dariofad/dot-emacs

My Emacs dotfiles as a programmer and a Japanese learner

dot-emacs

My .emacs.d configuration files.

TLDR:

• little Elisp knowledge required
• use-package macros and only packages from melpa
• Emacs daemon (server) on the background
• LSP (Bash, C/C++, Go, Javascript, Python, Rust, Typescript)
• LaTeX support (with latex-extra, AUCTeX)
• Japanese language support (with mozc)
• utilize native-comp if available
• Debian-based OS
• keybindings optimized for Ergodox EZ layout and Regolith (i3)

TOC

• Some notes about my setup
• How I use Emacs
  • Bash commands
• Features
  • Window Movement
  • C/C++
  • Go
  • Javascript and Typescript
  • Python
  • Rust
  • LaTeX
  • Japanese Input
• Q&A

Some notes about my setup

I mostly spend my day between Chrome, an Emacs frame, and a bash terminal.

There are four reasons why I use Emacs:

• setup shared across separate machines,
• no need to interact with the mouse,
• distraction-free (or focused) editing,
• high productivity independently to the task (writing, coding, activity planning, studying).

I prefer having a minimal and easy to use configuration, and I tend to avoid changing it while working (although playing with Emacs is super fun!). Most of the improvements are made on the days off. So, new features are introduced only if when they are really needed.

How I use Emacs

Everyday, I start Emacs on the background right after boot typing sem in the terminal (see here). On my machine this takes ~2/3 seconds.

There are two options to edit a file:

• sem <PATH_NAME> to open the file with Emacs in a new frame,
• semt <PATH_NAME> to open the file in with Emacs in the terminal window.

To stop Emacs from running in the background, I run kem.

There are ways I update my Emacs configuration:

1. if it's just something I want to tweak right on the spot, I open a new buffer, type some Elisp and then call eval-region. These are modifications that do not persist with a restart of the daemon,
2. if it's something more complex, I edit and save the dotfiles, then restart the daemon running with kim; sem.

Bash functions

Add the following at the end of your .bashrc

# start emacs daemon
sem_start(){
    local sem_echo=$(emacsclient -a false -e 't' 2>/dev/null)
    if [[ $sem_echo != "t" ]]; then
		# start emacs daemon
		$(emacs --daemon)
		local sem_initialized=1
    fi
    if [ -z $sem_initialized ]; then
		if [[ $# -eq 0 ]] ; then
			echo "serving"
		fi
	fi
}

# start emacs daemon and open filename if argument is provided
sem(){
	if [[ $# -eq 0 ]] ; then
		sem_start
	else
		sem_start "silence"
		emacsclient -c $1 & disown
	fi
}

# start emacs daemon and open filename in the terminal window if argument is provided
semt(){
	if [[ $# -eq 0 ]] ; then
		sem_start
	else
		sem_start "silence"
		emacsclient -nw $1
	fi
}

# kill emacs daemon
kem(){
	emacsclient -e "(kill-emacs)"
}

Features

Take a look at some of the features, and don't forget to peek the Q&A!

Window movement

Jumping between windows, switching buffers attached to windows, changing windows layout, jumping to previous points are very important features. I currently rely on ace-window and rotate packages.

Here is how I use them.

Window jumps: M-o 2

Layout rotation: ddrol + Enter, then C-x z

A couple of functions based on registers: C-<f7> and M-<f7>

Cpp

Tips:

• Install clang and clangd on the system
• Verify installation evaluating (executable-find "clangd")
• Configure the file compile_commands.json in the root of your project
• See the sources to get more hints
• Default style set to linux

Go

Tips:

• Install the gopls language server with go install golang.org/x/tools/gopls@latest
• Add the go binary to the PATH and to the list of executables exec-path
• Setup hooks as explained here

Example of jump to definition using LSP: S-l g g, then M-, to jump back

Javascript and Typescript

Tips:

• Install the Deno runtime (see here)
• Deno already ships with a language server, a linter, and a formatter
• Use a tsconfig.json to enable additional options

Python

Tips:

• Install direnv to your host (so that you can use virtual environments)
• Add an .envrc to your project and use a python layout
• Install isort and yapf with pip to automatically sort import definitions and format code
• Open a .py file; lsp-pyright automatically installs the language server if not available (this is currently done via Node.js)
• Look here if you need to work with multiple virtual environments at the same time

Rust

Tips:

• Add standard library code to your toolchain with rustup component add rust-src
• Install rust-analyzer or rls
• You can use rustfmt as formatter

LaTeX

Tips:

I don't use LSP for LaTeX, as AUCTeX works smoothly.

