xenodium.com @alvaro

agent-shell 0.47 updates

Thu, 12 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

We got quite a few agent-shell additions since the last post, so let's go through the highlights as of v0.47.1.

What's `agent-shell`?

Agent shell is a native Emacs mode to interact with LLM agents powered by ACP (Agent Client Protocol).

Your employer can make a difference

agent-shell has been attracting quite a few users. Many of you are working in tech where employers are happily paying for IDE subscriptions and LLM tokens to improve productivity. If you are using agent-shell for work, consider getting your employer to give back by sponsoring the project.

I also know many of you work at AI companies offering paid agents like Claude Code, Copilot, Gemini, Codex, etc. all supported by agent-shell. Please nudge your employers to help fund projects like agent-shell, which are making their services available to more users.

✨ Sponsor agent-shell ✨

So what's new?

claude-code-acp renamed to claude-agent-acp [Action Required]

Let's get this one out of the way, as it needs actioning. Both the npm package and the CLI agent have been renamed from claude-code-acp to claude-agent-acp (to align with Anthropic's branding guidelines). If you're using Claude Code, you'll need to update:

npm remove -g @zed-industries/claude-code-acp
npm install -g @zed-industries/claude-agent-acp

If you had customized agent-shell-anthropic-claude-acp-command, update it to point to claude-agent-acp.

New agents supported

Auggie (#179 by @Pacane).
Cline.
Factory Droid (#178 by @ag91).
GitHub Copilot.
Kiro CLI (#351 by @zmjones).
Mistral Vibe.
Pi (#232 by @conornash)

Bootstrapped sessions (experimental)

This was a biggie. How sessions are loaded is now configurable via agent-shell-session-strategy. When set to 'new, starting a new shell delivers a fully bootstrapped session before presenting you with the shell prompt. This means the ACP handshake, authentication, and session creation all happen upfront.

You can enable this flow with:

(setq agent-shell-session-strategy 'new)

What's the benefit? Bootstrapped sessions enable changing models and session modes (Planning, Don't ask, Skip permissions, etc…) before submitting your first prompt.

For the time being, the existing (deferred) behaviour is still offered via 'new-deferred. Just set as follows:

(setq agent-shell-session-strategy 'new-deferred)

Session resume (experimental)

Probably the most requested feature and also facilitated by the bootstrapping changes. agent-shell-session-strategy also unlocks session resume. Set it to 'prompt and every time either M-x agent-shell-new-shell or C-u M-x agent-shell are invoked, you'll be offered to resume previous sessions or start a new one.

(setq agent-shell-session-strategy 'prompt)

Alternatively, you can set to 'latest to always resume the most recent session in current project.

Under the hood, there are two ways to pick up from previous session: session/resume (lightweight, no message replay) and session/load (full history replay). By default, agent-shell prefers resuming (controlled by agent-shell-prefer-session-resume). Please favor resuming for the time being as loading has more edge cases to sort out still.

Note: Both resuming and loading sessions are agent-dependent. Some agents may not yet support either, especially as the features aren't yet considered stable in Agent Client Protocol (see session/list spec).

This feature was a collaboration between @farra, @travisjeffery, and myself.

Clipboard images

You can now use agent-shell-send-clipboard-image (#285 by @dangom) to send images straight from your clipboard into agent-shell. Clipboard images are saved to .agent-shell/screenshots in your project root and inserted into the shell buffer as context.

Note: You'll need either pngpaste or xclip installed on your system for the feature to automatically kick in.

In addition, we now have agent-shell-yank-dwim: if the clipboard has an image, it pastes it as context. Otherwise, it yanks text as usual. In other words, copy an image anywhere to your system's clipboard and paste/yank into the buffer as usual (typically via C-y).

Status display + tool calls

Status labels and tool call titles rendering got some improvements. Status reporting is generally more compact, redundant text is dropped from tool call titles, and tool status/kind shortening has been consolidated.

Image rendering

agent-shell now renders images inline. When agents output images (charts, diagrams, screenshots, etc.), they display directly in the shell buffer. You may need to nudge the agent to output image paths in the expected format so agent-shell can pick up.

Markdown images:

![alt text](/path/to/image.png)

Any of the following in a line of their own are supported also:

/path/to/image.png

file:///path/to/image.png

./output/chart.png
~/screenshots/demo.png

Recognized image formats depend on what your Emacs was built with (typically png, jpeg, gif, svg, webp, tiff, etc. via image-file-name-extensions).

Emacs skills

While on the topic of image rendering, this works particularly well when coupled with charting agent skills. I shared some of these over at emacs-skills, demoed in episode 13 of the Bending Emacs series.

Table rendering

Tables are now rendered using overlays (#17 by @ewilderj).

Usage tracking

Tracking usage now possible (#270 by @Lenbok):

A color-coded context usage indicator in the header (green -> yellow -> red as context fills up), enabled by default via agent-shell-show-context-usage-indicator.
M-x agent-shell-show-usage to check token counts, context window usage, and cost in the minibuffer.r- An optional end-of-turn usage summary can be enabled via (setq agent-shell-show-usage-at-turn-end t).

Git worktree shell

If keen to run multiple agents on the same repo without stepping on each other's work, M-x agent-shell-new-worktree-shell facilitates this via git worktrees (#255 by @nhojb).

Send context to…

You can now send context to a specific shell using agent-shell-send-file-to, agent-shell-send-region-to, agent-shell-send-clipboard-image-to. and agent-shell-send-screenshot-to. These prompt you to pick a target shell.

Both M-x agent-shell and agent-shell-send-dwim are now prefix-aware. C-u forces a new shell, while C-u C-u prompts you to pick a target shell.

Compose buffer improvements

Compose buffers now support file (via @) and command (via /) completions. It is now also possible to browse previous pages via C-c C-p and come back to your prompt draft.

