From d8c39e8c3750a5ca932f659f6de40a2755267743 Mon Sep 17 00:00:00 2001 From: Sacha Chua Date: Fri, 19 Mar 2021 00:15:48 -0400 Subject: Update 26 main --- ...chooler-how-it-changed-my-life--pierce-wang.vtt | 490 +++++++++++++++++++++ 1 file changed, 490 insertions(+) create mode 100644 2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--26-emacs-as-a-highschooler-how-it-changed-my-life--pierce-wang.vtt (limited to '2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--26-emacs-as-a-highschooler-how-it-changed-my-life--pierce-wang.vtt') diff --git a/2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--26-emacs-as-a-highschooler-how-it-changed-my-life--pierce-wang.vtt b/2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--26-emacs-as-a-highschooler-how-it-changed-my-life--pierce-wang.vtt new file mode 100644 index 00000000..f4a8cc83 --- /dev/null +++ b/2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--26-emacs-as-a-highschooler-how-it-changed-my-life--pierce-wang.vtt @@ -0,0 +1,490 @@ +WEBVTT + +00:00:01.360 --> 00:00:05.200 +Hello and welcome to my EmacsConf lightning talk. + +00:00:05.200 --> 00:00:09.840 +Today I'll be talking about my journey into Emacs as a high schooler + +00:00:09.840 --> 00:00:14.400 +and how it has changed my life. + +00:00:14.400 --> 00:00:19.520 +Right. So who am I? I am a senior at +Stanford Online High School, + +00:00:19.520 --> 00:00:22.800 +and I am also a violinist. + +00:00:22.800 --> 00:00:25.199 +I started violin when I was two and a half, + +00:00:25.199 --> 00:00:28.560 +and I have been keeping it up ever since. + +00:00:28.560 --> 00:00:30.240 +Violin is a huge part of my life, + +00:00:30.240 --> 00:00:33.360 +and I am very much a musician at heart. + +00:00:33.360 --> 00:00:36.239 +I am also a somewhat capable programmer. + +00:00:36.239 --> 00:00:39.280 +I've done a lot of informal programming in the past, + +00:00:39.280 --> 00:00:45.840 +and this year I'm taking my first AP Comp. Sci. course in my high school. + +00:00:45.840 --> 00:00:51.039 +And so I've done a lot of side projects, + +00:00:51.039 --> 00:00:56.800 +mainly in Python, and some very short scripts in Elisp. + +00:00:56.800 --> 00:00:59.840 +And last but not least, I am a tinker. + +00:00:59.840 --> 00:01:05.280 +I love to play around with things and see what I can do better, + +00:01:05.280 --> 00:01:10.880 +and just have as much fun as possible. + +00:01:10.880 --> 00:01:15.040 +So how did I find Emacs? + +00:01:15.040 --> 00:01:18.880 +I discovered it actually through a talk, funnily enough, + +00:01:18.880 --> 00:01:23.947 +at a Vim conference given by Aaron Bieber, titled: + +00:01:23.947 --> 00:01:28.320 +"Evil Mode or How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love Emacs." + +00:01:28.320 --> 00:01:31.439 +I watched that talk a couple times over, + +00:01:31.439 --> 00:01:35.759 +just marveling at all the wonderful things that he could do in Emacs. + +00:01:35.759 --> 00:01:38.799 +And being a previous Vim user myself, + +00:01:38.799 --> 00:01:42.399 +I found it very enticing to be able to have + +00:01:42.399 --> 00:01:47.040 +the evil-mode package and very quickly switch to Emacs. + +00:01:47.040 --> 00:01:49.680 +At the time, I was also in my sophomore year, + +00:01:49.680 --> 00:01:56.320 +and so I had had a sort of a note-taking system +in the past. + +00:01:56.320 --> 00:02:01.680 +But it was not good, and I needed a more organized note-taking system. + +00:02:01.680 --> 00:02:04.240 +My parents had suggested paper for a