Emacs Artist Mode
March 1, 2011 6:33 AM Subscribe
Emacs Artist Mode (screencast) allows you to use the mouse to draw squares, lines, and other shapes in plain text, or even paint. I'm not an emacs user, but I thought this was pretty cool. Even better, you can use an open source Java tool called ditaa to transform ascii text into a full-color graphic. Needless to say, users of other IDEs want this.
God damn it, Emacs, I wish I knew how to quit you. ♥
posted by middleclasstool at 6:41 AM on March 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by middleclasstool at 6:41 AM on March 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
to transform ascii text into a full-color graphic
This will be just the thing I need for my ASCII porn collection.
posted by kersplunk at 6:49 AM on March 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
This will be just the thing I need for my ASCII porn collection.
posted by kersplunk at 6:49 AM on March 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
Awesome. I assume the mouse isn't required, though, since I always run -nw.
Also, caling Emacs an IDE is damning it with faint praise.
posted by DU at 6:54 AM on March 1, 2011
Also, caling Emacs an IDE is damning it with faint praise.
posted by DU at 6:54 AM on March 1, 2011
Emacs vs. vi: LET THE ART DEBATE BEGIN as soon as vi gets cool and does this
"Look at my trogdor!"
"Suck it! I drew a muscley-armed muscleman!"
posted by Askiba at 6:55 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
"Look at my trogdor!"
"Suck it! I drew a muscley-armed muscleman!"
posted by Askiba at 6:55 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Emacs isn't an IDE, it's an operating system that happens to have a text editor.
posted by jenkinsEar at 6:58 AM on March 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
posted by jenkinsEar at 6:58 AM on March 1, 2011 [2 favorites]
Awesome. I find that even after using Emacs daily for 21 years, nary a month goes by without me discovering something useful that I did not know Emacs could do.
posted by bouvin at 7:02 AM on March 1, 2011
posted by bouvin at 7:02 AM on March 1, 2011
Speaking of which, the latest release (2.0.0) of guile can execute emacs-lisp. So maybe GNU can start eating its own dogfood there pretty soon. That'd be nice, since I like scheme all the more after looking as LISP...
posted by DU at 7:17 AM on March 1, 2011
posted by DU at 7:17 AM on March 1, 2011
middleclasstool: "God damn it, Emacs, I wish I knew how to quit you."
Yeah. That was my biggest reason for sticking with vi!
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:21 AM on March 1, 2011 [6 favorites]
Yeah. That was my biggest reason for sticking with vi!
posted by Cat Pie Hurts at 7:21 AM on March 1, 2011 [6 favorites]
I assume the mouse isn't required, though, since I always run -nw.
You can use the mouse in the terminal with xterm-mouse-mode
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:37 AM on March 1, 2011
You can use the mouse in the terminal with xterm-mouse-mode
posted by qxntpqbbbqxl at 7:37 AM on March 1, 2011
I didn't know that. But I actually prefer to be able to click on the window and not move my cursor.
posted by DU at 7:43 AM on March 1, 2011
posted by DU at 7:43 AM on March 1, 2011
Yo, Emacs apologists. There are by this point text editors written in every scripting language. They are all exactly as customizable as Emacs if someone has the time and care.
So instead of praising its customizability, it would make a great deal more sense to praise it for the ways it has been customized. For example, Artist Mode.
posted by LogicalDash at 7:52 AM on March 1, 2011
So instead of praising its customizability, it would make a great deal more sense to praise it for the ways it has been customized. For example, Artist Mode.
posted by LogicalDash at 7:52 AM on March 1, 2011
Yo, Emacs apologists.
Apologists? Was it ever under attack?
posted by Stagger Lee at 8:05 AM on March 1, 2011
Apologists? Was it ever under attack?
Don't feel bad -- it's perfectly normal for victims to feel some sympathy toward their abuser.
I think it's called EscapeMetaAltControlShiftholm Syndrome.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:28 AM on March 1, 2011 [4 favorites]
Don't feel bad -- it's perfectly normal for victims to feel some sympathy toward their abuser.
