available registration and a lineup including Sacha Chua, John Wiegley, Luke Gorrie, Nic Ferrier, and Steve Yegge, with topics including Emacs Lisp. ### Source excerpt The Emacs Conference is happening, it's real, and it will take place at the end of this month in London. Check it out, and register at Emacs Conference Event Brite. It's free and there's still some availability. *It's all about Emacs, and it rocks!* We have a great line-up for this conference, which makes me proud to be able to be there. If you've ever been paying attention when using Emacs then you've already heard those names: Sacha Chua is frequently blogging about how she manages to improve her workflow thanks to Emacs Lisp, John Wiegley is a proficient Emacs contributor maybe best known for his ledger Emacs Mode, then we have Luke Gorrie who hacked up SLIME among other things, we also have Nic Ferrier who is starting a revolution in how to use Emacs Lisp with elnode. And more! Including Steve Yegge! ## CL Happy Numbers DevFeed: [CL Happy Numbers]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2012-11-20T17:20:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Common Lisp](), [Lisp](), [Programming](), [implementation]() Tags: [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [implementation](), [lisp](), [programming]() ### AI overview This article revisits the Happy Numbers problem while exploring an implementation in Common Lisp. It compares approaches for iterating over digits, discusses using loop and setf values, and describes a faster method based on truncate, with references to earlier SQL and Emacs Lisp implementations. ### Source excerpt A while ago I stumbled upon Happy Numbers as explained in programming praxis, and offered an implementation of them in SQL and in Emacs Lisp. Yeah, I know. Why not, though? Today I'm back on that topic and as I'm toying with Common Lisp I though it would be a good excuse to learn me some new tricks. As you can see from the earlier blog entry, last time I did attack the digits problem quite lightly. Let's try a better approach now. ## El-Get 4.1 is out DevFeed: [El-Get 4.1 is out]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2012-08-28T09:43:00Z Content type: release Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [Code](), [Development](), [version]() Tags: [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [error-handling](), [features](), [installation](), [packages](), [release](), [version]() ### AI overview The article announces the stable El-Get 4.1 release for Emacs. It highlights simplified installation and usage, new package recipes, additional configuration options, changes to package setup, and improvements to error handling and edge-case support. ### Source excerpt Please welcome the new stable version of El-Get, the much awaited version 4.1 has now been branched for your pleasure. It's packed with lots of features to make your life easy, comes with a Info documentation book and even has a logo. That's no joke, I found one, at least: Why El-Get is relevant Emacs 24.1 is the first release that includes package.el, and it even allows the user to setup several sources where to fetch packages. Those sources, such as Marmalade, are hosting lots of third party code for Emacs. package.el makes it easy to install (partly) those software. ## M-x recompile DevFeed: [M-x recompile]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2012-06-01T16:45:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [Code](), [Usability](), [Command-line interface]() Tags: [code](), [command-line](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [usability]() ### AI overview An Emacs user adapts the compile workflow by binding a key to M-x compile and using a prefix key to rerun the previous compile command. The article presents an Emacs Lisp workaround and notes ways it could be refined. ### Source excerpt A friend of mine just asked me for advice to tweak some Emacs features, and I think that's really typical of using Emacs: rather than getting used to the way things are shipped to you, when using Emacs, you start wanting to adapt the tools to the way you want things to be working instead. And you can call that the awesome! In this case we're talking about the M-x compile and M-x recompile functions. My friend bound the former to and wanted that C-u f11 do a recompile with the exact same command line as the previous compile command. ## Battle Language à la Marmite DevFeed: [Battle Language à la Marmite]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2012-03-01T13:49:00Z Content type: opinion Language: fr Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Lisp](), [Emacs](), [Common Lisp](), [Erlang](), [Haskell](), [Ruby]() Tags: [article](), [code](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [erlang](), [haskell](), [language](), [languages](), [lisp](), [roots](), [ruby]() ### AI overview The author recounts participating in the Battle Language event at La Marmite, where they presented Emacs Lisp as part of the broader Lisp family. The presentation briefly covered John McCarthy's axiomatic approach and referenced Paul Graham's The Roots of Lisp and its Common Lisp implementation. The event also included discussion of functional and object-oriented languages, including Erlang, Haskell, and Ruby. ### Source excerpt J'ai eu la chance hier soir de participer à la Battle Language à la Marmite, où j'avais proposé de parler de Emacs Lisp, proposition qui s'est transformée en porte-étendard de la grande famille Lisp. J'ai utilisé avec plaisir certains contenu de Lisperati dans ma présentation et je vous recommande le détour sur ce site ! J'ai dans cette présentation très rapide (5 minutes seulement) mentionné l'approche axiomatique de John McCarthy lorsqu'il a découvert le language, on peut en lire un peu plus sur le site de Paul Graham et son article The Roots of Lisp et le code associé, une implémentation du LISP de