-(Amin: Alrighty, Leo Vivier, take it away.) -
-Okay, well, thank you, Amin. So you've -
-just had a -
-little roundup of the news, and we're -
-going to get started now with some -
-presentations. -
-We're starting with user -
-developer stories. -
-I was extremely interested in this -
-section because I -
-wanted to get a chance, basically, to tell -
-you a little more about who I am and -
-how I got from basically being a user of -
-Emacs -
-to being nowadays a package -
-maintainer, -
-and maybe more in the future. I don't -
-know. So, -
-just for the organizers, I'm planning to -
-speak for 15 minutes, and I'll have five -
-more minutes of questions at the end. -
-As I told you before, if you want to have -
-questions, you know you can use the pad, -
-and I'll be reading the questions from -
-there. Okay. So -
-hi there, as Amin introduced me before, -
-my name is Leo Vivier. -
-I'm a freelance software engineer -
-in France, and I have been using Emacs -
-now for -
-i believe close to eight years. I can't -
-believe it's been so long. -
-But yes, it's been a journey because, -
-in a way, nothing -
-made me go for Emacs. You know I'm an-- -
-sorry, I was about to say Emacs major, but -
-no, I'm an English major. I went to -
-university to study English literature -
-and linguistics, and -
-I just got started in emacs -
-because I was looking for ways to take -
-better notes. I was looking for ways to -
-[Applause] -
-structure the way I was learning, -
-structure the way I was -
-taking notes. I stumbled one day -
-upon this weird piece of software which -
-was called Emacs, -
-and I've been trapped forever since, -
-basically, because -
-eight years ago, when I discovered -
-Emacs I just couldn't let go. There was -
-just something very -
-interesting about the way you configured -
-your setup, -
-and I just wanted to dive deeper and -
-deeper. -
-So the title is of this talk exactly is -
-how I went from user to package -
-maintainer, and -
-the package now that I'm maintaining is -
-called org-roam. I'm not the only one -
-doing this. -
-I'm helped with many lovely people -
-working on org-roam. -
-I got started as a maintainer -
-only this year, so that means that for -
-the eight years I've been -
-an Emacs user, seven of those years were -
-spent merely being a user -
-trying to be a sponge for knowledge, -
-trying to learn as much as I could. -
-I believe it would be -
-interesting for me to share my story -
-because I believe that I'm far from -
-being the only user -
-who can make the jump to being a -
-maintainer. A lot of you have -
-a lot of knowledge when it comes to -
-Emacs. Some of you -
-are at different steps in your journey. -
-Some of you, for instance, are just -
-starting to copy stuff out of -
-StackExchange -
-into your Emacs configuration. let's -
-say you want to do something very -
-particular -
-and you haven't found a way to do so. -
-You go on StackExchange. You find -
-something -
-that's interesting. You add it to your -
-Emacs configuration. You -
-barely understand anything that's going -
-on. You know that it's supposed to be -
-Emacs Lisp. -
-"I hardly know Emacs and I -
-know even less what is Lisp supposed to be." -
-But you paste it in and it does what you -
-want it to do, and you say -
-"Great, I'll move on to my work now." So -
-that's how I got started. I had -
-a very spartan -
-setup for Emacs, which a lot of you must -
-know... The first time you launch Emacs, -
-you have this feeling that you're jumping 20 -
-years back in time, as far as the -
-user interface is concerned. But -
-as you get to spend more time with Emacs... -
-Some would call it Stockholm syndrome -
-insofar as you can't see -
-how spartan the entire thing is, but it -
-actually is -
-a lovely prison so to speak. -
-That's how I got started eight years -
-ago. I just wanted -
-to find a way to do my research properly. -
-I wanted to have a -
-tool that I could use to write my notes -
-in plain text, because I was already -
-fairly averse to -
-Microsoft solutions when it -
-came to taking notes. -
-So yeah, I got started in emacs. I -
-read a little bit about what plain text -
-was about. Just to be clear, -
-at the time, yes, I was very good with -
-computers, -
-but I was not a computer science student. -
-I had barely any experience with -
-programming -
-and coding, and I was even less of a -
-hacker -
-back then. -
-It just goes to show you that at the -