I think it's called EscapeMetaAltControlShiftholm Syndrome.
posted by Celsius1414 at 8:28 AM on March 1, 2011 [4 favorites]
You know, in the 25 years since the Emacs UI was designed, we've gotten some newer ideas on how to draw graphics. Maybe there's a better tool?
posted by Nelson at 8:33 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
posted by Nelson at 8:33 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Emacs isn't text-based because it is old. Emacs is text-based based because text-based is best. (Where "best" is defined as "optimizing those variables that Emacs users find important, such as speed, over those they don't find important, such as obviousness-to-n00bs".) There is no way you can click, or even click and type, at the same rate I can just plain type.
posted by DU at 8:38 AM on March 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
posted by DU at 8:38 AM on March 1, 2011 [3 favorites]
Nano
You know, Emacs and Vi users might violently disagree over the value of $EDITOR, but there is one thing they universally agree on - EDITOR="nano" is never acceptable.
posted by namewithoutwords at 8:45 AM on March 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
You know, Emacs and Vi users might violently disagree over the value of $EDITOR, but there is one thing they universally agree on - EDITOR="nano" is never acceptable.
posted by namewithoutwords at 8:45 AM on March 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
God damn it, Emacs, I wish I knew how to quit you.
C-x C-c
sorry
posted by LogicalDash at 8:57 AM on March 1, 2011 [13 favorites]
C-x C-c
sorry
posted by LogicalDash at 8:57 AM on March 1, 2011 [13 favorites]
I wonder what else we can fit into EMACS?
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:26 AM on March 1, 2011
posted by Obscure Reference at 9:26 AM on March 1, 2011
Don't feel bad -- it's perfectly normal for victims to feel some sympathy toward their abuser.
I think it's called EscapeMetaAltControlShiftholm Syndrome.
Celsius1414, if Matthowie charged for subscriptions, you'd have yourself a year paid.
Fuck it; I'm coughing up for one anyway. Consider your account paid through 2011.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:52 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I think it's called EscapeMetaAltControlShiftholm Syndrome.
Celsius1414, if Matthowie charged for subscriptions, you'd have yourself a year paid.
Fuck it; I'm coughing up for one anyway. Consider your account paid through 2011.
posted by IAmBroom at 9:52 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
You know, Emacs and Vi users might violently disagree over the value of $EDITOR, but there is one thing they universally agree on - EDITOR="nano" is never acceptable.
Ha, that's the first thing I do whenever I know I'm going to be bounced to the editor. vi is such overkill if all you want to do is edit sudoers, a crontab entry, or a source control commit.
posted by Deathalicious at 10:12 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Ha, that's the first thing I do whenever I know I'm going to be bounced to the editor. vi is such overkill if all you want to do is edit sudoers, a crontab entry, or a source control commit.
posted by Deathalicious at 10:12 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I didn't know that. But I actually prefer to be able to click on the window and not move my cursor.
Take a look at the x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position variable.
posted by harmfulray at 10:17 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Take a look at the x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position variable.
posted by harmfulray at 10:17 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Nano.
Oh good god. You might as well use Notepad or DOS Edit. *shudder*
posted by kmz at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2011
Oh good god. You might as well use Notepad or DOS Edit. *shudder*
posted by kmz at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2011
Is it too much of a derail to ask if there's a variable that has Speedbar default to buffer mode? Damned if I can find it.
posted by middleclasstool at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2011
posted by middleclasstool at 10:42 AM on March 1, 2011
Oh god, all this talk about text editors just reminded me of a huge flamewar way back when in one or multiple groups under comp.os.linux spurred by a guy (who I'm pretty sure was a troll) that wrote a closed-source setuid DOS edit.exe clone. Apparently not only did he not like vi or emacs or pico or the dozens of other alternatives, they were all also too slow to handle his superhuman typing. Which is why he needed to directly access system hardware. Anyway. It was... not well received. (One of the multiple threads on the topic.)
posted by kmz at 11:01 AM on March 1, 2011
posted by kmz at 11:01 AM on March 1, 2011
It was... not well received.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:04 AM on March 1, 2011
Wants a free OS, a free compiler, a free editor that he used to writeThe more things change...
the source for this peice of shit, and free help from a worldwide
community of developers. In return he doesn't give a flying fuck if
what he writes is useful to anyone but him, and actively blocks attempts
to find something that can benefit the community at large in his work,
by not releasing the sources and writing directly to hardware that he
has.
posted by Celsius1414 at 11:04 AM on March 1, 2011
Take a look at the x-mouse-click-focus-ignore-position variable.
