An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp
by Robert J. Chassell · first published 2001
70% recommend26% neutral4% critical
Why HN recommends it
Free, built-in intro to Lisp and Elisp that lets you evaluate examples inline, then moves into Emacs internals; suits Emacs users and newcomers, and its early chapters teach Lisp concepts that carry to other dialects.
Summarised by Claude from recommending comments
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…youtube videos. Magnar Sveen started doing this several years ago (emacsrock.com), then there are (among others) Protesilas Stavrou or the channel of "System Crafters". When you prefer reading books: "An Introduction To Programming In Emacs Lisp" from Robert Chassell is excellent for learning the basics of Elisp. Mickey Petersens "Mastering Emacs" is excellent. Harley Hahn's Emacs Field Guide is recommended as well. Also, r/emacs and r/orgmode…
on “The values of Emacs, the Neovim revolution, and the VSCode gorilla” ↗…special in it. btw, there is a brilliant course by Dan Grossman on coursera covering FP. He is very clever and consistent. After this you will smile at Haskell guys.) Update: I forgot Emacs Lisp. An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp is an excellent book that covers all the basic principles and gives a perspective how to use lisp in a real-world project.)
on “Dialects of Lisp” ↗…other languages. So if you have never learned to program, and you want to start, start with Lisp. If you learn to edit with Emacs, you can learn Lisp by writing editing commands for Emacs. You can use the Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp to learn with: it is free as in freedom, and you can order printed copies from the FSF."
on “Richard Stallman: How I do my Computing” ↗Here's a link to Bob's book, "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp": https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/eintr.html You can buy it here for $25 from the FSF: https://shop.fsf.org/books/signed-introduction-programming-e... This has been a valuable resource on…
on “Bob Chassell has died” ↗Just to add: the built-in "Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" is also really really great. I have been using emacs for a while, with one framework or another, but always hesitated actually learning lisp. I was too focused on learning the kinds of languages and…
on “Bad Emacs Advice” ↗The official documentation[1] is quite good. An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp[2] is just what it sounds like. It will get you familiar with writing Elisp, using the debugger, and some other basics. At that point, you should be able to navigate the Elisp Reference Manual without…
on “Integrating Emacs with Siri Shortcuts” ↗I'd encourage you to try the built-in tutorials on the subject, starting with "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" (unless you still have to complete the general emacs tutorial, in which case, press C-h t). Imho, being able to effectively navigate the builtin documentation tools (C-h i, C-h k, C-h m, C-h f, ...)…
on “Ask HN: Should I learn (E)Lisp before switching to Emacs?” ↗Emacs includes a book, or maybe it's in the list of installable packages called An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp (I think the package is called 'eintr') that does a pretty good job as an introductory lisp programing text and then gets deeper into the internal functions of Emacs. By the later part of it I felt like…
on “Common Lisp Books” ↗I would encourage would-be Elisp hackers to read the info manual "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" that is bundled with your Emacs (`C-h i` then select "Emacs Lisp Intro" from the Table of Contents) as it enables you to evaluate the example lisp forms in-line in addition to being a really great and…
on “Learn Emacs Lisp in 15 minutes” ↗…prelude is a great way to acquire a deeper understanding of how to wire things together inside Emacs. A decent way to get started learning elisp is to read the introductory text hosted on gnu.org: An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/eintr.html Pro tip: if you haven't done so previously, you may want to remap your caps lock key (via OS settings) to act as an additional control-key – some…
on ““Mastering Emacs” ebook announced” ↗An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp is good, and is available both from inside emacs in M-x info, and on the web at https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/eintr.html
on “Practical Emacs Lisp” ↗I much prefer "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp", which is available both from inside emacs in M-x info, and on the web at https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/eintr.html
on “Practical Emacs Lisp” ↗I guess this would be good for you considering your objectives:"An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp". It is available for free here [1]. [1] https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/pdf/eintr.pdf
on “Common Lisp Books” ↗An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp[0] is how I've been learning it recently. [0]https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/eintr.html
on “The Emacs Lock-In Effect or the Emacs Sunk Cost Fallacy” ↗Back in the day I started out with the "Emacs Lisp Intro" also known as "An Introduction to Programming in Emacs Lisp" that comes with Emacs. I remember printing it out and devouring it before going to sleep. It looks like it's been kept up to date and you could do worse than starting there, especially in an Emacs context.…
on “Why Emacs: Redux” ↗