Re: tlug: [Q] Emacs Outline mode for LaTeX doc (fwd)

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <turnbull@example.com>]

>>>>> "Craig" == Craig Oda <craig@example.com> writes:

    Craig> shot.  I can't say that I particularly like lisp and the
    Craig> documentation, in traditional FSF format, is terse, dense
    Craig> and tiring to read. However, the information is all there.

It's a reference manual, not a tutorial, obviously.

I like Lisp; when it's possible to use it, I find it somewhat harder
to program in, but much easier to maintain, than C (C++, Java).  Lisp
fairly naturally lends itself to a self-documenting programming style.
Lisp macros are extremely powerful (they transform the code using the
macro arguments, then execute it; sort of as if you were allowed to
add features to the C compiler on the fly), and easier to understand
than C since they interpret their data (Lisp programs) in the same way
that any Lisp code interprets its data, unlike C macros which use a
completely different and dangerous syntax.

Common Lisp (_the_ reference is Guy Steele's _Common Lisp_; he's the
same guy who brings you the Java reference manual) offers a plethora
of C-like control structures (although the basic syntax is still
Lisp); many of these are emulated in Emacs Lisp through the cl.el
package.

Lisp implements things like non-local exit (`catch' and `throw') far
better (reliability) than GNU C or C++ does; I can't really say for
Java.  Lisps vary in their garbage collection styles, but Emacs's GC
is far more space efficient than Java's (an hour with HotJava
consistently put my VM usage over 100MB, 3/4 of that being HotJava).

Lisp lends itself to data-driven, object-oriented programming styles
far better than any of the C family (and if you think Java is somehow
different, look at the plethora of Java books which start by showing
you how to write FORTRAN programs in Java---Rusty Elliote's tutorial
on Sunsite is egregious, but even the Sun tutorials have a large
dollop of procedural flavor to them).

    Craig> Anyone have any comments on elisp and whether it is worth
    Craig> it to learn if I only intend to use it for Emacs
    Craig> _configuration_, no development.  Also, is there an easier

If you want to do anything non-trivial with Emacs configuration,
you're going to need to learn some Lisp.  For example, Supercite
allows you to reconfigure the header parsing process completely, in
order to do a better job of constructing labels and tag lines.  But to
use that facility you need to understand conses, lists, and alists,
and how Supercite uses those data structures to construct frames, the
basic element of its parser driver.

PSGML and some other syntax driven modes are similar.  You can do
incredibly powerful things with Emacs LISP (like write Emacs :-), and
many of them take very little code.

    Craig> to use documentation site or book with lots of code
    Craig> fragment examples with explanations?

Oldy but goody is the Winston and Horn book, _LISP_.  There's at least 
a third edition dated 1989.

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