Why did this not occur to me? Of course there's an Emacs variable to control this. Of course.
posted by DU at 11:46 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Why did this not occur to me? Of course there's an Emacs variable to control this. Of course.
posted by DU at 11:46 AM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
I try to learn emacs every two weeks. I eventually end up mashing the alt/command key and a lot of others and all of a sudden I have like 30 buffers open with the same text about being a scratch space and then the speedbar appears and disappears at random intervals and then I'm told there is no match for my tab completion but I'm trying to close a "window" which isn't a window (frame?) and then I accidentally change a "face" and everything is black on black and I wonder if this is what hell looks like…
And Then I force quit it and it takes two weeks to overcome the overwhelming feeling of being punished like a little boy by a piece of software. I think Stallman is a masochist. I wonder if you can see the outline of the beard through the vacuumed latex.
posted by Jeremy at 12:37 PM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
And Then I force quit it and it takes two weeks to overcome the overwhelming feeling of being punished like a little boy by a piece of software. I think Stallman is a masochist. I wonder if you can see the outline of the beard through the vacuumed latex.
posted by Jeremy at 12:37 PM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Re: The problem with Emacs
(And even though I will never go back to emacs, this extension is still pretty badass)
vi is such overkill if all you want to do is edit sudoers, a crontab entry, or a source control commit.
Also, what? Anytime I'm forced to use an editor besides vim I feel like I'm wading through molasses. Any text editing task can be improved with vim*.
*Once you know how to use it
posted by Alex404 at 1:19 PM on March 1, 2011
(And even though I will never go back to emacs, this extension is still pretty badass)
vi is such overkill if all you want to do is edit sudoers, a crontab entry, or a source control commit.
Also, what? Anytime I'm forced to use an editor besides vim I feel like I'm wading through molasses. Any text editing task can be improved with vim*.
*Once you know how to use it
posted by Alex404 at 1:19 PM on March 1, 2011
Any text editing task can be improved with vim*.
*Once you know how to use it
Which from another point of view is "Any text editing task can take at least a few hours, if you factor in the few hours it'll take you to learn vim."
I was pretty handy with Emacs back when I was at University - using the same editor every day for 4 years, some things are bound to rub off eventually - but these days when I find myself in need of editing some config file in a non-graphical environment it's nano every time. The keyboard shortcuts for all four things I actually need to do are constantly displayed at the bottom of the screen, can't beat that.
posted by robertc at 4:12 PM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
*Once you know how to use it
Which from another point of view is "Any text editing task can take at least a few hours, if you factor in the few hours it'll take you to learn vim."
I was pretty handy with Emacs back when I was at University - using the same editor every day for 4 years, some things are bound to rub off eventually - but these days when I find myself in need of editing some config file in a non-graphical environment it's nano every time. The keyboard shortcuts for all four things I actually need to do are constantly displayed at the bottom of the screen, can't beat that.
posted by robertc at 4:12 PM on March 1, 2011 [1 favorite]
Also: Yay! Someone else who uses lucidasanstypewriterbold-14 !
I thought I was the only one.
posted by trueger at 6:34 PM on March 1, 2011
I thought I was the only one.
posted by trueger at 6:34 PM on March 1, 2011
Man, I haven't had a good text editor flamewar in like a week.
But seriously: Neat.
posted by brennen at 8:44 PM on March 1, 2011
But seriously: Neat.
posted by brennen at 8:44 PM on March 1, 2011
Nano.
Ed. Ed is the standard.
Note the consistent user interface and error reportage.
posted by hattifattener at 11:52 PM on March 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
Ed. Ed is the standard.
Note the consistent user interface and error reportage.
posted by hattifattener at 11:52 PM on March 1, 2011 [5 favorites]
A lovely mode that one. Always makes people raise their eyebrows in surprise. Or perhaps that's shock.
posted by mdoar at 2:58 PM on March 2, 2011
posted by mdoar at 2:58 PM on March 2, 2011
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Give it a good text editor and you'll really have something.
I keed, I keed.
posted by Joe Beese at 6:36 AM on March 1, 2011 [18 favorites]