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From: fender@fig.ucsb.edu (Chen, John Yun-kuang)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: Re: Beginner EMACS
Message-ID: <2528@hub.UUCP>
Date: 14 Oct 89 06:57:27 GMT
References: <1030@rodan.acs.syr.edu>
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Organization: UC Santa Barbara Computer Science
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In-reply-to: abakthav@rodan.acs.syr.edu's message of 13 Oct 89 17:54:18 GMT

In article <1030@rodan.acs.syr.edu> abakthav@rodan.acs.syr.edu (bakthavathsalam) writes:

 

   I am eager to use EMACS, after frustrating hours of trying to use vi.
   Anyone care to suggest the best way to go about learning EMACS.
   Thank you for your time.

   Ashok Bakthavathsalam at Syracuse University, (unfortunately...)

Hurray for you!  For the time you invest into emacs, you will get many
rewards, many many more than vi!  And if you want to switch back, well emacs
has a vi mode.  :-)  The easiest way is to begin with tutorial.  After
starting emacs, press "Ctrl-h t" and this will begin the tutorial.  Next I
suggest getting a copy of the GNU emacs reference card.  At our school, we
have copies of the reference card that came from the back of a manual.  When
you really want to get in-depth, then I suggest looking at the manuel.  

Sometimes, this is not enough.  People seem to need simplier sheets to begin
using the program.  At our school, we're in the process of generating help
sheets for the various aspects of emacs :
1. basic emacs commands
2. using buffers & multiple windows
3. C-coding, compiling & debugging 
4. rmail - the alternative to mail
5. gnus - the NNTP based news reader
6. advanced features - tricks & tips for better use.

If anybody out there has already done this, please contact me!  I would like
to see what has worked in teaching people emacs quickly & what questions are
most frequently asked about emacs by new users.

Thanks

--
John Chen  c/o Assoc. for Computing Machinery| X, emacs, bash, gnus, rmail,
University of California at Santa Barbara    | !vi, !suntools, !csh, !mail
Santa Barbara, Ca.  93107                    | WHY AREN'T YOU USING THEM?