Re: contractor resources for emacs extension development

[Thorsten Jolitz]

ckhan <charleykhan@gmail.com> writes:

> I would like to hire help writing an emacs extension
>
> - it would be something that is generally useful, not specific to a
> particular usecase or 3rd party integration/company (essentially, a
> new kind of outline mode)

I did a lot of work with regards to a new kind of outline (minor) mode
recently (with the basic idea of "Org-mode everywhere" in my mind, i.e. of
giving source-code buffers the look&feel of Org-mode buffers).

The result was this library-trio

 - outshine.el :: enhancements to outline-minor-mode that make it possible to
                  structure a source-code file with Org-mode like headlines
                  and offer Org-style headline fontification, visibility
                  cycling, motion and structure editing
                  [https://github.com/tj64/outshine]
 - outorg.el :: converts (outshine) source-code buffers to Org-mode and offers
                them for editing in a temporary *outorg-edit-buffer*
                [https://github.com/tj64/outorg]
 - navi-mode.el :: superfast navigation and 'remote-buffer-control' via an
                   permanent associated *Navi* buffer that offers a vast
                   number of (combined) headline and keyword views on an
                   outshine buffer [https://github.com/tj64/navi]

These libraries make possible a different kind of "literate programming" with
the focus on the programming instead of, as usual, on the text. You can do
your main work in a specialised Emacs major-mode (e.g. emacs-lisp-mode or
R-mode) for writing source code, but these source-code buffers can be
structured like Org-mode buffers (with the same look&feel). Whenever you need
some serious text editing of the comment sections, you fire up the
*outorg-edit-buffer* and have the full power of Org-mode available.

Here is a screencast on youtube that illustrates how to use the libraries with
emacs-lisp buffers, but they can be used with many major-modes (outorg works
e.g. with message-mode too, therefore I'm writing this email in full
Org-mode right now).

> - the resulting work would be freely available and open source (GPL)
>
> Searching the usual outsourcing sites (elance, odesk, etc.) turn up
> very few hits for keywords like "emacs" or "elisp". Does anyone have
> any suggestions for how to find folks that might be up for this kind
> of work? Alternatively, if I took a crude first stab at it myself and
> put it up on github, how could I use cash to grease development?
>
> Any suggestions, comments appreciated.

No matter what new kind of outline mode you are looking for, I might be
able to help you with that, since enhancing outline-mode was the focus
of my recent Emacs Lisp programming projects. I would be available from
next month on (November), so you might want to contact me per email.

-- 
cheers,
Thorsten