path: root/2020/subtitles/emacsconf-2020--26-emacs-as-a-highschooler-how-it-changed-my-life--questions--pierce-wang-autogen.sbv

0:00:01.360,0:00:05.520
hello and welcome to my

0:00:03.040,0:00:07.120
emacs conference lightning talk today

0:00:05.520,0:00:09.840
i'll be talking about

0:00:07.120,0:00:13.360
my journey into emacs as a high schooler

0:00:09.840,0:00:13.360
and how it has changed my life

0:00:14.400,0:00:19.520
right so who am i i am a senior at

0:00:17.359,0:00:22.800
stanford online high school

0:00:19.520,0:00:24.320
and i am also a violinist

0:00:22.800,0:00:26.960
i started violin when i was two and a

0:00:24.320,0:00:29.119
half and i have been

0:00:26.960,0:00:30.240
keeping it up ever since violin is a

0:00:29.119,0:00:33.360
huge part of my life

0:00:30.240,0:00:36.239
and i am very much a musician at heart

0:00:33.360,0:00:37.840
i am also a somewhat capable programmer

0:00:36.239,0:00:39.280
i've done a lot of informal programming

0:00:37.840,0:00:42.559
in the past

0:00:39.280,0:00:44.079
and this year i'm taking my first ap

0:00:42.559,0:00:47.440
compsci course

0:00:44.079,0:00:51.039
in my high school and so

0:00:47.440,0:00:54.239
i've done a lot of side projects

0:00:51.039,0:00:56.800
mainly in python and some very short

0:00:54.239,0:00:59.840
scripts in e-lisp

0:00:56.800,0:01:02.879
and last but not least i am a tinker

0:00:59.840,0:01:06.720
i love to play around with things and

0:01:02.879,0:01:10.240
see what i can do better and just

0:01:06.720,0:01:10.240
have as much fun as possible

0:01:10.880,0:01:14.479
so how did i find emacs

0:01:15.040,0:01:18.880
i discovered it actually through a talk

0:01:17.600,0:01:21.360
funnily enough

0:01:18.880,0:01:23.520
at a vim conference given by aaron

0:01:21.360,0:01:25.840
bieber

0:01:23.520,0:01:28.320
titled evil mode or how i learned to

0:01:25.840,0:01:31.439
stop worrying and love emacs

0:01:28.320,0:01:33.360
i watched that talk a couple times over

0:01:31.439,0:01:35.759
just marveling at all the wonderful

0:01:33.360,0:01:38.799
things that he could do in emacs

0:01:35.759,0:01:41.680
and being a previous vim user myself

0:01:38.799,0:01:42.399
i found it very enticing to be able to

0:01:41.680,0:01:44.960
have

0:01:42.399,0:01:47.040
the evil mode package and very quickly

0:01:44.960,0:01:48.799
switch to emacs

0:01:47.040,0:01:51.040
at the time i was also in my sophomore

0:01:48.799,0:01:54.640
year and so

0:01:51.040,0:01:56.320
i had had sort of a note-taking system

0:01:54.640,0:01:59.360
in the past

0:01:56.320,0:02:01.680
but it was not good um and i needed a

0:01:59.360,0:02:03.759
more organized note-taking system

0:02:01.680,0:02:04.960
my parents had suggested paper for a

0:02:03.759,0:02:08.160
while and

0:02:04.960,0:02:10.959
there was the whole organization

0:02:08.160,0:02:12.080
part of that but that did not really

0:02:10.959,0:02:14.000
work out for me

0:02:12.080,0:02:16.239
and so i was trying to find this better

0:02:14.000,0:02:19.440
note-taking system

0:02:16.239,0:02:22.239
and it was very hard

0:02:19.440,0:02:23.520
i had two main criteria which i did not

0:02:22.239,0:02:25.360
define at the time

0:02:23.520,0:02:26.640
but i realized was really what i was

0:02:25.360,0:02:28.720
looking for

0:02:26.640,0:02:30.959
first of all it had to be flexible

0:02:28.720,0:02:33.920
enough and second of all it had

0:02:30.959,0:02:34.959
i had to have control over the data and