McCarthy en common lisp. ## Starting afresh with el-get DevFeed: [Starting afresh with el-get]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2011-01-11T15:20:00Z Content type: tutorial Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [Lisp](), [color]() Tags: [add-ons](), [color](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [themes]() ### AI overview The article describes helping a new Emacs user get started with color themes, sensible defaults, and add-ons through a simple 87-line setup using el-get. ### Source excerpt It so happens that a colleague of mine wanted to start using Emacs but couldn't get to it. He insists on having proper color themes in all applications and some sensible defaults full of nifty add-ons everywhere, and didn't want to have to learn that much about Emacs and Emacs Lisp to get started. I'm not even sure that he will Take the Emacs tour. You would tell me that there's nothing we can do for so unfriendly users. Well, here's what I did: ## el-get reaches 1.0 DevFeed: [el-get reaches 1.0]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2010-10-07T11:30:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [Extension](), [Lisp](), [version](), [Users]() Tags: [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [extensions](), [how-to](), [version]() ### AI overview A commentary on el-get reaching version 1.0 and its recipe-based approach to finding, fetching, initializing, and using Emacs Lisp extensions. It compares el-get with ELPA and explains why users may choose it for extensions outside the official archive. ### Source excerpt It's been a week since the last commits in the el-get repository, and those were all about fixing and adding recipes, and about notifications. Nothing like core plumbing you see. Also, 0.9 was released on 2010-08-24 and felt pretty complete already, then received lots of improvements. It's high time to cross the line and call it 1.0! Now existing users will certainly just be moderatly happy to see the tool reach that version number, depending whether they think more about the bugs they want to see fixed (ftp is supported, only called http) and the new features they want to see in ( info documentation) or more about what el-get does for them already today... ## Regexp performances and Finite Automata DevFeed: [Regexp performances and Finite Automata]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2010-09-26T19:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Automaton](), [Regular expression](), [Parser](), [PostgreSQL](), [Perl](), [Ruby](), [Emacs]() Tags: [dfa](), [emacs-lisp](), [perl](), [postgresql](), [regexp](), [regular-expressions](), [ruby]() ### AI overview This article examines regular-expression performance through the lens of finite automata, contrasting NFA and DFA-based implementation techniques. It also discusses PostgreSQL's regular-expression implementation and the author's preference for using awk in some file-searching situations. ### Source excerpt The major reason why I dislike perl so much, and ruby too, and the thing I'd want different in the Emacs Lisp API so far is how they set developers mind into using regexp. You know the quote, don't you? Some people, when confronted with a problem, think "I know, I'll use regular expressions." Now they have two problems. That said, some situations require the use of regexp -- or are so much simpler to solve using them than the maintenance hell you're building here ain't that big a drag. The given expressiveness is hard to match with any other solution, to the point I sometime use them in my code (well I use rx to lower the burden sometime, just see this example). ## Happy Numbers DevFeed: [Happy Numbers]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2010-08-30T09:00:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Lisp](), [Code](), [Emacs](), [function](), [test]() Tags: [article](), [code](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [function](), [lisp](), [test]() ### AI overview The article explains happy numbers, whose repeated sum-of-squares-of-digits process either reaches 1 or enters a cycle. It describes implementations of the calculation in Emacs Lisp and a recursive query, including cycle prevention and a reusable function. ### Source excerpt After discovering the excellent Gwene service, which allows you to subscribe to newsgroups to read RSS content ( blogs, planets, commits, etc), I came to read this nice article about Happy Numbers. That's a little problem that fits well an interview style question, so I first solved it yesterday evening in Emacs Lisp as that's the language I use the most those days. A happy number is defined by the following process. Starting with any positive integer, replace the number by the sum of the squares of its digits, and repeat the process until the number equals 1 (where it will stay), or it loops endlessly in a cycle which does not include 1. Those numbers for which this process ends in 1 are happy numbers, while those that do not end in 1 are unhappy numbers (or sad numbers). ## el-get and dim-switch-window status update DevFeed: [el-get and dim-switch-window status update]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2010-08-09T13:35:00Z Content type: release Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [Lisp](), [releases](), [bug](), [version](), [Code](), [apt](), [HTTP]() Tags: [apt](), [bug](), [code](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [http](), [releases](), [update](), [utilities](), [version]() ### AI overview This status update reports bug fixes and new releases for the Emacs Lisp utilities el-get and dim-switch-window. It describes asynchronous support changes in el-get, including apt-get, fink, elpa, and HTTP-related fixes, and a display adjustment in dim-switch-window for small windows. ### Source excerpt Thanks to you readers of Planet Emacsen taking the time to try those pieces of emacs lisp found in my