There's also prompt history navigation/insertion when composing prompts via M-p (previous), M-n (next), and M-r (search).

Bringing context into viewport compose buffers is now more robust. For example, carrying context into a new viewport compose buffer is now supported (#383 by @liaowang11).

Viewport improvements

While viewport interaction was introduced in the previous post, it is now my preferred way of interacting with agent-shell. You can enable via (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction t). In any case, viewport buffers got a handful of quality-of-life improvements.

Single key replies without needing to open a compose/reply buffer:

y sends "yes" (handy for quickly answering agent questions).
1-9 sends digits (handy for quickly choosing options).
m sends "more" (handy for requesting more of the same kind of data).
a sends "again" (handy for requesting to carry out instructions again).

Customizable context sources

agent-shell-context-sources lets you configure which DWIM context sources are considered by M-x agent-shell, agent-shell-send-dwim, and compose buffers. You can control the order sources are checked and add custom functions. Defaults to files, region, error, and line.

I'm always on the lookout for some DWIM goodness. If you add your own context function, I'd love to hear about it.

Flycheck support

While on the topic of context sources, in addition to picking up flymake errors at point, flycheck errors are now automatically recognized (#219 by @Lenbok).

Diff improvements

Diff buffers got some love too, now with syntax highlighting (#198 by @Azkae). There's also a new agent-shell-diff-mode-map for customizing diff keybindings, which avoid inheriting unsupported features from the parent mode. You can also press f to open the modified file from a diff buffer.

Additionally, you can now press C-c C-c from an agent-shell-diff buffer to reject all changes (same binding as the shell itself).

Event subscriptions

You can now programmatically subscribe to agent-shell events like initialization steps, tool call updates, file writes, permission responses, permission requests, and turn completions. This opens the door for building integrations on top of agent-shell.

(agent-shell-subscribe-to
 :shell-buffer (current-buffer)
 :event 'file-write
 :on-event (lambda (event)
             (message "File written: %s"
                      (alist-get :path (alist-get :data event)))))

Permission UX improvements

Permission dialogs got a few improvements. Amongst them, automatic navigation to the next pending dialog and also making executed commands more prominent for some agents.

Permission responder function

You can now programmatically respond to permission requests via agent-shell-permission-responder-function. A built-in agent-shell-permission-allow-always handler is provided to auto-approve everything (use with caution):

(setq agent-shell-permission-responder-function #'agent-shell-permission-allow-always)

Claude Code OAuth token support

OAuth token now supported for Claude Code (#339 by @chemtov).

Transcript improvements

Markdown transcripts generation needed love. Thank you @Idorobots and @systemfreund for the improvements (#374, #325, and #326).

Session ID display

With (setq agent-shell-show-session-id t), session IDs are now displayed in header as well as session lists (#363 by @Cy6erBr4in).

Custom CWD function

agent-shell-cwd-function now enables customizing how agent-shell determines the working directory sent to agents.

Configurable dot-subdir location

agent-shell-dot-subdir-function now lets you customize where agent-shell keeps per-project files (#378 by @zackattackz).

Lambda MCP servers

agent-shell-mcp-servers now accept lambda functions too (#237 by @matthewbauer). Useful for setups like claude-code-ide using dynamic MCP details.

Buffer name format

agent-shell-buffer-name-format now makes buffer naming configurable. Choose between the default title case ("Claude Code Agent @ My Project"), kebab-case ("claude-code-agent @ my-project"), or provide your own function (#256 by @nhojb).

Inhibit minor modes during writes

agent-shell-write-inhibit-minor-modes lets you temporarily disable modes (like auto-formatting entire file) when agents write files (#224 by @ultronozm).

File autocompletion performance

File autocompletion is now more performant for larger repositories (#262 by @perfectayush).

Container modeline indicator

When running shells inside a container, a [C] indicator now shows up in the modeline (#250 by @ElleNajt).

Graphical header improvements

Graphical header rendering is more robust now (#275 by @nhojb).

Busy throbber display options

The busy/working indicator now offers multiple visual styles, customizable via agent-shell-busy-indicator-frames (#280 by @Lenbok).

New related packages

agent-shell-to-go: Interact with agent-shell sessions from your mobile or any other device via Slack (by @ElleNajt).
meta-agent-shell: Multi-agent coordination system for agent-shell with inter-agent communication, task tracking, and project-level dispatching (by @ElleNajt).
agent-shell-workspace: Dedicated tab-bar workspace for managing multiple agent-shell sessions (by @gveres).

Pull requests

Thank you to all contributors for these improvements!