0:02:33.920,0:02:37.519
so

0:02:34.959,0:02:39.680
through this process i actually went

0:02:37.519,0:02:42.640
through a bunch of note-taking softwares

0:02:39.680,0:02:44.080
rather systematically i went through

0:02:42.640,0:02:47.519
google docs

0:02:44.080,0:02:49.840
which very much did not work out

0:02:47.519,0:02:50.640
i also went through evernote which also

0:02:49.840,0:02:53.200
was not

0:02:50.640,0:02:55.200
great for me and one note which i

0:02:53.200,0:02:58.800
settled on for a little while

0:02:55.200,0:03:01.519
but it did not meet these criteria

0:02:58.800,0:03:02.159
particularly the second one i had taken

0:03:01.519,0:03:05.280
some notes

0:03:02.159,0:03:07.519
and i wanted to export it and onenote

0:03:05.280,0:03:12.000
did not let me do that

0:03:07.519,0:03:14.879
it was pdf horribly organized pdf

0:03:12.000,0:03:17.200
and that's when i knew i needed some

0:03:14.879,0:03:17.200
change

0:03:17.440,0:03:24.080
so i discovered emacs through this talk

0:03:21.519,0:03:26.640
and through the wonderful features of

0:03:24.080,0:03:26.640
org mode

0:03:27.040,0:03:34.000
this is my first journal entry in emacs

0:03:30.080,0:03:36.159
i had been playing with it for one day

0:03:34.000,0:03:38.159
and i was on the org agenda and i

0:03:36.159,0:03:40.720
happened to press i

0:03:38.159,0:03:41.599
which for the emacs combined is the

0:03:40.720,0:03:45.440
default for

0:03:41.599,0:03:48.720
diary entry and so i was very excited

0:03:45.440,0:03:50.239
um and i shouldn't stay on the slide too

0:03:48.720,0:03:53.760
long unless you read it

0:03:50.239,0:03:57.200
um so let's move on to the next one

0:03:53.760,0:04:00.480
um so the learning curve for me i think

0:03:57.200,0:04:03.760
particularly being an xbm user

0:04:00.480,0:04:06.080
evil mode made it very easy to switch

0:04:03.760,0:04:07.439
thankfully i there was the emax

0:04:06.080,0:04:10.799
reference sheet

0:04:07.439,0:04:14.080
and having evil mode to

0:04:10.799,0:04:17.440
switch between um

0:04:14.080,0:04:17.919
texts and whether it be editing a text

0:04:17.440,0:04:20.560
file

0:04:17.919,0:04:21.600
or going to other parts of just emacs in

0:04:20.560,0:04:24.800
general

0:04:21.600,0:04:26.840
i think vim really helped with making me

0:04:24.800,0:04:28.000
feel comfortable within this new

0:04:26.840,0:04:31.440
environment

0:04:28.000,0:04:31.919
and so having that experience i also

0:04:31.440,0:04:34.240
wasn't

0:04:31.919,0:04:36.320
new to the keybind-based world i have

0:04:34.240,0:04:40.160
been very comfortable with computer

0:04:36.320,0:04:43.520
and the keyboard for most of my life

0:04:40.160,0:04:45.520
and so it was not a totally new

0:04:43.520,0:04:47.440
environment for me

0:04:45.520,0:04:49.360
i also spent a lot of time looking at

0:04:47.440,0:04:53.040
the emacs reference sheet

0:04:49.360,0:04:55.040
just thinking about trying to find

0:04:53.040,0:04:56.639
all of the different functions if i

0:04:55.040,0:04:59.680
didn't know what something was

0:04:56.639,0:05:01.199
then i queried it in emacs and then i

0:04:59.680,0:05:03.759
figured out what it was

0:05:01.199,0:05:05.600
and that was one of the best ways for me

0:05:03.759,0:05:09.280
to discover

0:05:05.600,0:05:09.280
all of the capabilities of emacs

0:05:09.360,0:05:12.800
thirdly of course the self-documenting

0:05:11.440,0:05:15.199
feature

0:05:12.800,0:05:17.120