-beginning, I had close to no knowledge, -
-whether it be about -
-the free software world, whether it be -
-about... -
-Sacha, do you want to say something? (Sacha: just -
-confirming, you're not sharing anything -
-on the screen at the moment, right?) -
-No, I'm not sharing anything, I'm -
-just -
-presenting. -
-So when I started, I had no -
-experience whatsoever. -
-I was just a literature major -
-trying to get better at taking notes. -
-I stumbled upon LaTeX. As many people -
-who stumble upon LaTeX know, -
-you don't just stumble upon -
-LaTeX, you embroil yourself in the -
-turmoil of -
-suffering, of late nights tweaking, -
-so that your document is exactly in the -
-perfect shape you want it to be. -
-Soon after, when I got started with Emacs -
-and LaTeX, -
-I discovered something that truly -
-changed my life, and it was Org Mode. -
-As you'll get a lot of presentations -
-this afternoon about Org Mode, -
-I won't be spending too much time on it. -
-But Org Mode, -
-for me, was a revelation. It's... -
-There was something that, upon reading -
-articles on how to use Org Mode, -
-especially one of the key -
-article that I'd read which really made -
-a huge impact on me -
-was the "Organize Your Life in Plain Text" one -
-which i'm sure many of you must have -
-stumbled upon -
-in your Emacs journey... -
-For me, when I stumbled upon -
-this -
-document, I was starting to get -
-interested in Getting Things -
-Done and -
-all the nitty-gritty stuff about -
-organization and self-organization. -
-It just felt like everything was under -
-my fingertips -
-to make the perfect workflow. -
-There was something incredibly -
-satisfying about -
-having a system that gave you so many -
-options to configure your experience -
-exactly how you wanted. -
-You had this feeling that -
-the people behind Org Mode had thought -
-of everything, -
-whichever small adjustment -
-that you needed in workflow -
-whether it be more states for your -
-TODOs, -
-whether it be, oh, I want my weeks to -
-start on Monday and not on Saturday, -
-oh, it's half past one and I need -
-to... -
-in the morning, I mean, and I need to make -
-sure that the item that i'm marking as done -
-is done for the day before and not for -
-the current day. You see what I'm talking about. -
-So many details that were already -
-present in Org Mode. At first you're -
-really impressed, because you think, -
-wow, they thought of everything, but then -
-you realize that it's just a matter of -
-experience, just a matter of people -
-contributing code, because the -
-development of Org Mode, Emacs, and -
-everything is just -
-open to the public. You know, it's like -
-everything is being done with the garage -
-door opened. You can just -
-go on Org Mode on Savannah and see -
-everything that is being developed. -
-For me, the shift that occurred -
-in my mind was when -
-I was reading all the options, I -
-was looking at all the variables that i -
-could modify for Org Mode, -
-and there came a time, maybe two to three -
-years ago, -
-where I thought, oh wow, -
-maybe for the first time in a while, -
-there is no option for me to do what I -
-want to be doing with Org Mode. -
-I believe at the time the the key -
-issue that triggered this reflex for me was -
-I wanted to do something with the agenda. -
-I wanted to have a super category so, you -
-know, in the... -
-for those of you who know, in your -
-agenda, you have the ability to have many -
-files, and you have the ability to have -
-categories. -
-I wanted somehow to group my -
-TODOs in smaller groups, or bigger -
-groups, I should say, -
-so that, for instance, I could have one -
-group for my professional life, I could -
-have a group -
-for one work, the second -
-work... -
-I could have something for -
-university and all this. -
-I thought, yeah, -
-I think I'd like this. -
-After having spent so long working -
-with Emacs and working with Org Mode, -
-I had some ideas about what was -
-within the realm of possibility and what -
-wasn't. Here I thought to myself, -
-this is definitely something that I can do. -
-And so thus started my journey -
-into the Org Mode libraries. -
-I won't go too much into details right -
-now, because right now, the main objective -
-that I have is just to show you -
-how simple it is to become a maintainer, -
-how to become more involved with the -
-development. -
-The libraries in Org Mode, -
-they're written in Elisp, which is a very... -