#159: Improve Mistral Vibe documentation (@KaiHa)
#162: Fix agent-shell-help-menu binding (@jinnovation)
#164: Fix nil-check semantics in when-let (@jinnovation)
#166: Use project-name for buffer names (@catern)
#169: Resolve @mentioned paths in devcontainers (@fritzgrabo)
#173: Fix when-let binding issue (@byronclark)
#178: Add Factory Droid capability (@ag91)
#179: Add Auggie support (@Pacane)
#185: Update OpenCode logo (@bps)
#186: Use context in viewport mode (@byronclark)
#193: Handle user_message_chunk session update type (@Lenbok)
#196: Fix agent names when config icons are off (@budevg)
#197: Function-based container command runner (@rpoisel)
#198: Syntax highlighting in diffs (@Azkae)
#199: Fix reply in viewport mode (@byronclark)
#200: Prevent context from own agent-shell buffer (@juboba)
#204: Terminal-mode status labels (@whhone)
#206: Add Evil section to README (@juboba)
#208: Theme-aware status label color (@whhone)
#209: Add missing image require (@timvisher)
#212: Simplify language detection (@necaris)
#213: Improve file and command completion (@necaris)
#214: Fix auto-insert variable declaration (@ultronozm)
#219: Flycheck error context support (@Lenbok)
#224: Inhibit minor modes during file writes (@ultronozm)
#226: Deduplicate file link (@bixuanzju)
#232: Add Pi coding agent (@conornash)
#235: Fix empty list normalizer (@ROCKTAKEY)
#237: Lambda MCP servers (@matthewbauer)
#240: Fix viewport shell buffer association (@Rutherther)
#245: Fix :tool-calls state maintenance (@vermiculus)
#246: Respect viewport visits for buffer ordering (@Rutherther)
#249: Fix tool call title duplication (@ElleNajt)
#250: Container modeline indicator (@ElleNajt)
#252: Document C-c C-c to send (@HIRANO-Satoshi)
#255: Git worktree shell (@nhojb)
#256: Buffer name format customization (@nhojb)
#257: Fix kebab-case project name (@nhojb)
#262: File autocompletion speedup (@perfectayush)
#266: Guard permission title rendering (@budevg)
#269: Add missing paren (@Rutherther)
#270: Session usage tracking (@Lenbok)
#272: Update Copilot ASCII art (@ewilderj)
#275: Graphical header improvements (@nhojb)
#279: Add agent-shell-send-dwim to transient (@matthewbauer)
#280: Busy throbber options (@Lenbok)
#285: Clipboard image pasting (@dangom)
#289: Session list/load/resume (@farra, @travisjeffery)
#291: Normalize tool call commands (@ultronozm)
#292: Strip text properties from copied text (@ultronozm)
#293: Restore usage indicator color (@Lenbok)
#295: Handle tools without a command (@byronclark)
#296: Handle nil tool-call command (@genegoykhman)
#299: claude-code-acp -> claude-agent-acp rename (@byronclark)
#312: Function-valued model ID (@lgfang)
#316: Fix diff syntax highlighting (@Azkae)
#318: Tool call parameters in transcripts (@systemfreund)
#319: Fix terminal Emacs font crash (@eddof13)
#325: Log agent thoughts in transcript (@Idorobots)
#326: Fix nested backtick fences in transcript (@systemfreund)
#328: Switch modes in agent-shell-diff (@wmedrano)
#329: Fix tests (@timvisher-dd)
#313: Bring "Start a new session" to the top (@catern)
#335: Fix plan from request_permission (@Azkae)
#339: OAuth token support for Anthropic (@chemtov)
#350: Prepare devcontainer package extraction (@fritzgrabo)
#351: Add Kiro CLI ACP support (@zmjones)
#353: Fix xclip blocking on X11 (@chemtov)
#363: Configurable session selection columns (@Cy6erBr4in)
#370: Fix permission UI on out-of-order status updates (@xar7)
#374: Indent markdown headers in transcript (@systemfreund)
#376: Fix file skip check (@zackattackz)
#378: Configurable dot-subdir location (@zackattackz)
#382: Permission-request and turn-complete subscription events (@emil-e)
#383: Viewport context on first open (@liaowang11)
#385: Fix leading space in terminal prompt (@bcc32)
#388: Apply dir-local variables in shell buffer (@fritzgrabo)

Bug fixes

#168: replace-buffer-contents timeout to prevent freeze on large diffs
#170: Suppress effects of find-file-noselect during agent writes
#175: ACP configuration JSON-RPC inserted into shell
#180: Terminal-friendly keybindings
#189: Changing the model with Claude causes hang
#191: user_message_chunk session updates no longer dump raw JSON
#220: Python comments no longer interpreted as Markdown headers
#265: session/request_permission with argv array commands
#297: Unexpected tool-call command type error
#300: agent-shell-send-region no longer fails silently without a region
#303: Context insertion for new deferred sessions
#319: Fix "Wrong type argument: font, unspecified" in terminal Emacs (fix by @eddof13)
#335: Plan not displaying from session/request_permission (fix by @Azkae)
#345: Out of turn notifications inserted into shell
#353: xclip handler blocking on X11 when clipboard has no image (fix by @chemtov)
#361: loadSession regression
#370: Permission UI not reacting on status failed/completed (fix by @xar7)
#376: File skip check using full path instead of filename only (fix by @zackattackz)
#385: Leading space in agent-shell-select-config prompt in terminal frames (fix by @bcc32)

Lots of polish

Beyond what's showcased, I've poured much love and effort into polishing the agent-shell experience. Interested in the nitty-gritty? Have a look through my regular commits.

Make the work sustainable

If agent-shell is useful to you, please consider sponsoring the project. These days, I've been working on agent-shell daily.

LLM tokens aren't free, and neither is the time dedicated to building this stuff. While I now have more time to work on agent-shell as an indie dev, I also have bills to pay ;)

Unless I can make this work sustainable, I will have to shift my focus to work on something else that is.

✨ Sponsor agent-shell ✨

Bending Emacs - Episode 13: agent-shell charting

Wed, 04 Mar 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Time for a new Bending Emacs episode. This one is a follow-up to Episode 12, where we explored Claude Skills as emacs-skills.

Bending Emacs Episode 13: agent-shell + Claude Skills + Charts

This time around, we look at inline image rendering in agent-shell and how it opens the door to charting. I added a handful of new charting skills to emacs-skills: /gnuplot, /mermaid, /d2, and /plantuml.

The agent extracts or fetches data from context, generates the charting code, saves it as a PNG, and agent-shell renders it inline. Cherry on top: the generated charts match your Emacs theme colors by querying them via emacsclient --eval.

Hope you enjoyed the video!

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

As an indie dev, I now have a lot more flexibility to build Emacs tools and share knowledge, but it comes at the cost of not focusing on other activities that help pay the bills. If you benefit or enjoy my work please consider sponsoring.

Bending Emacs - Episode 12: agent-shell + Claude Skills

Wed, 25 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Time for a new Bending Emacs episode. This one is a follow-up to Episode 10, where we introduced agent-shell.

