To Emacs or not

It all started with one video I saw recently, and I now find myself researching alternative editors to VS Code. For context, I have been using Vim since as far as I can remember, and Vim bindings make me feel home, whichever editor I’m using. I switched to VS Code when it made sense to use an editor which had all the features I need built-in, with no time spent on customization. I have been using VS Code with Vim bindings ever since, at work and also for personal use (VS Codium for personal use, just to get rid of telemetry)

What happened for me consider this change? I miss the fun. The fun of writing anything on a system which you spent time bringing to it’s current state. In addition to the fun, it also means a shift from just adjusting to whatever VS Code offers, to spend some time being creative. Also, it just burns a little to use a Microsoft product as my go-to for getting things done on my computer, at least when I’m using my personal computer.

The title of this post is misleading, as I have already decided to try emacs. I am writing this post using Doom Emacs, and I am loving it so far. This post is really about the why.

Why not Neovim?

I have absolutely nothing against Vim/Neovim. As said earlier, Vim bindings are a part of me now😁

I just want to experience Emacs for real and try to understand what the hype is all about. I just want to try something new, atleast temporarily.

How far down the emacs rabbit hole?

I’m not sure about this, but I plan on taking my time, as much as I can spare. I know emacs is an investment, and I am not looking for any short term gains. The funny part is, since I started with the Doom emacs framework, I do feel like I have had a few short term gains. I definitely had a better experience with Doom emacs than with NvChad.

I know I haven’t even scratched the surface of emacs till now, but let’s see how I feel about this after a year. I am going to make that investment. I can’t wait to get better with using Magit, Org mode, and other goodies that emacs has to offer. I am having fun just writing this!