-It might seem like an obscure language, -
-and it certainly is, -
-but as soon as you get the logic of the -
-language--and -
-what i'm telling you -
-is coming from someone who's never -
-studied programming-- -
-it made sense. -
-Everything is so verbose when you get -
-into the code. -
-When you learn the rudiments -
-of Elisp, you start getting to the code, -
-and you start -
-thinking, wow, okay that makes sense, -
-and you start developing a logic -
-for all this. -
-So, equipped as I was with this -
-new knowledge, I went on my project, -
-i went into the Org agenda code, -
-and I thought, okay, -
-is there anything that I can use to do -
-my bidding? -
-Fast forward maybe two to three weeks of -
-intense turmoil and many nights which -
-were spent -
-single-mindedly working on this project, -
-two weeks after, I had something that was -
-working, and I was pretty happy about it. -
-That was a key landmark for -
-me, because when that happened, -
-it just felt like, okay, I can contribute -
-something to Org Mode, and I can do -
-something that would benefit as many people -
-as possible. -
-And to me, that was the click. That's when -
-it occurred. That's when I -
-went on my first project and I did something -
-that felt useful to the community. -
-And nowadays, as I told you, I -
-maintain packages, but really, nothing -
-has changed. -
-The only thing, maybe, that has changed -
-that I've turned my mind onto other problems. -
-Maybe I've got three more minutes -
-and I'd like to finish by -
-maybe something a little different. -
-I've told you my Emacs story and -
-I hope I've stressed how little effort -
-it took me to -
-move from steps to steps on the ladder. -
-The ladder implies a sense of hierarchy, -
-but it really isn't. -
-Whatever your step on the -
-journey of Emacs is... -
-Some of you might be at the -
-step where you're really worried -
-about learning Elisp because it feels -
-like such a monumental task to be -
-undertaking -
-and you have no experience whatsoever, -
-but the thing is, -
-maybe you could try climbing this first -
-step on the ladder. Maybe you could try, -
-if you have any project, -
-if you've been using Org Mode, -
-maybe one day you thought, "oh, yes, -
-I wish I could do this but I can't," -
-or maybe do try to do this, -
-maybe do try to change something in a -
-major mode that you're using -
-and which you feel might be better. -
-I think Emacs, Org Mode, and all free -
-software in general -
-has this tendency to give you this idea -
-that I can be a hacker -
-in the sense of the term -
-that you're modifying things -
-to do your bidding. -
-For me, I believe this to be a very -
-healthy attitude towards software. -
-As Amin said in the very beginning, -
-we are doing this entire presentation-- -
-sorry, this entire conference with free software. -
-Just see all the things we've been able -
-to do in free software. -
-For me, Emacs -
-was my gateway, so to speak, -
-into how to contribute to free software, -
-about the philosophy that surrounds it. -
-What I would like to do... I'll finish -
-on this note and then I'll be taking -
-your questions. -
-Just try. -
-You've read on Reddit that you -
-need to go through the Elisp manual -
-in Emacs. You might be scared, -
-but just do it. Just give it a shot. -
-Just give it maybe one afternoon. -
-Try to read it. -
-Try to see if this appeals to your mind. -
-If you've been interested enough in my -
-presentation right now, and if you're -
-interested enough in any of the talks -
-you're going to have during the entire -
-conference, -
-do give it a shot. I'm pretty sure -
-you will like the journey -
-on which you will be embarking upon. So i -
-believe i'm finishing one minute early -
-but I see quite a bit of questions already. -
-I'm not sure. Sacha, should I -
-just be reading the questions, or -
-do you want to be feeding me the -
-questions? -
-(Amin: It's really up to you. it's -
-completely up to you. -
-If you've got the questions -
-open and can take them or read them, -
-by all means please.) -
-Okay, well, I'm going to read them because -
-I've got them on the side. I'm going -
-to start with the one at the bottom. -
-"Do you feel that being a white male -
-contributed to your experience?" -
-Yeah. I mean, I do believe... There's -
-an idea of privilege. I mean, I'm -
-french. I live in... I'm lucky enough to -
-be here -
-at university, okay, and I'm fairly aware -
