The Linux Development Platform Configuring, Using, and ... - Classes

CH02.fm Page 19 Monday, October 7, 2002 8:09 PM
Emacs 19
ments today. From within the editor a user can read and send mail, perform research on the Internet,
and even send out for coffee to RFC2324 compliant coffee makers.
Configuration of Emacs is accomplished via the .emacs file that can be created in each
user’s $HOME directory. If the configuration does not exist, Emacs will use its built-in
defaults. This file consists of a series of elisp expressions that the editor evaluates when the
application runs.
2.2.1 Using Emacs
Navigating and using Emacs may appear confusing and counter-intuitive for those just learning
how to use the editor, however the time taken to master this editor can prove well-spent when
one considers the time savings that such an integrated and flexible development environment can
provide.
If Emacs is started from within X-Windows, it will automatically open a new window in
the desktop. To prevent this behavior, you can use the –nw option from the command line. Alternately,
you can tell Emacs how large to make the window by specifying the size of the window,
in characters, that you wish to create. Examples are:
$ emacs –nw main.c
$ emacs –geometry 80x24 main.c &
Figure 2-1 shows the initial Emacs screen if it is invoked without an initial file name.
Figure 2-1 The initial Emacs screen.