Yes, the rumours are true. Your grumpy blogger, a long-time and generally satisfied Vim user has decided to embrace some fear, turn on EVIL mode and give Emacs a fair evaluation.

To be truthful, I had used Emacs before. Back in 2002 I was using Linux as my working environment and used it because the guy sitting next to me (hi Kemo, wherever you are!) was using it and showed me the basics. All I retained over the years was C-x C-f to load files and C-x C-c to quit.

Over the years I tried all sorts of editors -- Eclipse, JEdit, TextMate, Sublime Text -- before finally settling on Vim and builidng the request muscle memory along with the proper superior attitude.

I also have used PyCharm and PhpStorm because sometimes you need an IDE to help you when you are learning new languages beyond the beginner stage or dealing with a really complicated code base you let spin out of control. Right tool for the right job is a real thing, not just advice that developers who are bitter you don't like the tool they think is "right" give.

Vim is a great modal editor -- really powerful, and has a ridiculous amount of plugins that can extend Vim to make it even more useful. I've been able to get quite productive with it. At the same time, I can also get frustrated with how some stuff seemed really hard to get just right with plugins and how weird Vimscript is.

All the while I would see Emacs stuff bubble up to the surface on Twitter or YouTube would recommend that I watch a video about it. I came to realize that Emacs is very powerful and can do pretty much everything that Vim can do. Plus there is EVIL mode, which allows me to use Emacs with all the HJKL goodness I have come to expect from Vim.

I thought it might be constructive for me to go over my .emacs file as it currently stands and explain my choices. Honestly, it hasn't been that hard a transition using Emacs at this point. Retraining my brain to remember new key combinations is the harder part.

;;; Code:
(package-initialize)

(setq package-archives '(("gnu" . "http://elpa.gnu.org/packages/")
                         ("marmalade" . "https://marmalade-repo.org/packages/")
             ("melpa-stable" . "https://stable.melpa.org/packages/")
                       ("melpa" . "http://melpa.org/packages/")))

All I am gonna say here is that Emacs packaging is interesting.

;;; EVIL mode to help me transition from Vim to Emacs
(require 'evil)
(evil-mode 1)

EVIL mode is a really good Vim emulation mode for Emacs. It allows me to use most of the keystrokes I am comfortable with to move around within Emacs buffers.

;;; Some general settings
(setq make-backup-files nil)
(define-coding-system-alias 'UTF-8 'utf-8)
(setq inhibit-startup-message t)
(set-language-environment 'utf-8)
(set-default-coding-systems 'utf-8)
(set-selection-coding-system 'utf-8)
(set-locale-environment "en.UTF-8")
(prefer-coding-system 'utf-8)

I took these from Some Random Person's Emacs Settings. Mostly it's to make sure we do everything in UTF-8 and to not have my filesystem littered with all sorts of back-up files.

;;; Set up autocomplete
(require 'auto-complete-config)
(setq-default ac-sources (add-to-list 'ac-sources 'ac-source-dictionary))
(ac-config-default)
(global-auto-complete-mode t)

Autocompletition that works! Before you get all mad, I have used autocompletion in Vim for a long time but sometimes it wouldn't quite work properly. I have found Emacs autocomplete to be programming language sensitive, something I did not notice happening in Vim.

;;; YaSnippet
(yas-global-mode 1)

YASnippet is an Emacs mode that allows you to create language-specific templates to allow you to quickly generate code for things like for loops or if-then statements.

;;; PHP settings
(require 'php-mode)
(require 'php-auto-yasnippets)
(define-key php-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-y") 'yas/create-php-snippet)
(payas/ac-setup)
(setq php-auto-yasnippet-php-program "/Users/chartjes/.emacs.d/Create-PHP-YASnippet.php")

Still gotta do PHP work despite all my Python QA work! The PHP mode is pretty solid, and I like being able to generate snippets for my work. Remember kids, we only have so many keystrokes in our fingers.

;;; Some file mappings
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.md\\'" . markdown-mode))
(add-to-list 'auto-mode-alist '("\\.py\\'" . python-mode))

Just telling Emacs what file endings map to what languages. Some programming-language modes can figure this out, Emacs wanted me to be specific about Markdown and Python

;;; Modeline
(defvar sml/theme)
(setq sml/theme 'powerline)
(sml/setup)

If you're a Vim user who liked a cool status line? Check out smart-mode-line

;;; Flycheck
(require 'flycheck)
(global-flycheck-mode t)
(setq flycheck-phpcs-standard "psr2")
(add-to-list 'flycheck-disabled-checkers 'python-pylint)
(add-hook 'python-mode-hook #'flycheck-mode)
(add-hook 'python-mode-hook
      (lambda () (flycheck-select-checker 'python-flake8)))
(require 'flycheck-color-mode-line)
(eval-after-load "flycheck"
  '(add-hook 'flycheck-mode-hook 'flycheck-color-mode-line-mode))

Flycheck will do on-the-fly syntax checking of your code. Just hook into the proper modes and you'll be good to go. Works great with PHP code too.

;;; JEDI autocompletion for Python
(add-hook 'python-mode-hook 'jedi:setup)
(defvar jedi:complete-on-dot)
(setq jedi:complete-on-dot t)

JEDI is a cool tool for doing Python-specific static analysis and syntax checking for your Python code. Highly recommend it.

;;; Mageit for Git
(require 'magit)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-x g") 'magit-status)

The only Emacs mode you will ever need to do work with Git

;;; Elm-specific settings
(require 'elm-mode)

Maybe one day I can do Elm for money.

;;; We will also need web mode stuff
(require 'web-mode)
(setq web-mode-ac-sources-alist
  '(("php" . (ac-source-yasnippet ac-source-php-auto-yasnippets))
    ("html" . (ac-source-emmet-html-aliases ac-source-emmet-html-snippets))
    ("css" . (ac-source-css-property ac-source-emmet-css-snippets))))
(add-hook 'web-mode-before-auto-complete-hooks
          '(lambda ()
             (let ((web-mode-cur-language
                    (web-mode-language-at-pos)))
               (if (string= web-mode-cur-language "php")
                   (yas-activate-extra-mode 'php-mode)
                 (yas-deactivate-extra-mode 'php-mode))
               (if (string= web-mode-cur-language "css")
                   (setq emmet-use-css-transform t)
                 (setq emmet-use-css-transform nil)))))

Web mode is intended to make working with web-centric languages easier in that it can recoginze when you have HTML and CSS code mixed in with your scripting language of choice, applying different syntax highlighting and styling rules to them. Really neat stuff

;;; Python settings
(require 'virtualenvwrapper)
(venv-initialize-interactive-shells)
(setq venv-location '("/Users/chartjes/Kinto/kinto-integration-tests/venv-kit"))

Did I mention that you can make Emacs aware of virtual Python environments?

;;; Settings for Corral (surrounding text with stuff)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-9") 'corral-parentheses-backward)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-0") 'corral-parentheses-forward)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-[") 'corral-brackets-backward)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-]") 'corral-brackets-forward)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-{") 'corral-braces-backward)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-}") 'corral-braces-forward)
(global-set-key (kbd "M-\"") 'corral-double-quotes-forward)

I have relied heavily on surround.vim in the past, Corral seems to be a great solution to do the same thing in Emacs.

So there you have it! My early experiences with Emacs are good, I am slowly learning new keystrokes to do new things and trying to get Emacs to intelligently help me be a better developer.