Bending Emacs Episode 12: agent-shell + Claude Skills

This time around, we explore Claude Skills and how to use them to teach agents Emacs tricks. I built a handful of skills packaged as a Claude Code plugin at github.com/xenodium/emacs-skills.

The skills use emacsclient --eval under the hood to bridge agent work to your running Emacs session:

/dired - Open files from the latest interaction in a dired buffer with marks.
/open - Open files in Emacs, jumping to a specific line when relevant.
/select - Open a file and select the relevant region.
/highlight - Highlight relevant regions across files with a temporary read-only minor mode.
/describe - Look up Emacs documentation and summarize findings.
emacsclient (auto) - Teaches the agent to always prefer emacsclient over emacs.

Hope you enjoyed the video!

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

Ready Player cover download improvements

Wed, 18 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

At times, even purchased music excludes album covers in track metadata. For those instances, ready-player-mode offers M-x ready-player-download-album-artwork, which does as it says on the tin. The interactive command offers a couple of fetching providers (iTunes vs Internet Archive / MusicBrainz) to grab the album cover. The thing is, I often found myself trying one or the other provider, sometimes without luck. Today, I finally decided to add a third provider (Deezer) to the list. Even then, what's the point of manually trying each provider out when I can automatically try them all and return the result from the first successful one? And so that's what I did.

In addition to offering all providers, M-x ready-player-download-album-artwork now offers "Any", to download from the first successful provider. Now, why keep the option to request from a specific provider? Well, sometimes one provider has better artwork than another. If I don't like what "Any" returns, I can always request from a specific provider.

While on the subject, I also tidied the preview experience up and now display the thumbnail in the minibuffer. In any case, best to show rather than tell.

Enjoying your unrestricted music via Emacs and ready player mode? ✨sponsor✨ the project.

Bending Emacs - Episode 11: winpulse

Tue, 17 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I recently built a little package to flash Emacs windows as you switch through them, so I might as well showcase it in a new Bending Emacs episode, so here it goes:

Bending Emacs Episode 11: winpulse

In addition to showcasing winpulse, we showed some of the built-in window-managing commands like:

C-x 3 split-window-right
C-x 2 split-window-below
C-x 0 delete-window
C-x ^ enlarge-window
C-x } enlarge-window-horizontally
C-x { shrink-window-horizontally
C-x o other-window

It's worth noting the last four commands are can be optimized by repeat-mode. Check out Karthink's It Bears Repeating: Emacs 28 & Repeat Mode post.

Hope you enjoyed the video!

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

Make it all sustainable

Enjoying this content or my projects? I am an indie dev. Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

Introducing winpulse

Tue, 10 Feb 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Hard to say officially, but I've been primarily using Emacs for roughly a couple of decades. Maybe my eyesight isn't what it used to be, or maybe I've just been wanting a stronger visual signal as I navigate through Emacs windows. Either way, today's the day I finally did something about it…

I asked around to see if a package already existed for this purpose. Folks shared a handful of great options:

pulsar: Emacs package to pulse the current line after running select functions.
dimmer.el: Interactively highlight the active buffer by dimming the others.
window-dim.el: A window dimmer package for Emacs.

I wanted my windows to temporarily flash when switching between them. Of these options, pulsar came closest, though highlighting the current line only.

This is Emacs, so I should be able to get the behavior I want by throwing some elisp at the problem. With that, I give you winpulse, a package to temporarily highlight focused Emacs windows.

This package is fresh out of the oven and likely has some edge cases I haven't yet considered. If you're still keen to check it out, it's available on GitHub.

Make it sustainable

Enjoying this package or my content? I'm an indie dev. Consider sponsoring to help make it sustainable.

Film/TV bookmarks (chaos resolved)

Thu, 29 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I've been somewhat chaotically "bookmarking" things to watch for some time. The info typically goes straight to an Emacs org file primarily via Journelly.

I'm fairly forgiving in my input form. I often link to Reddit discussions, IMDB/Letterboxd links, or at times simply write movie or director names. The only real requirement is to sprinkle some hashtags (#film or #series or #watch) for retrieval.

While this flexibility is important (makes it more likely for me to actually write), it's not super practical to browse through this mixed structure when looking for something to watch. Yesterday, I finally did something about that.

Here's what my save-to-Journelly flow may look like for a Reddit link:

All entries are saved to Journelly.org, a plain text org file (Markdown is supported too), so I first extracted all relevant entries (containing #film or #series or #watch). A matching entry looks a little something like this:

* [2026-01-29 Thu 09:52] @ Home
:PROPERTIES:
:LATITUDE: 51.5007
:LONGITUDE: -0.1246
:WEATHER_TEMPERATURE: 4.2°C
:WEATHER_CONDITION: Cloudy
:WEATHER_SYMBOL: cloud
:END:
#film #hongkong #watch

https://www.reddit.com/r/movies/comments/1j85b52/just_rewatched_kung_fu_hustle_still_felt_great

Having extracted non-personal items from Journelly.org, I created a git repo with just one file: watchlist.org including entries like the one above.

With personal/private details out of the way, I decided to let the LLM robots loose. That is, hand watchlist.org over to a Claude Code agent, via Emacs agent-sell to organize my chaos.

First I asked to normalize data by extracting all film/tv info from each entry, visiting Reddit/IMDB/Letterboxd links if needed, which yielded normalized.org:

Kung Fu Hustle
https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373074

Next I asked to generate metadata for me (using the fields I wanted from IMDB), stored in org drawers, saved to db.org:

* Kung Fu Hustle
:PROPERTIES:
:TYPE: film
:YEAR: 2004
:IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0373074/
:IMDB_RATING: 7.7
:COUNTRY: Hong Kong
:DIRECTOR: Stephen Chow
:GENRE: action, comedy, fantasy
:RUNTIME: 99
:ADDED: [2026-01-28]
:THUMBNAIL: file:thumbnails/tt0373074.png
:IMDB_THUMBNAIL: https://m.media-amazon.com/images/M/MV5BNGU2OWVlM2ItZGZlOC00Yzk2LWE1NzEtMDYwMzE4YTE5MzQ2XkEyXkFqcGc@._V1_FMjpg_UY1024_.jpg
:END:

Finally, I asked to generate HTML from db.org so I can render and easily browse.


