| I see.I think we're in partial agreement regarding "discoverability" then, although I wouldn't call it "discoverability": I'd say the problem is more simply due to the fact that the tutorial is out-of-date and not very user-friendly. When I started using Emacs I barely looked at the tutorial: its first focus is on how to navigate paragraphs of text using Emacs key-bindings, but as soon as I realized the "normal" bindings (using arrows) worked, I ditched the manual and opened the file I had to work on. I learned Emacs slowly and piece by piece. But the quality of "third-party" tutorials I've been seeing (like Mastering Emacs and System Crafters, or DistroTube) is quite high. And the forums (reddit or emacs.stackexchange) are quite welcoming. > it's very difficult to deduce that the keyword to look for is "yank". How do you even find out you can customize something, if you can't name it? The nomenclature is kind of annoying, though there's good arguments for keeping it that way (mostly around legacy reasons, but also because the names have specific Emacs meanings, eg "point" is not exactly the same as "cursor", "kill/yank" is not exactly the same as "copy/paste" etc).
But getting used to these things and figuring out how to use them is really just a web-search away in my experience. You just type "how to copy/paste in Emacs" and you'll come across tons of useful information. Obviously this isn't thanks to Emacs itself, it's thanks to the internet, but my point is that it seems a reasonable assumption that modern users will mostly use this approach to get acquainted with a new system. In my experience, relying on a search engine/web forums/other expert users is the typical way to learn new software tools. Isn't this how people learn how to use git, or the Unix-style command-line? Commands like "rm", "mkdir" or "rebase" are unfamiliar and even confusing until you take the time to figure them out. I've done the same when using different IDEs: I don't even know if Eclipse has an official manual/tutorial. But Emacs still beats most other IDEs in terms of discoverability because, after figuring out that "paste" is done by "yank", I can easily look at the internal documentation for the function (which is, granted, quite verbose, but detailed and exhaustive) and even its source code. > a city with public transport system that is so cheap, reliable, and well-connected, that many people don't even care to get a car. I agree with your point here; I wouldn't call it a counterargument as much as an extension of the analogy. Public transport works perfectly for people traveling around the same routes. Most IDEs offer less customization but are optimized for specific (common) uses. But if you're going to want or need to use your IDE and system in specialized way, or if you just like to tinker and customize a cool program, you'd benefit from learning how to use Emacs. |