[nanomonkey]

This is the way.

Sadly this documentation isn't distributed with the Ubuntu version of Emacs, and a newcomer has to jump through some hoops to get it installed. Which is probably an appropriate learning experience.

[birriel]

I agree with an appropriate learning experience, but the docs are the stuff supposed to get one started:

sudo apt install emacs-common-non-dfsg

[susam]

The Emacs Lisp Intro manual is also available online here: https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/eintr/in...