  
  Kung Fu Hustle (2004)
  action · comedy · fantasy
  Hong Kong · Stephen Chow

For each transformation, Claude Code generated a python script. I've yet to decide what to do with all the resulting source code. Do I clean it up? Rewrite it?

For now, I'm happy with the results of the experiment. I managed to organize some of my chaos! In some ways, this isn't too different from me writing a quick/hacky/ugly script, when it's acceptable to do so.

At the center of it all, is my beloved org syntax. Thanks to plain text formats, we can easily peek at them, query them, poke at them, tweak them, and bend til our heart's content. It's just so versatile, and now we can throw them at LLMs too.

Oh, and if you're curious about that watch list, here you go. Do you have some movie/show suggestions for me?

12 Monkeys (2015)

tv · adventure · drama · mystery

United States

2149: The Aftermath (2021)

sci-fi

Canada · Benjamin Duffield

3 Body Problem (2024)

tv · adventure · drama · fantasy

United Kingdom

964 Pinocchio (1991)

horror · sci-fi

Japan · Shozin Fukui

A Scanner Darkly (2006)

animation · comedy · crime

United States · Richard Linklater

A Separation (2011)

drama

Iran · Asghar Farhadi

A Small Light (2023)

tv · biography · drama · history

United States

A Taxing Woman (1987)

comedy · crime

Japan · Jûzô Itami

Absentia (2017)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

Israel

Across the Furious Sea (2023)

crime · drama · mystery

China · Baoping Cao

Akira (1988)

animation · action · drama

Japan · Katsuhiro Ôtomo

Alita: Battle Angel (2019)

action · adventure · sci-fi

United States · Robert Rodriguez

All About My Mother (1999)

comedy · drama · romance

Spain · Pedro Almodóvar

Altered Carbon (2018)

tv · action · adventure · drama

United States

Altered Hours (2016)

sci-fi · thriller

United States · Bruce Wemple

Amelie (2001)

comedy · romance

France · Jean-Pierre Jeunet

Amores Perros (2000)

drama · thriller

Mexico · Alejandro G. Iñárritu

An Elephant Sitting Still (2018)

crime · drama

China · Bo Hu

Anatomy of a Fall (2023)

crime · drama · mystery

France · Justine Triet

Arcane (2021)

tv · animation · action · adventure

United States

Archive 81 (2022)

tv · drama · horror · mystery

United States

As Tears Go By (1988)

crime · drama · romance

Hong Kong · Wong Kar-Wai

Asakusa Kid (2021)

biography · drama

Japan · Gekidan Hitori

Ash Is Purest White (2018)

crime · drama · romance

China · Jia Zhang-ke

Asura (2023)

tv · comedy · drama

Indonesia

Band of Brothers (2001)

tv · action · drama · history

United Kingdom

Banshee (2013)

tv · action · crime · drama

United States

Barry (2018)

tv · action · comedy · crime

United States

Battlestar Galactica (2004)

tv · action · adventure · drama

United States

Being Human (UK) (2008)

tv · comedy · drama · fantasy

United Kingdom

Big Man Japan (2007)

action · comedy · sci-fi

Japan · Hitoshi Matsumoto

Black Coal, Thin Ice (2014)

crime · drama · mystery

China · Yi'nan Diao

Black Sails (2014)

tv · action · adventure · drama

South Africa

Blackadder (1983)

tv · comedy

United Kingdom

BlackBerry (2023)

biography · comedy · drama

Canada · Matt Johnson

Blade Runner (1982)

action · drama · sci-fi

United States · Ridley Scott

Blade Runner 2049 (2017)

action · drama · mystery

United States · Denis Villeneuve

Blade Runner: Black Lotus (2021)

tv · animation · action · drama

United States

Bloody Hell (2020)

comedy · horror · mystery

Australia · Alister Grierson

Boardwalk Empire (2010)

tv · crime · drama

United States

Bojack Horseman (2014)

tv · animation · comedy · drama

United States

Brand New Cherry Flavor (2021)

tv · drama · horror · mystery

United States

Brazil (1985)

drama · sci-fi · thriller

United Kingdom · Terry Gilliam

Broadchurch (2013)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

United Kingdom

Burn Notice (2007)

tv · action · crime · drama

United States

Burning (2018)

drama · mystery · thriller

South Korea · Lee Chang-dong

Carnivale (2003)

tv · drama · fantasy · mystery

United States

Castlevania (2017)

tv · animation · action · adventure

United States

Chungking Express (1994)

comedy · crime · drama

Hong Kong · Wong Kar-Wai

City Hunter (2024)

action · comedy · crime

Japan · Yûichi Satô

City of God (2002)

crime · drama

Brazil · Kátia Lund

Cloud (2024)

action · crime · drama

Japan · Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Cold Fish (2010)

crime · drama · horror

Japan · Sion Sono

Colony (2016)

tv · action · adventure · drama

United States

Counterpart (2017)

tv · drama · sci-fi · thriller

United States

Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon (2000)

action · adventure · drama

Taiwan · Ang Lee

Cure (1997)

crime · horror · mystery

Japan · Kiyoshi Kurosawa

Cyberpunk: Edgerunners (2022)

tv · animation · action · adventure

Japan

DaVinci's Demons (2013)

tv · adventure · biography · drama

United States

Days of Being Wild (1990)