-of the -
-discrepancies that happen, even in France, -
-according to this... -
-So, yes, I believe my journey -
-was heavily influenced by this. -
-If you would like to specify the -
-question, please do, but I don't have -
-really all that much to ask on this. -
-"What is your advice to start learning -
-Elisp language? Any particularly good -
-resource or any other tips?" I finished -
-um my presentation by telling you about -
-the Elisp introduction which is built into -
-Emacs. What I might do... I'm going to share my -
-screen just to show you -
-how this works. I will be sharing -
-this window. -
-I believe it's frozen on my end, so I -
-can't see anything. -
-i'm not sure if you can see me or if my -
-camera is moving. -
-Okay, so my Firefox is frozen. So i'll -
-answer the question, but I won't be able -
-to show you -
-what I wanted to show you. -
-There's a built-in guide inside Emacs to -
-learn Elisp. -
-Maybe the best chance that you have -
-is just to go open these info pages. -
-I'm sure someone will be kind enough to -
-mention this to you in the #emacsconf channel -
-on IRC -
-but it's probably the best way -
-to get started with Elisp. -
-You know, we tend to get obsessed, with -
-software and with programming, about -
-what's the best way to get started. -
-You see so many people who are -
-heavily interested -
-in getting started with programming but -
-they never managed to get started -
-because there's so much choice. -
-My advice would be to just get started. -
-Don't get so worried about the first step. -
-Well, if I may still recommend the -
-first step, even after saying this, -
-do try to start with the -
-built-in guides. I believe they're pretty -
-pretty good. -
-There was another question. It's -
-the last question that I can read and -
-after that, you will have to read -
-the questions for me because everything -
-is frozen on my end. -
-I hope I'm not frozen -
-in a very bad position so -
-please excuse me if -
-my mouth is open or anything. (Amin: no, we -
-just completely lost the video feed, so -
-no worries.) -
-Oh, splendid, so I won't have to make a -
-fool out of myself. -
-So the last question I wanted to answer was -
-"Have you read Dirk Gently's Holistic -
-Detective Agency?" -
-No, I haven't. I hope it's not -
-a jab at the way i'm dressing for the -
-conference, but yeah, -
-I haven't read it. Was there any -
-other question? -
-(Amin: I see one other question. -
-"Any recommendation for good packaging -
-guides or places to start? -
-i get a bit overwhelmed by some things. -
-For example, the choice of different test -
-frameworks.") -
-Right. Okay. So that's a very good -
-question. I believe -
-alphapapa is in the chat right now. -
-As myself a new lisp developer for -
-org-roam, i'd really recommend you to look into -
-his package developers' guide because you -
-have a list of all the softwares that -
-are extremely useful to be using when -
-you're getting started. -
-If you're looking into a first -
-step for how to develop -
-elast package, i'd really advise you to -
-look into edebug. -
-It's one word, edebug, -
-and you have a section in the manual for this, -
-because for me, it was the key step to -
-getting to -
-develop good packages. It was -
-understanding basically what the code did -
-and having us something like a -
-REPL (read-evaluate-print-loop) -
-that allows you to step through the code -
-and see exactly which states the -
-variables are at which at this point in the -
-program. That's really my biggest advice -
-to you -
-[Music] -
-Any other question? Thanks. Yeah, I see one -
-or two more. -
-So there's one. They ask, "How did the -
-freedom of Emacs help you on -
-your way?" -
-So the freedom of Emacs... I mentioned -
-that Emacs, for me, was my gateway -
-into free software and the freedom of -
-Emacs was that -
-you could maybe... First and foremost, -
-compared to -
-other software, was that you had -
-behind Emacs, -
-Elisp, which allows you to read the code, -
-read whatever is going on in the -
-background. -
-Surely, if you go deep enough, you'll -
-end up on -
-C functions that you might not be able to -
-read if you do not have the experience. -
-But for Org Mode, which was my gateway -
-into Emacs, -
-most of it is written in Elisp, and all -
-the commands have a very verbose -
-name, like something simple as -
-org go to next subtree or -
-org go to a parent subtree. You know, things -