while, + +00:02:04.240 --> 00:02:09.759 +and there was the whole organization part of that, + +00:02:09.759 --> 00:02:12.080 +but that did not really work out for me. + +00:02:12.080 --> 00:02:16.239 +And so I was trying to find this better note-taking system, + +00:02:16.239 --> 00:02:19.440 +and it was very hard. + +00:02:19.440 --> 00:02:23.520 +I had two main criteria which I did not define at the time, + +00:02:23.520 --> 00:02:26.640 +but I realized was really what I was looking for. + +00:02:26.640 --> 00:02:29.599 +First of all, it had to be flexible enough, + +00:02:29.599 --> 00:02:33.680 +and second of all, I had to have control over the data. + +00:02:33.680 --> 00:02:36.239 +And so through this process, + +00:02:36.239 --> 00:02:41.920 +I actually went through a bunch of note-taking softwares rather systematically. + +00:02:41.920 --> 00:02:47.519 +I went through Google Docs, which very much did not work out. + +00:02:47.519 --> 00:02:52.080 +I also went through Evernote which also was not great for me, + +00:02:52.080 --> 00:02:55.200 +and OneNote, which I settled on for a little while, + +00:02:55.200 --> 00:02:58.800 +but it did not meet these criteria, + +00:02:58.800 --> 00:03:00.879 +particularly the second one. + +00:03:00.879 --> 00:03:03.840 +I had taken some notes and I wanted to export it, + +00:03:03.840 --> 00:03:07.519 +and OneNote did not let me do that. + +00:03:07.519 --> 00:03:12.000 +It was PDF. Horribly-organized PDF. + +00:03:12.000 --> 00:03:17.440 +And that's when I knew I needed some change. + +00:03:17.440 --> 00:03:21.519 +So I discovered Emacs through this talk, + +00:03:21.519 --> 00:03:27.040 +and through the wonderful features of Org Mode. + +00:03:27.040 --> 00:03:30.080 +This is my first journal entry in Emacs. + +00:03:30.080 --> 00:03:34.000 +I had been playing with it for one day, + +00:03:34.000 --> 00:03:35.760 +and I was on the Org Agenda, + +00:03:35.760 --> 00:03:38.159 +and I happened to press I, + +00:03:38.159 --> 00:03:43.040 +which for the Emacs keybinding is the default for diary entry. + +00:03:43.040 --> 00:03:45.440 +I was very excited. + +00:03:45.440 --> 00:03:50.239 +I shouldn't stay on the slide too long lest you read it. + +00:03:50.239 --> 00:03:53.760 +So let's move on to the next one. + +00:03:53.760 --> 00:03:57.200 +So the learning curve for me, I think, + +00:03:57.200 --> 00:04:00.480 +particularly being an ex-Vim user, + +00:04:00.480 --> 00:04:03.760 +evil-mode made it very easy to switch. + +00:04:03.760 --> 00:04:07.439 +Thankfully, there was the Emacs reference sheet, + +00:04:07.439 --> 00:04:16.160 +and having evil-mode to switch between texts... + +00:04:16.160 --> 00:04:17.919 +Whether it be editing a text file, + +00:04:17.919 --> 00:04:21.600 +or going to other parts of just Emacs in general, + +00:04:21.600 --> 00:04:25.520 +I think Vim really helped with making me feel comfortable + +00:04:25.520 --> 00:04:28.000 +within this new environment. + +00:04:28.000 --> 00:04:32.160 +So, having that experience, I also wasn't new + +00:04:32.160 --> 00:04:33.759 +to the keybind-based world. + +00:04:33.759 --> 00:04:36.320 +I have been very comfortable with the computer + +00:04:36.320 --> 00:04:40.160 +and the keyboard for most of my life, + +00:04:40.160 --> 00:04:45.520 +and so it was not a totally new environment for me. + +00:04:45.520 --> 00:04:49.360 +I also spent a lot of time looking at the Emacs reference sheet, + +00:04:49.360 --> 00:04:54.720 +Just thinking about trying to find all of the different