crime · drama · romance

Hong Kong · Wong Kar-Wai

Deadwind (2018)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

Finland

Deadwood (2004)

tv · crime · drama · history

United States

Dear Child (2023)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

Germany

Decision to Leave (2022)

crime · drama · mystery

South Korea · Park Chan-wook

Demon City (2024)

action · adventure · crime

Japan · Seiji Tanaka

Derry Girls (2018)

tv · comedy

United Kingdom

Destroyer (2018)

action · crime · drama

United States · Karyn Kusama

Devs (2020)

tv · drama · mystery · sci-fi

United Kingdom

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency (2016)

tv · action · adventure · comedy

United States

District 9 (2009)

action · sci-fi · thriller

South Africa · Neill Blomkamp

Doom Patrol (2019)

tv · action · adventure · comedy

United States

Downton Abbey (2010)

tv · drama · romance

United Kingdom

Dredd (2012)

action · crime · sci-fi

United Kingdom · Pete Travis

Drops of God (2023)

tv · drama

France

Dune (2021)

action · adventure · drama

United States · Denis Villeneuve

Dust of Angels (1992)

action · crime · drama

Taiwan · Hsiao-Ming Hsu

Edge of Tomorrow (2014)

action · adventure · sci-fi

United States · Doug Liman

Edie (2017)

adventure · drama

United Kingdom · Simon Hunter

Elysium (2013)

action · drama · sci-fi

United States · Neill Blomkamp

Encanto (2021)

animation · comedy · family

United States · Jared Bush

Endeavour (2012)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

United Kingdom

Equilibrium (2002)

action · drama · sci-fi

United States · Kurt Wimmer

Euphoria (2019)

tv · drama

United States

Extreme Job (2019)

action · comedy · crime

South Korea · Lee Byeong-heon

Fair Play (2023)

drama · thriller

United States · Chloe Domont

Fallen Leaves (2023)

comedy · drama · romance

Finland · Aki Kaurismäki

Fallout (2024)

tv · action · adventure · drama

United States

Fargo (2014)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

United States

Firefly (2002)

tv · adventure · drama · sci-fi

United States

Foundation (2021)

tv · drama · sci-fi

Ireland

Foyle's War (2002)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

United Kingdom

Fringe (2008)

tv · drama · mystery · sci-fi

United States

From (2022)

tv · drama · horror · mystery

United States

Funky Forest (2005)

comedy · fantasy

Japan · Katsuhito Ishii

Future Man (2017)

tv · action · adventure · comedy

United States

Gen V (2023)

tv · action · adventure · comedy

United States

Ghost in the Shell (1995)

animation · action · crime

Japan · Mamoru Oshii

Ghostbusters Afterlife (2021)

adventure · comedy · fantasy

United States · Jason Reitman

Godzilla Minus One (2023)

action · adventure · drama

Japan · Takashi Yamazaki

Going By The Book (2007)

action · comedy

South Korea · Hee-chan Ra

Gomorrah (2014)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

Italy

Guns & Talks (2001)

action · drama · comedy

South Korea · Jang Jin

Halt and Catch Fire (2014)

tv · drama

United States

Handmaid's Tale (2017)

tv · drama · sci-fi · thriller

United States

Hanna (2019)

tv · action · crime · drama

United States

Hannibal (2013)

tv · crime · drama · horror

United States

Hausen (2020)

tv · drama · horror · mystery

Germany

Heavy Water War (Kampen om tungtvannet) (2015)

tv · drama · history · war

Norway

Heroes (2006)

tv · crime · drama · fantasy

United States

Hotel Del Luna (2019)

tv · action · comedy · drama

South Korea

Infernal Affairs (2002)

crime · drama · mystery

Hong Kong · Wai Keung Lau

Inside the Yellow Cocoon Shell (2023)

drama

Vietnam · Thien An Pham

Inspector Morse (1987)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

United Kingdom

Ip Man (2008)

action · biography · drama

Hong Kong · Wilson Yip

Johnny Mnemonic (1995)

action · drama · sci-fi

Canada · Robert Longo

JSA: Joint Security Area (2000)

action · drama · thriller

South Korea · Park Chan-wook

Jury Duty (2023)

tv · comedy

United States

Justified (2010)

tv · action · crime · drama

United States

Kaili Blues (2015)

drama · mystery

China · Bi Gan

Kalifat (2020)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

Sweden

Katla (2021)

tv · drama · fantasy · mystery

Iceland

Killers of the Flower Moon (2023)

crime · drama · history

United States · Martin Scorsese

Killzone (SPL) (2005)

action · crime · thriller

Hong Kong · Wilson Yip

Kingdom (2019)

tv · action · drama · horror

South Korea

Kung Fu Dunk (2008)

action · comedy · sport

China · Yen-Ping Chu

Kung Fu Hustle (2004)

action · comedy · fantasy

Hong Kong · Stephen Chow

La Haine (1995)

crime · drama

France · Mathieu Kassovitz

Le Bureau des Legendes (2015)

tv · drama · thriller

France

Left Handed Girl (2024)

drama

Taiwan · Shih-Ching Tsou

Legion (2017)

tv · action · sci-fi · thriller

United States

Les Revenants (2012)

tv · drama · fantasy · horror

France

Little Fires Everywhere (2020)

tv · drama · mystery · thriller

United States

Locked In (2023)

mystery · thriller

United States · David C. Snyder

Lodge 49 (2018)

tv · comedy · drama · mystery

United States

Logan Lucky (2017)

action · comedy · crime

United States · Steven Soderbergh

Loki (2021)

tv · action · adventure · fantasy

United States

Long Day's Journey Into Night (2018)

drama · mystery · romance

China · Bi Gan

Looper (2012)

action · drama · sci-fi

United States · Rian Johnson

Lupin (2021)

tv · action · crime · drama

France

Lust, Caution (2007)

