Merge branch 'master' of github.com:CardiffMathematicsCodeClub/CardiffMathematicsCodeClub.github.io

Author: AdamPohl

_posts/2015-10-13-the-first-editor-off.md

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+---
+layout     : post
+title      : "The first editor off"
+categories : website vim atom emacs
+tags       : blog
+author     : Vince, Alex, Sam
+comments   : true
+---
+
+During the second week of code club we held an editor off. Like a dance off or
+lip syn battle but cooler:
+
+
+<div class="video">
+    <figure>
+    <iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/HvRypx1lbR4" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>
+    </figure>
+</div>
+
+For this first battle we had 4 participants with 3 weapons of choice:
+
+- Vince: Vim
+- Alex: Emacs
+- Sam: Vim
+
+This post will briefly show/discuss what they showed:
+
+## Vince
+
+### Visual mode and using `.`
+
+The first 'trick' Vince showed was how to repeat actions using the `.`
+
+Combining this with visual mode allows you to quickly and easily make modifications across a file.
+
+### Using the jedi-vim package to change Python
+
+The second 'trick' Vince showed was using the
+[jedi-vim](https://github.com/davidhalter/jedi-vim) plugin to quickly get the
+docstring for a function:
+
+Simply hit `<leader> + d` and the docstring appears in a buffer.
+
+The second thing was `<leader> + K` which takes you directly to the source code
+for any given function. So Vince did this on the `random.choice` function to
+directly access the python source code. He then quickly modified the way that
+function worked so that he would always win at the simple game he programmed.
+
+Note that the `<leader>` key is just any key that you can set up in Vim, Vince
+has this set up as the default which is `\`.
+
+
+## Sam
+
+### Writing output of shell commands to current buffer
+
+First, Sam showed how it is possible to run shell commands from within VIM using `:! <commands>`.
+Additionally, he showed how you can write the output from these commands into the current buffer using `:.! <commands>`.
+
+Vince added that a good use of this feature could be creating or adding to a .gitignore file by writing the output of an `git status` command (the output being all the files that are not being tracked by git).
+
+### Use of macros
+
+Secondly, Sam showed how you can record macros in VIM to speed up repetitive tasks.
+
+* To start recording a macro press <kbd>q</kbd><kbd>a</kbd>, <kbd>a</kbd> can be replaced by any other key you want to bind the macro to.
+* Carry out the commands you wish to record; aim to navigate using keys such as <kbd>w</kbd>, <kbd>e</kbd>, and <kbd>b</kbd> (navigating by words) rather that <kbd>h</kbd>, <kbd>j</kbd>, <kbd>k</kbd>, and <kbd>;</kbd> (navigating by letters) so the macro is more general and will be robust when applied to different lines.
+* To finish recording your macro press <kbd>q</kbd>.
+
+* To run your macro press <kbd>@</kbd><kbd>a</kbd> (or whatever key binding you used).
+
+* To run your macro on multiple lines either:
+  * End your macro by moving down a line (<kbd>j</kbd>) and then run the macro the for the desired number of times (e.g. <kbd>5</kbd><kbd>@</kbd><kbd>a</kbd>).
+  * Select the lines in visual mode (<kbd>V</kbd>), and then run `:norm @a` (replacing 'a' for your key binding).
+
+Sam demonstrated this by formatting a few lines of csv format data into Python dictionary format.
+
+## Alex
+
+### Butterfly Mode
+
+This was more of a joke than anything useful by claiming that emacs is the ultimate editor and emac's
+butterfly mode is a reference to the following [xkcd](xkcd.com) comic.
+
+![Butterfly-Power](http://imgs.xkcd.com/comics/real_programmers.png)
+
+Launching butterfly mode by typing ```M-x butterfly RET``` (M-x = Alt + x, RET = Enter) will see characters
+fly on from the edges of the screen and print the sentence ```Amazing physics going on``` in the centre of the
+screen.
+
+### Org-Babel, Tangling and Weaving
+
+On a more serious note Alex showed us Org-Babel, a facet or emac's Org-Mode which allows you to embed source code
+in your documents. How is this different from other formats such as Markdown? Well this source code can be
+"tangled" into other files.
+
+This allows us to follow a paradaigm called
+[Literate Programming](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Literate_programming)
+where instead of writing the source code to a program in a format specified by the computer, you can write the
+source code in a way that makes sense to humans and then use Org-Babel to compile all the files from code
+snippets embedded in your document.
+
+I don't feel like I'm explaining this very well so let me point you in the direction of a few such programs.
+Alex's [Emacs Configuration](https://raw.githubusercontent.com/alcarney/emacs.d/master/README.org)
+is in fact a literate program using Org-Babel. While it isn't written using Org-Babel Donald Knuth's
+[TeX](http://mirrors.ctan.org/systems/knuth/dist/tex/texbook.tex) is probably _the_ example of a literate program.

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