Timesheets
I have to keep track of time I spend working on various things. Usually I used a pad and paper for this, but a lot of the time I don’t want to have to stop, write something down, then jump back. I have a timesheet.org file open in Emacs during the day so that I can switch to the buffer and enter my time. I use one headline per week, and create a table for the time. It works out nicely because now I have one file with my timesheets. I started this about a week or two ago, but I have no plans of entering all of my old time here.

Scripts, Utilities and others
Throughout the course of the day, I’m using a lot of different tools to get my work done. Sometimes I’ll discover something new and helpful and I’ll want to keep the command around for future use. For that, I have a scripts.org file to keep things organized. For customer information, right now I have one big customers file, but I think I’m going to start splitting that out into separate files soon.

The thing I really like about org-mode is being able to collapse the various levels. It keeps the information I don’t need right now out of my way while at the same time keeping everything in text form, so I can read it anywhere. I know I’m not harnessing the full power of this mode, but it fits my needs and perhaps it might fit someone else’s needs out there as well.

-- Buffers --
C-x C-f         Open existing (or new) file
C-x C-s         Save buffer
C-x C-w         Save buffer as...
C-x C-c         Exit Emacs

C-x b                   Switch to buffer. Type in the name.
C-x     Cycle through buffers
C-x 1           Return to 1 window
C-x 2           Split window into two
C-x o           Switch windows

-- Moving / Editing --
C-a             Beginning of line
C-e             End of line
C-s             Search
M-x string      Find and replace
C-w             Cut
M-w             Copy
C-y             Paste (yank)
C-k             Cut text to end of line

By default, Emacs starts you out in a scratch buffer. I keep this open and use it to copy / paste tidbits of information that I might need later in the day, such as commands or even some time tracking. It truly is a scratch buffer in this case, and it works wonders. That’s it for this week. I was going to share my cheatsheet, but sadly I lost it. I’ll have it for next week. For now, I leave you with a summary of commands I used this week. For each of the commands, please note that C is the Control key, and M is the Meta, or ALT, key.

Emacs Commands Used

• C-x C-f filename – Create a new file called filename. Can include paths. Example: C-x C-f /home/fubar/temp.txt
• C-x C-s – Save the current buffer
• C-x b – Switch to buffer. Presents a default buffer name, but type the name of the buffer you want.

As far as backgrounds in editors go, I’ve pretty much been a GUI / Vim guy for as long as I can remember. I know enough Vim to get in and out of a file relatively quickly, but for any heavy coding, I’ve leaned on an IDE to help me out. I figured I would try out Emacs for a few reasons. One, there’s plenty of Emacs users at work I can bother with questions. Two, there are a lot of potentially useful modes that might actually be able to help me organize myself at work. Finally, I want to break down and learn the ins and outs of one editor, and I’ve chosen Emacs to focus on. Will I stick with it? Time, and my patience, will tell the tale. I plan to use Emacs in place of other editors that I had been using to create scratch notes as I work on things at work, and also plan to use it to do the occasional scripting / web maintenance that I’m tasked to do.

Next week I’ll present the beginnings of my little Emacs cheatsheet and will dive into the first task I’ll look at, which is note-taking in my work environment.

I have a webapp to rewrite, but I’ve been struggling with pulling together some motivation to work on it at home. My mind’s been all over the place the past couple of weeks and I just haven’t been getting my geek on like I used to. I guess part of that might be due to the fact that work has been rating an 8 or higher on the suck-o-meter and I just want to leave work behind when I leave the office (which admittedly I’m having a hard time doing). Once I do start coding, though, Emacs is where I’ll have my code living.

So, what do I have on my list of things to learn?

- Keybindings. This is going to take a while, but once I learn them then I’ll be in good shape

- .emacs. I’m sure there are some settings that some would see as essential. I’ll share mine in an upcoming post.

As far as projects go, I think I might start taking a look around at the open source projects out there and see if there’s something I can do to start getting involved. I think I’ll also work on setting up local source control on this machine to make managing things easier

One thing I keep reading is that a lot of people are switching the Control and caps lock keys in their keybindings. It sounds like an interesting idea, and I can’t remember the last time I hit caps lock on purpose. I might go ahead and swap them out. So far, though, it doesn’t seem like it’s going to be too big a deal to learn and use.