drama · history · romance

Taiwan · Ang Lee

Man in the High Castle (2015)

tv · drama · sci-fi · thriller

United States

Man Standing Next (2020)

thriller

South Korea · Min-ho Woo

Manhunt (2019)

tv · biography · crime · drama

United Kingdom

Manifest (2018)

tv · drama · mystery · sci-fi

United States

Marco Polo (2014)

tv · action · adventure · drama

United States

Marvelous Mrs Maisel (2017)

tv · comedy · drama

United States

Max Headroom (1987)

tv · comedy · sci-fi

United States

May December (2023)

comedy · drama

United States · Todd Haynes

Metropolis (1927)

drama · sci-fi

Germany · Fritz Lang

Midnight Mass (2021)

tv · drama · fantasy · horror

United States

Midsommar (2019)

drama · horror · mystery

United States · Ari Aster

Minority Report (2002)

action · crime · mystery

United States · Steven Spielberg

Misfits (2009)

tv · comedy · drama · fantasy

United Kingdom

Miss King (2024)

tv · drama · thriller

Japan

Mobland (2024)

tv · crime · drama

United Kingdom

Mogura (2024)

Monk (2002)

tv · comedy · crime · drama

United States

Moving (2023)

tv · action · adventure · drama

South Korea

Mr Inbetween (2018)

tv · comedy · crime · drama

Australia

Mr. Robot (2015)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

United States

Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance (2002)

crime · drama · thriller

South Korea · Park Chan-wook

Mrs. Davis (2023)

tv · comedy · drama · sci-fi

United States

My Name (2021)

tv · action · crime · drama

South Korea

Narcos (2015)

tv · biography · crime · drama

United States

Nine Days (2020)

drama · fantasy

United States · Edson Oda

No Other Choice (2025)

comedy · crime · drama

South Korea · Park Chan-wook

Nobel (2016)

tv · drama · thriller · war

Norway

Northern Exposure (1990)

tv · adventure · comedy · drama

United States

Occupied (Okkupert) (2015)

tv · drama · thriller

Norway

Oldboy (2003)

action · drama · mystery

South Korea · Park Chan-wook

Once Upon a Time in China (1991)

action

Hong Kong · Hark Tsui

One False Move (1992)

crime · drama · thriller

United States · Carl Franklin

Ong Bak (2003)

action · crime · thriller

Thailand · Prachya Pinkaew

Oppenheimer (2023)

biography · drama · history

United States · Christopher Nolan

Orphan Black (2013)

tv · drama · sci-fi · thriller

Canada

Ozark (2017)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

United States

Pacifiction (2022)

drama · thriller

France · Albert Serra

Pan's Labyrinth (2006)

drama · fantasy · war

Mexico · Guillermo del Toro

Panchayat (2020)

tv · comedy · drama

India

Pantheon (2022)

tv · animation · action · adventure

United States

Past Lives (2023)

drama · romance

United States · Celine Song

Peacemaker (2022)

tv · action · adventure · comedy

United States

Peaky Blinders (2013)

tv · crime · drama

United Kingdom

PEN15 (2019)

tv · comedy · drama

United States

Penny Dreadful (2014)

tv · drama · fantasy · horror

United Kingdom

Perfect Days (2023)

drama

Japan · Wim Wenders

Persepolis (2007)

animation · biography · drama

France · Vincent Paronnaud

Police Story (1985)

action · comedy · crime

Hong Kong · Jackie Chan

Poor Things (2023)

comedy · drama · romance

Ireland · Yorgos Lanthimos

Preacher (2016)

tv · adventure · comedy · fantasy

United States

Primo (2023)

tv · comedy

United States

Priscilla (2023)

biography · drama · music

Italy · Sofia Coppola

Professor T (2015)

tv · comedy · crime · drama

Belgium

Raise the Red Lantern (1991)

drama · romance

China · Yimou Zhang

Reservation Dogs (2021)

tv · comedy · crime

United States

Riki Oh (1991)

action · comedy · crime

Hong Kong · Ngai Choi Lam

Ripley (2024)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

United States

Robocop (1987)

action · crime · sci-fi

United States · Paul Verhoeven

Rome (2005)

tv · action · drama · romance

United Kingdom

Rurouni Kenshin (2012)

action · adventure · drama

Japan · Keishi Otomo

Russian Doll (2019)

tv · comedy · drama · mystery

United States

Scavengers Reign (2023)

tv · animation · adventure · drama

United States

Scrapper (2023)

comedy · drama

United Kingdom · Charlotte Regan

Secret Level (2024)

tv · animation · action · adventure

United States

See (2019)

tv · action · drama · sci-fi

United States

Sex is Zero (2002)

comedy · drama · romance

South Korea · JK Youn

Shall We Dance (1996)

comedy · drama · music

Japan · Masayuki Suô

Shameless (2011)

tv · comedy · drama

United States

Shantaram (2022)

tv · action · adventure · crime

United States

Shaolin Soccer (2001)

action · comedy · fantasy

Hong Kong · Stephen Chow

Sharp Objects (2018)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

United States

Shin Ultraman (2022)

action · adventure · drama

Japan · Shinji Higuchi

Shinobi No Mono (1962)

action · drama

Japan · Satsuo Yamamoto

Shogun (2024)

tv · action · adventure · drama

United States

Shutter Island (2010)

drama · mystery · thriller

Canada · Martin Scorsese

Signal (2016)

tv · crime · drama · fantasy

South Korea

Silo (2023)

tv · drama · mystery · sci-fi

United States

Six Feet Under (2001)

tv · comedy · drama

United States

Slow Horses (2022)

tv · drama · thriller

United Kingdom

Snowfall (2017)

tv · crime · drama

United States

Snowpiercer (2013)

action · sci-fi · thriller

South Korea · Bong Joon Ho

Somebody Somewhere (2022)

