Re: indentation, setting variables, commands, and M-x

[john_sips_tea]

Wow! Thanks for all the great replies everyone.

I've summarized them into my own notes here:
http://www.simisen.com/jmg/emacs.html
http://www.simisen.com/jmg/info_command.html

I few things I didn't understand from your resplies:

Eli wrote:
> > (presumably "M-x something")? That is, if someone tells me a
> > line to add to my .emacs file, how can I figure out how to do
> > the same thing from within the editor while editing?
>
> The easiest way to do that is type the necessary stuff into your
> .emacs, and then evaluate it.  For a single parenthesized expression,
> go to the closing right paren and type "C-x C-e".  For several
> expressions, do this for each expression in turn.

Do that right in the text/buffer that I'm editing?

Alan wrote:
> Actually, TAB doesn't indent to the next indent-level, it indents to the
> _correct_ level, as determined by the syntax of the source code.

Sweet. Sounds easy to get used to. :)

> There is an extra complication with tab-width: it is a "buffer-local"
> variable, i.e. when you set it, the setting only has effect in the
> current buffer.  To change the default, use `setq-default'.  To change
> the value in the current buffer, use `setq'.

Thanks for the clarification. :)

> Autoindentation is enabled by default for programming modes like C Mode
> and Emacs Lisp Mode.

Ah. The major programming language modes (am I saying that right?)
are more sophisticated than I'd thought.

What's the difference between a "mode" and a "variable"?
indent-tabs-mode looks like it could be both...

Peter wrote:
> You can look up a 'variable' with the command C-h v. In the mini-
> buffer you'll be prompted for a name, but you can try (command)
> completion, pressing TAB. Then a *Completions* buffer opens showing
> all variables available.

Nice. Didn't know about C-h v.

> Autoindent works in kind of 'qualified' modes.

Hm. Well, It doesn't seem to be working for me. I tried
creating a .java file and a .py file, and editing both, neither
one autoindents. It could be that I need to install some
extra Python mode? But that doesn't explain why the java
one wouldn't work...

BTW, here's my first attempt at a ~/.emacs file:

(setq-default indent-tabs-mode nil)
(setq-default tab-width 4)
(setq-default transient-mark-mode 1)
(setq-default font-lock-mode 1)

Does that look right?

The transient-mark-mode works, but the font-lock-mode
doesn't seem to work... Hm. If I open a .java file, syntax
highlighting only works only if I do:
M-x font-lock-mode
M-x font-lock-mode
(disable, then re-enable). Weird... (Actually, please
let me know if that's the topic of a different thread.)

Thanks,
---John