-like this. -
-It's so elegant. It's verbose. -
-That's a sense of freedom -
-insofar as you can go into the code and -
-see, oh, okay, that's how it's implemented. -
-I believe in a way that's the freedom -
-and the liberty that is given to you to -
-look into the code -
-is something that invites you to do the -
-same with your life. As -
-someone who -
-does a little bit of philosophy on the -
-side, I believe it's a very healthy -
-message -
-to be gathering from a piece of software. -
-(Amin: Awesome, thank you. -
-Let's see... So we have... -
-I think I saw another question pop up.) -
-I'm not sure how we're doing as far -
-as time is concerned... I believe we -
-have like one or two minutes more. -
-(Amin: Yeah, actually, we're quite a bit -
-ahead of the schedule, so if we take a -
-little bit longer, we're fine. -
-If you do have more -
-questions, please do.) I'm just sorry that -
-my video is not working anymore. -
-(Amin: No problem. Someone was -
-actually saying... -
-What's the most recent... -
-Actually, yeah well before that. -
-"Please show off your three-piece suit -
-before you end your talk, -
-which requires fixing your frozen camera. -
-if this is not possible, please post -
-suit selfies in an easily accessible -
-location." -
-Okay, I'll make sure to do this. But yes, I -
-wanted to hype things up for the -
-conference, -
-so yes I did get the three-piece suit out. -
-I'm very glad -
-you like it. By the way when you get -
-a chance to see me live again, -
-do appreciate that my tie has both the -
-colors of Emacs purple -
-and also Org Mode green. -
-It took me a while to find this one, so I -
-hope you will appreciate this. -
-(Amin: Awesome. Let's see. We have -
-one other question. "What's the -
-most recent Emacs package or tool that -
-you've discovered -
-that you've added to your repertoire?") -
-Very interesting question. -
-The thing is, -
-when you've spent as long as I have on -
-Emacs--and I know that I've only spent -
-eight years and some of you -
-might have spent maybe 10, 20, maybe even -
-more years on Emacs-- -
-but for me, I believe the the coolest -
-neat trick that I found in Emacs was -
-a mode which is called beacon-mode. -
-It's something that allows -
-you to show -
-when you're jumping between buffers or -
-when you're dropping between windows, -
-it shows exactly where your point is in -
-that buffer by making -
-a slight ray of light which looks like a -
-beacon, hence the name. -
-It really helps you navigate buffers -
-because it always shows in a very -
-visual way where your point is. -
-I'll get a chance to show this to -
-you later today -
-when i'll be presenting my other talks. -
-(Amin: AWesome. -
-We have one question -
-from Jonas, the maintainer -
-from Magit. -
-He asks, "When you touched your -
-webcam, that blew a fuse at my place. -
-How did you do that?") -
-Well, I'm very sorry, Jonas, that it -
-happened to you, but i'll make sure not -
-to touch my webcam again. -
-(Amin: Do we have any other questions?) -
-I have to trust you on this one. -
-I'm really sorry. Everything is frozen -
-on my end. -
-(Amin: No problem. Yeah i'm more talking to the -
-audience, I guess.) -
-[Music] -
-I hope my lack of -
-slides didn't bother you. I really -
-wanted to have this -
-verbose time with people, to be -
-able to... -
-it's a message that i've been trying -
-to share with as many people as possible. -
-In france we do have an Emacs workshop -
-that we have on a monthly basis. -
-I've been learning a lot -
-with those people and I felt like -
-doing the same with Emacs conference -
-would be good. That's why i'm really -
-happy, and I'm really lucky to have had -
-the chance to -
-do this today. I hope some of you -
-I've convinced you -
-of climbing up a step on a ladder or -
-making a step in a journey. -
-(Amin: Absolutely. Thank you so much, Leo. -
-I happen to completely agree -
-with your not necessarily using a slide -
-when it's not really needed -
-and to help give some face-to-face time -
-with the audience. Unfortunately -
-your webcam cut out, but I mean -
-before that.) -
-Yes, I'll make sure to fix the problems -
-later on, so don't worry about it. -
-(Amin: Awesome. Alrighty. I guess we're -
-wrapping up -
-for your talk and getting ready for the -
-next talk.) -
-Sure. Well, thank you so much. I'll see -
-you all later, I suppose! -
-(Amin: Sounds good. Thank you again, Leo. Bye-bye) -- cgit v1.2.3