blog, and also the time to comment on them, some bugs have been fixed, and new releases appeared. el-get had some typo kind of bug in its support for apt-get and fink packages, and I managed to break the elpa and http support when going all asynchronous by forgetting to update the call convention I'm using. Fixing that, I also switched to using url-retrieve so that the http support also is asynchronous. That makes the version 0.5, available on emacswiki el-get page. ## el-get: Managing and Installing Emacs Packages DevFeed: [el-get: Managing and Installing Emacs Packages]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2010-08-04T20:30:00Z Content type: article Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [Lisp](), [Code](), [Tool]() Tags: [documentation](), [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [packages](), [tool]() ### AI overview The article introduces el-get as a way to maintain a central, readable list of Emacs packages, their sources, and installation details. It explains that el-get can check whether packages are installed and install or configure them, including package loading and feature management. ### Source excerpt I've been using emacs for a long time, and a long time it took me to consider learning Emacs Lisp. Before that, I didn't trust my level of understanding enough to be comfortable in managing my setup efficiently. One of the main problems of setting up Emacs is that not only you tend to accumulate so many tricks from EmacsWiki and blog posts that your .emacs has to grow to a full ~/.emacs.d/ directory (starting at ~/.emacs.d/init.el), but also you finally depend on several librairies of code you're not authoring nor maintaining. Let's call them packages. ## Emacs and PostgreSQL DevFeed: [Emacs and PostgreSQL]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Dimitri Fontaine PostgreSQL Major Contributor; Author Published: 2010-07-22T07:30:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Dimitri Fontaine]() Topics: [Emacs](), [PostgreSQL](), [Open Source](), [free software](), [Code review]() Tags: [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [free-software](), [open-source](), [postgresql](), [stored-procedures]() ### AI overview An opinion piece compares Emacs and PostgreSQL, highlighting their documentation, extensibility, and ability to be modified while running. It also introduces an Emacs linum-mode extension for displaying PostgreSQL-calculated line numbers in PL/pgSQL files. ### Source excerpt Those are my two all times favorite Open Source Software. Or Free Software in the GNU sense of the world, as both the BSD and the GPL are labeled free there. Even if I prefer the The Debian Free Software Guidelines as a global definition and the WTFPL license. But that's a digression. I think that Emacs and PostgreSQL do share a lot in common. I'd begin with the documentation, which quality is amazing for both projects. Then of course the extensibility with Emacs Lisp on the one hand and catalog-driven operations on the other hand. Whether you're extending Emacs or PostgreSQL you'll find that it's pretty easy to tweak the system while it's running. The other comparison points are less important, like the fact the both the systems get about the same uptime on my laptop (currently 13 days, 23 hours, 57 minutes, 10 seconds). ## XEmacs is Dead. Long Live XEmacs! DevFeed: [XEmacs is Dead. Long Live XEmacs!]() Original publisher: [Read original article]() Author: Steve Yegge (noreply@blogger.com) Published: 2008-04-28T11:01:00Z Content type: opinion Language: en Sources: [Steve Yegge]() Topics: [Emacs](), [Lisp](), [Programming](), [Open Source]() Tags: [emacs](), [emacs-lisp](), [fork](), [open-source]() ### AI overview The article reflects on XEmacs, its origins as a fork of the GNU Emacs codebase, and the historical split between XEmacs and FSF Emacs. It argues that discontinuing XEmacs was the right decision at that time. ### Source excerpt "We're going to get lynched, aren't we?" -- Phouchg And you thought I'd given up on controversial blogs. Hah! Preamble This must be said: Jamie Zawinski is a hero. A living legend. A major powerhouse programmer who, among his many other accomplishments, wrote the original Netscape Navigator and the original XEmacs. A guy who can use the term "downward funargs" and then glare at you just daring you to ask him to explain it, you cretin. A dude with arguably the best cat-picture blog ever created. I've never met him, but I've been in awe of his work since 1993-ish, a time when I was still wearing programming diapers and needing them changed about every 3 hours. Let's see... that would be 15 years ago. I've been slaving away to become a better programmer for fifteen years, and I'm still not as good -- nowhere near as good, mind you -- as he was then. I still marvel at his work, and his shocking writing style, when I'm grubbing around in the guts of the Emacs-Lisp byte-compiler. It makes you wonder how many of him there are out there. You know, programmers at that level. He can't be the only one. What do you suppose they're all working on? Or do they all eventually make 25th level and opt for divine ascension? In any case, I'm sad that I have to write the obit on one of his greater achievements. Sorry, man. Keep up the cat blog. Forking XEmacs I have to include a teeny history lesson. Bear with me. It's short. XEmacs was a fork of the GNU Emacs codebase, created about 17 years ago by a famous-ish startup called Lucid Inc., which, alas, went Tango Uniform circa 1994. As far as I know, their two big software legacies still extant are a Lisp environment now sold by LispWorks, and XEmacs. I'd also count among their legacies an absolutely outstanding collection of software essays called Patterns of Software, by Lucid's founder, Richard P. Gabriel. I go back and re-read them every year or so. They're that good. Back when XEmacs was forked, there were some fireworks. Nothing we ha