functions. + +00:04:54.720 --> 00:04:58.720 +If I didn't know what something was, then I queried it in Emacs, + +00:04:58.720 --> 00:05:01.199 +and then I figured out what it was. + +00:05:01.199 --> 00:05:05.600 +And that was one of the best ways for me to discover + +00:05:05.600 --> 00:05:09.360 +all of the capabilities of Emacs. + +00:05:09.360 --> 00:05:12.800 +Thirdly, of course, the self-documenting feature + +00:05:12.800 --> 00:05:17.120 +or nature of Emacs and narrowing frameworks such as helm + +00:05:17.120 --> 00:05:21.360 +really helped find things, especially for M-x. + +00:05:21.360 --> 00:05:25.919 +For a while, I was just... + +00:05:25.919 --> 00:05:30.720 +I would go about my day, and if I pressed a keybind that I didn't know what it did, + +00:05:30.720 --> 00:05:37.039 +I would do the lossage and see the list of keybinds that I had pressed + +00:05:37.039 --> 00:05:43.039 +and tried to find that one, and query the function and what not. + +00:05:43.039 --> 00:05:48.160 +So yeah. And now we jump to now. + +00:05:48.160 --> 00:05:53.280 +So there is at least one moment in each day when I think + +00:05:53.280 --> 00:05:55.600 +how would I live without Emacs, + +00:05:55.600 --> 00:05:59.120 +particularly now during my senior year in high school. + +00:05:59.120 --> 00:06:04.880 +Things are very busy with school, violin, and other side projects. + +00:06:04.880 --> 00:06:12.720 +It's pretty crazy, and so Emacs and Org Mode has really helped me stay + +00:06:12.720 --> 00:06:14.479 +on track with everything. + +00:06:14.479 --> 00:06:16.319 +And the flexibility of these software + +00:06:16.319 --> 00:06:19.919 +is being able to have things in different files, + +00:06:19.919 --> 00:06:21.600 +notes within the tasks, + +00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:25.840 +all of that stuff has been truly a lifesaver. + +00:06:25.840 --> 00:06:28.400 +And so I think I can confidently say + +00:06:28.400 --> 00:06:35.280 +that I have found Emacs to be the perfect software for me + +00:06:35.280 --> 00:06:38.639 +over the past two years of using Emacs. + +00:06:38.639 --> 00:06:42.240 +Now it is about two years and two months. + +00:06:42.240 --> 00:06:45.039 +I have built a fairly well organized + +00:06:45.039 --> 00:06:49.520 +2000+ line Org literate config. + +00:06:49.520 --> 00:06:53.840 +I actually started with an Elisp config, + +00:06:53.840 --> 00:06:56.800 +just the vanilla Emacs with evil-mode, + +00:06:56.800 --> 00:06:59.039 +and I built it up from there. + +00:06:59.039 --> 00:07:02.400 +Eventually I switched to Org literate configs, + +00:07:02.400 --> 00:07:05.840 +and used that to organize the snippets + +00:07:05.840 --> 00:07:08.639 +that I was putting in there. + +00:07:08.639 --> 00:07:14.000 +So yeah, this is really my workflow now. + +00:07:14.000 --> 00:07:18.960 +Currently about 90% of everything I do on my computer is in Emacs. + +00:07:18.960 --> 00:07:21.360 +The most notable things, of course-- + +00:07:21.360 --> 00:07:25.280 +the list is far too long to put on one slide-- + +00:07:25.280 --> 00:07:28.160 +but I do a lot of my programming in Emacs, + +00:07:28.160 --> 00:07:31.280 +mainly Python and Elisp. + +00:07:31.280 --> 00:07:33.199 +Because of my AP Comp. Sci. class, + +00:07:33.199 --> 00:07:35.199 +I have to do Java as well, + +00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:41.840 +and thank goodness Emacs has wonderful support for that as well. + +00:07:41.840 --> 00:07:45.840 +Also, I do all of my school