[climacs-devel] A few questions about Climacs

[Robert Strandh]

Hello, 

Brad Beveridge writes:
 > Hi all, I have a few questions about Climacs, some that might be a
 > little heretical ;)
 > Firstly, from what I have read Climacs sounds like an interesting
 > project - well done!

Thank you!  

 > So now the heretical part :)
 > I like Vim (ssshh) rather than Emacs.  I imagine that it shouldn't be
 > too hard to add an input system that is Vim like - can I please get a
 > few tips on where to start looking to make these changes?

Hmm.  I know very little about Vim, but if it is something like VI you
would need new command tables to replace the ones currently used, or
at least the ones that contain the key bindings.  Then you would have
to create a bunch of set-key forms to bind the new key sequences in
the new tables. 

 > The reason that I would like to make a Vim like editor in Lisp is that
 > I think it would be nice for Vim lovers to have an editor that is
 > closely integrated with Lisp, preferably able to integrate with
 > Slime/Swank so that the final editor is a nice IDE.

Sure, I can see that. 

 > Is Slime integration an eventual goal of Climacs?

Some people would like that.  Especially for things like remote
editing.  Personally, I can see that it would be useful to use SWANK,
but less so to use SLIME.  The direct integration of Climacs into the
Lisp image means that communication with the Lisp system does not have
to be stream based.

 > Finally, how usable is Climacs as an editor right now?

It is quite usable.  It is a bit frustrating for Emacs experts who
expect everything to work the same, but for others it is fine.  It can
be a bit slow on huge Lisp files, but it is tolerable.  There are also
some quirks like the scrollbars not working, etc.  But there are
people who use it in their daily job now. 

-- 
Robert Strandh

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