or nature of emacs and narrowing

0:05:15.199,0:05:20.479
frameworks such as helm

0:05:17.120,0:05:21.360
really helped find things especially for

0:05:20.479,0:05:25.919
mx

0:05:21.360,0:05:28.160
for a while i was just

0:05:25.919,0:05:29.520
i would go about my day and if i pressed

0:05:28.160,0:05:30.720
to keep mine that i didn't know what it

0:05:29.520,0:05:34.560
did

0:05:30.720,0:05:36.240
i would do the losses and

0:05:34.560,0:05:37.600
see the list of key binds that i had

0:05:36.240,0:05:40.400
pressed and

0:05:37.600,0:05:41.280
tried to find that one and query the

0:05:40.400,0:05:45.199
function

0:05:41.280,0:05:45.199
and what not so

0:05:45.280,0:05:51.759
yeah and now we jump to now so

0:05:49.120,0:05:53.280
there there is at least one moment in

0:05:51.759,0:05:55.600
each day when i think

0:05:53.280,0:05:57.680
how would i live without umax

0:05:55.600,0:05:59.120
particularly now during my senior year

0:05:57.680,0:06:02.720
in high school

0:05:59.120,0:06:05.520
things are very busy with school violin

0:06:02.720,0:06:06.400
and other side projects it's pretty

0:06:05.520,0:06:09.680
crazy

0:06:06.400,0:06:12.720
and so emacs

0:06:09.680,0:06:14.479
and org mode has really helped me stay

0:06:12.720,0:06:16.960
on track with everything

0:06:14.479,0:06:18.840
and the flexibility of these software is

0:06:16.960,0:06:21.600
being able to have things in different

0:06:18.840,0:06:24.639
files notes within the tasks

0:06:21.600,0:06:25.840
all of that stuff has been truly a

0:06:24.639,0:06:28.400
lifesaver

0:06:25.840,0:06:31.199
and so i think i can confidently say

0:06:28.400,0:06:34.560
that i have found emacs to be

0:06:31.199,0:06:34.560
the perfect software for me

0:06:35.280,0:06:42.240
over the past two years of using emacs

0:06:38.639,0:06:45.039
now it is about two years and two months

0:06:42.240,0:06:46.160
i have built a fairly well organized

0:06:45.039,0:06:49.520
2000

0:06:46.160,0:06:52.160
plus line org literate config

0:06:49.520,0:06:53.840
and so i actually i started with an

0:06:52.160,0:06:56.800
e-lisp config

0:06:53.840,0:06:57.919
just the vanilla e-max with evil mode

0:06:56.800,0:07:00.319
and i built it up

0:06:57.919,0:07:02.400
from there eventually i switched to org

0:07:00.319,0:07:05.840
literate configs

0:07:02.400,0:07:10.080
and used that to organize the snippets

0:07:05.840,0:07:14.000
that i was putting in there and so

0:07:10.080,0:07:16.639
yeah this is really my workflow now

0:07:14.000,0:07:18.960
currently about 90 of everything i do on

0:07:16.639,0:07:21.520
my computer is in emacs

0:07:18.960,0:07:22.319
the most notable things of course the

0:07:21.520,0:07:26.000
list is far

0:07:22.319,0:07:28.160
too long to put on one slide but i do a

0:07:26.000,0:07:31.280
lot of my programming in emacs

0:07:28.160,0:07:33.759
mainly python and e-lisp

0:07:31.280,0:07:35.199
because of my ap comp sci class i have

0:07:33.759,0:07:38.720
to do java as well

0:07:35.199,0:07:41.759
and thank goodness emacs has wonderful

0:07:38.720,0:07:41.759
support for that as well

0:07:41.840,0:07:48.800
also i do all of my school assignments

0:07:45.840,0:07:50.400
more or less in emacs essay writing i do

0:07:48.800,0:07:51.919
an org mode and i have some template

0:07:50.400,0:07:53.919
files

0:07:51.919,0:07:55.039
template org files which i just include

0:07:53.919,0:07:58.160
at the top

0:07:55.039,0:08:01.440