When you work on a complex document split across many source files, you can use variables to set up the environment (see here). This will allow you to run TeX-command-master and TeX-view from any of the source files.

Example of environment configuration

%%% Local Variables: 
%%% mode: latex
%%% TeX-master: "../../../main.tex"
%%% reftex-default-bibliography: "../../../bib/biblio.bib"
%%% End:

Japanese Input

Tips:

• Install Japanese language support on your system
• Install the emacs-mozc program

Example of taking notes in Japanese and English with Org mode: toggle English/Japanese with <f7>

Questions and Answers

I find this setup very practical. In the following there is list of considerations and remarks that may be useful.

• How much time does it take to get used to Emacs? If you are thinking about getting started with Emacs, don't worry too much about the time investment (it should take ~2 weeks to get used to how it works). Try to stick to the default keybindings (you will understand the reason later). Try to use vanilla Emacs (which is indeed very powerful). You don't need Elisp to be productive. Try to adjust your configuration progressively, and apply little changes when you need it. Using Emacs is rewarding.

• Why using a daemon and not separate Emacs instances? Packages are loaded only once, subsequent operations are instantaneous.

• Why use-package? It is super easy to use, and it permits to keep the files tidy and readable. There are powerful alternatives as straight.el, but I don't feel the need to use a package manager yet.

• Why the first boot is slower? The first time Emacs is started all the package archives are fetched, then the packages are compiled and loaded.

• Do you only use packages from melpa and melpa-stable? Yes. When I work on a new machine (or a VM) the setup boils down to creating a symbolic link to my dotfiles and then run the command sem.

• Why package-native-compile? Coding inside a VM with lsp is a bit laggy (especially with Rust). Compiling and installing Emacs with native compilation enabled significantly improves the experience. If native compilation is available, package-native-compile tells the built-in package manager to perform native compilation when installing a package.

• Do you always use Emacs instead of IDEs? Yes, up to now there has been only one exception: Android. AOSP indexing takes a lot of time (Emacs may freeze). Also, app development with Android Studio is easier.

• What about LSP configuration? I tend to rely only on LSP basic functions (again, without changing the default keybindings). In general, I think that language-specific command line tools are more convenient when there is the need to trace, inspect or debug a project. These tools can be neatly arranged into Makefiles recipes, making it easy to reproduce the tests on different hosts, by different devs, and with different setups.

• Why LSP over Eglot? No strong preference. A while ago LSP was easier to setup and provided more functions. Since I don't need all of them to be productive, I think I will try out Eglot after it will be merged into Emacs.

• Why Regolith? Barely no setup cost, and when you need something more advanced, you can directly edit the i3 configuration. I used to be an EXWM user. The daily experience was incredible, but from time to time it required to stop my activies, making me feel a bit unproductive. I no longer have the same integration I had with EXWM, but in case of problem (or when Emacs freezes), I can just do a kim; sem to kill and restart the server instead of the whole session.

• Some commands do not work. There are Emacs packages that rely on external binaries that need to be available on the host (e.g., direnv). In these cases, I just ensure there are no errors at boot time (Emacs installation or startup must not fail even when a binary isn't available). You can find the relevant prerequisite(s) in the comments.

• Updates? I plan to update this public version of the configuration files from time to time. There are many packages that I would like to use in the future, but there is no reason to rush and install them now.

• Some keybindings seem unnatural. That's because I use a split Ergodox EZ with a custom layout.