Re: refactoring tool

[Alan Mackenzie]

Pedro Sa da Costa <pedrosacosta@netcabo.pt> wrote on Thu, 08 Dec 2005
00:58:02 +0000:
> I'm sorry to ask again, but there is any refactoring tool for emacs,
> besides xrefactory?

> Emacs does have code completion? If not, what tool can i install? And, 
> what is the shortcut key for this feature?

> Can anybody give me the reasons why emacs is better than eclipse?

I don't know much about Eclipse, but I'd like to find out.  The last time
I looked at the Eclipse web site I couldn't find any solid information -
there were just endless chains of pointers to pages talking about the
like of how easy it is to "embed apples" (or something like that), but
nowhere an answer to questions like "what's the key sequence to go to the
beginning of a function?".

As for Emacs, it will run on "any" system, and has modes for "all"
programming languages (including things like makefiles and shell
scripts), and many, many useful utilities (like for applying patches and
so on).  You don't need to use the mouse to use Emacs; you don't need a
window system for Emacs.  The documentation for Emacs is very good
indeed.

> I think that is hard to find tools for emacs, know how to use them, and
> hard to install and configure.

It is hard to configure Emacs, it is hard to learn it, it is
astonishingly easy to use, once configured and learnt.

> Because i have many work in the job, i don't have many time to learn 
> advanced features of emacs.

Maybe Emacs isn't for you, then.  You won't get much benefit from it
without putting a lot of time and effort into learning it.  But you don't
need do a 3 month course of study before you can start using Emacs - you
can learn enough to start using it in a mere hour or two, providing
you're willing to keep learning as you go along.

> So, i'm forced to use eclipse, because it's easy to install the
> plugins, and i think that exists more plugins for eclipse than for
> emacs.

That's unlikely, because Emacs has existed for over 20 years.

> My  co-workers also use eclipse. But, my desire is to be an emacs geek.
> What can i do to win this handicap, and learn the emacs advanced
> features? Any advices? What is the best book to learn emacs?

Start Emacs, and press C-h t (that's "control-h t") to get the tutorial.
Work through it.  After that there's C-h i to get you to the "info"
system, where you should select the menu item "emacs".  Just don't expect
to get through it in a single evening.

> And, how can anybody deal with plenty of shortcuts keys that emacs has?
> Isn't too much for anybody's head?

We call them "key sequences" in Emacs, not "shortcuts".  They're not
difficult to learn as long as you don't try to learn them all at once.
After all, you've probably learnt about 20,000 words in your native
language, including how to spell them.  Fifty or a hundred key sequences
is _nothing_ by comparison.

> Thanks,
> Pedro

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)
Email: aacm@muuc.dee; to decode, wherever there is a repeated letter
(like "aa"), remove half of them (leaving, say, "a").