and then i can export easily to latex

0:07:58.160,0:08:04.400
and a beautiful pdf

0:08:01.440,0:08:05.840
math physics same thing latex fragments

0:08:04.400,0:08:09.599
are a lifesaver

0:08:05.840,0:08:13.199
and also really pretty

0:08:09.599,0:08:15.520
and i take notes on basically everything

0:08:13.199,0:08:16.319
at first i had things separate and then

0:08:15.520,0:08:19.360
i started

0:08:16.319,0:08:21.360
sort of putting it all into onenotes.org

0:08:19.360,0:08:24.000
file or most of it into one

0:08:21.360,0:08:24.960
file and that has actually worked out

0:08:24.000,0:08:26.479
surprisingly well

0:08:24.960,0:08:28.879
especially with all the searching

0:08:26.479,0:08:33.440
features of agenda

0:08:28.879,0:08:35.680
and whatnot um and i also use mail

0:08:33.440,0:08:37.680
i recently made the switch probably

0:08:35.680,0:08:40.479
about one or two months ago

0:08:37.680,0:08:40.959
and it has been one of the best switches

0:08:40.479,0:08:44.480
i've

0:08:40.959,0:08:46.320
i've ever had especially given

0:08:44.480,0:08:47.839
connecting to tasks all of this

0:08:46.320,0:08:50.640
wonderful stuff

0:08:47.839,0:08:54.160
just putting even more in emacs is

0:08:50.640,0:08:57.680
always a good thing i found

0:08:54.160,0:08:59.760
so reflecting back on my journey i think

0:08:57.680,0:09:01.440
one of the most important things was

0:08:59.760,0:09:04.480
just having a reason to use it

0:09:01.440,0:09:06.080
when i came to emacs i had something

0:09:04.480,0:09:09.600
that i was looking for

0:09:06.080,0:09:09.839
and as soon as i found it i delved right

0:09:09.600,0:09:12.720
in

0:09:09.839,0:09:14.480
and i i started using it for that thing

0:09:12.720,0:09:16.959
and so i was sort of forced to

0:09:14.480,0:09:19.279
take the time to read the docs and

0:09:16.959,0:09:22.399
figure out what functions i needed

0:09:19.279,0:09:25.839
to function and how

0:09:22.399,0:09:29.519
i was going to put my workflow

0:09:25.839,0:09:29.519
and also of course the desire to tinker

0:09:30.399,0:09:36.800
and yeah so really what's next for me

0:09:33.519,0:09:38.640
is just wanting to become a more active

0:09:36.800,0:09:40.640
member of the emacs community

0:09:38.640,0:09:43.760
i want to give back and i think this

0:09:40.640,0:09:45.920
talk is sort of the first step to that

0:09:43.760,0:09:48.000
being a more active part of this

0:09:45.920,0:09:51.040
community that has

0:09:48.000,0:09:54.000
indirectly perhaps um but just like

0:09:51.040,0:09:55.839
really helped me become a better and

0:09:54.000,0:09:58.880
more organized human being

0:09:55.839,0:10:01.920
um i have some package ideas that i'm

0:09:58.880,0:10:05.839
slowly working on and yeah i just hope

0:10:01.920,0:10:05.839
to spread the word

0:10:05.920,0:10:09.360
so thank you very much for listening to

0:10:08.000,0:10:11.360
my lightning talk

0:10:09.360,0:10:12.480
if you'd like to contact me here are

0:10:11.360,0:10:15.279
three modes of

0:10:12.480,0:10:17.120
or two modes of communication i will be

0:10:15.279,0:10:20.079
on irc more

0:10:17.120,0:10:20.560
soon and you can always email me if you

0:10:20.079,0:10:23.200
have

0:10:20.560,0:10:23.680
any questions you can also search me on

0:10:23.200,0:10:26.399
youtube

0:10:23.680,0:10:26.800
pierce wong violin thank you very much

0:10:26.399,0:10:30.000
and

0:10:26.800,0:10:30.000
i hope you enjoy the rest of the

0:10:30.040,0:10:33.040
conference