assignments, + +00:07:45.840 --> 00:07:47.840 +more or less, in Emacs. + +00:07:47.840 --> 00:07:51.919 +Essay writing I do in Org Mode, and I have some template files, + +00:07:51.919 --> 00:07:55.039 +template Org files which I just include at the top, + +00:07:55.039 --> 00:08:01.440 +and then I can export easily to LaTeX and a beautiful PDF. + +00:08:01.440 --> 00:08:03.440 +Math, physics, same thing. + +00:08:03.440 --> 00:08:09.599 +LaTeX fragments are a lifesaver, and also really pretty. + +00:08:09.599 --> 00:08:13.199 +I take notes on basically everything. + +00:08:13.199 --> 00:08:15.120 +At first, I had things separate, + +00:08:15.120 --> 00:08:19.680 +and then I started sort of putting it all into one notes.org file, + +00:08:19.680 --> 00:08:22.479 +or most of it into one file, + +00:08:22.479 --> 00:08:24.960 +and that has actually worked out surprisingly well, + +00:08:24.960 --> 00:08:30.442 +especially with all the searching +features of agenda and what not. + +00:08:30.442 --> 00:08:33.440 +And I also use mail. + +00:08:33.440 --> 00:08:37.680 +I recently made the switch, probably about one or two months ago, + +00:08:37.680 --> 00:08:42.399 +and it has been one of the best switches I've ever had, + +00:08:42.399 --> 00:08:47.839 +especially given connecting to tasks all of this wonderful stuff. + +00:08:47.839 --> 00:08:54.160 +Just putting even more in Emacs is always a good thing, I found. + +00:08:54.160 --> 00:08:56.959 +So reflecting back on my journey, + +00:08:56.959 --> 00:08:59.600 +I think one of the most important things + +00:08:59.600 --> 00:09:01.440 +was just having a reason to use it. + +00:09:01.440 --> 00:09:06.080 +When I came to Emacs I had something that I was looking for, + +00:09:06.080 --> 00:09:09.839 +and as soon as I found it, I delved right in, + +00:09:09.839 --> 00:09:12.720 +and I started using it for that thing. + +00:09:12.720 --> 00:09:16.240 +So I was sort of forced to take the time to read the docs + +00:09:16.240 --> 00:09:20.880 +and figure out what functions I needed to function + +00:09:20.880 --> 00:09:25.839 +and how I was going to put my workflow, + +00:09:25.839 --> 00:09:30.399 +and also, of course, the desire to tinker. + +00:09:30.399 --> 00:09:35.839 +So, really, what's next for me is just wanting to become + +00:09:35.839 --> 00:09:38.640 +a more active member of the Emacs community. + +00:09:38.640 --> 00:09:40.959 +I want to give back, and I think this talk + +00:09:40.959 --> 00:09:43.760 +is sort of the first step to that + +00:09:43.760 --> 00:09:46.399 +being a more active part of this community + +00:09:46.399 --> 00:09:52.720 +that has, indirectly, perhaps, but just really helped me + +00:09:52.720 --> 00:09:55.839 +become a better and more organized human being. + +00:09:55.839 --> 00:10:00.240 +I have some package ideas that I'm slowly working on, + +00:10:00.240 --> 00:10:05.920 +and yeah, I just hope to spread the word. + +00:10:05.920 --> 00:10:09.360 +So thank you very much for listening to my lightning talk. + +00:10:09.360 --> 00:10:11.360 +If you'd like to contact me here are + +00:10:11.360 --> 00:10:14.800 +three modes of or two modes of communication. + +00:10:14.800 --> 00:10:17.600 +I will be on IRC more soon, + +00:10:17.600 --> 00:10:22.079 +and you can always email me if you have any questions. + +00:10:22.079 --> 00:10:25.519 +You can also search me on Youtube: Pierce Wang violin. + +00:10:25.519 --> 00:10:33.040 +Thank you very much and I hope you enjoy the rest of the conference. -- cgit v1.2.3