tv · comedy · drama

United States

Sonatine (1993)

action · comedy · crime

Japan · Takeshi Kitano

Spartacus (2010)

tv · action · adventure · biography

United States

Spiral (Engrenage) (2005)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

France

Strange Darling (2023)

horror · thriller

United States · JT Mollner

Strange Days (1995)

crime · drama · sci-fi

United States · Kathryn Bigelow

Strike Back (2010)

tv · action · drama · thriller

United Kingdom

Succession (2018)

tv · comedy · drama

United States

Survive Style 5+ (2004)

comedy · fantasy · horror

Japan · Gen Sekiguchi

Suzhou River (2000)

drama · romance

Germany · Ye Lou

Taegukgi (2004)

action · drama · war

South Korea · Kang Je-kyu

Talk to Her (2002)

drama · mystery · romance

Spain · Pedro Almodóvar

Taxi Driver (2017)

action · drama · history

South Korea · Hun Jang

Ted Lasso (2020)

tv · comedy · drama · sport

United States

Terminal List (2022)

tv · action · drama · thriller

United States

Terminator (1984)

action · adventure · sci-fi

United Kingdom · James Cameron

Tetsuo: The Iron Man (1989)

horror · sci-fi

Japan · Shin'ya Tsukamoto

The 8 Show (2024)

tv · comedy · drama · horror

South Korea

The Americans (2013)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

United States

The Beekeeper (2024)

action · crime · thriller

United Kingdom · David Ayer

The Boys (2019)

tv · action · comedy · crime

United States

The Bridge (Broen/Bron) (2011)

tv · crime · mystery · thriller

Sweden

The Brothers Sun (2024)

tv · action · comedy · drama

United States

The Cabin in the Woods (2011)

horror · mystery · thriller

Canada · Drew Goddard

The Detour (2016)

tv · adventure · comedy

United States

The Electric State (2025)

action · adventure · comedy

United States · Anthony Russo

The Empty Man (2020)

drama · horror · mystery

United States · David Prior

The End of the F***ing World (2017)

tv · adventure · comedy · crime

United Kingdom

The Expanse (2015)

tv · drama · mystery · sci-fi

United States

The Fall of the House of Usher (2023)

tv · drama · horror · mystery

United States

The Glory (2022)

tv · drama · mystery · thriller

South Korea

The Good The Bad The Weird (2008)

action · adventure · comedy

South Korea · Kim Jee-woon

The Handmaiden (2016)

drama · romance · thriller

South Korea · Park Chan-wook

The Head (2020)

tv · drama · horror · mystery

Spain

The Holdovers (2023)

comedy · drama

United States · Alexander Payne

The Host (2006)

drama · horror · sci-fi

South Korea · Bong Joon Ho

The Killer (1989)

action · crime · drama

Hong Kong · John Woo

The Killing (2007)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

Denmark

The Last Kingdom (2015)

tv · action · drama · history

United Kingdom

The Last of Us (2023)

tv · action · adventure · drama

Canada

The Lazarus Project (2022)

tv · action · drama · fantasy

United Kingdom

The Leftovers (2014)

tv · drama · fantasy · mystery

United States

The Legend of Vox Machina (2022)

tv · animation · action · adventure

United States

The Letdown (2017)

tv · comedy

Australia

The Man from Nowhere (2010)

action · crime · drama

South Korea · Lee Jeong-beom

The Matrix (1999)

action · sci-fi

United States · Lana Wachowski

The Night Comes for Us (2018)

action · crime · thriller

Indonesia · Timo Tjahjanto

The Other Two (2019)

tv · comedy

United States

The Outsider (2020)

tv · crime · drama · horror

United States

The Pitt (2025)

tv · drama

United States

The Queen's Gambit (2020)

tv · drama

United States

The Raid (2011)

action · crime · thriller

Indonesia · Gareth Evans

The Raid 2 (2014)

action · crime · thriller

Indonesia · Gareth Evans

The Running Man (1987)

action · sci-fi · thriller

United States · Paul Michael Glaser

The Shield (2002)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

United States

The Sopranos (1999)

tv · crime · drama

United States

The Taste of Things (2023)

drama · history · romance

France · Anh Hung Tran

The Tower (2021)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

United Kingdom

The Town (2010)

crime · drama · thriller

United States · Ben Affleck

The Umbrella Academy (2019)

tv · action · adventure · comedy

United States

The Wire (2002)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

United States

The Zone of Interest (2023)

drama · history · war

United Kingdom · Jonathan Glazer

Three Colors: Blue (1993)

drama · music · mystery

France · Krzysztof Kieslowski

Three Colors: Red (1994)

drama · mystery · romance

France · Krzysztof Kieslowski

Three Colors: White (1994)

comedy · drama · romance

France · Krzysztof Kieslowski

Tokyo Vice (2022)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

Japan

Tom Yum Goong (The Protector) (2005)

action · crime · drama

Thailand · Prachya Pinkaew

Total Recall (1990)

action · adventure · sci-fi

United States · Paul Verhoeven

Trapped (2015)

tv · crime · drama · mystery

Iceland

Tron (1982)

action · adventure · sci-fi

United States · Steven Lisberger

Tumbbad (2018)

drama · fantasy · horror

India · Rahi Anil Barve

Upgrade (2018)

action · sci-fi · thriller

United States · Leigh Whannell

Us and Them (2018)

drama · romance

China · Rene Liu

Utopia (2013)

tv · drama · mystery · sci-fi

United Kingdom

Violet Evergarden: The Movie (2020)

animation · drama · fantasy

Japan · Taichi Ishidate

Volver (2006)

comedy · drama

Spain · Pedro Almodóvar

Warped Forest (2011)

comedy · fantasy

Japan · Shunichirô Miki

Warrior (2019)

tv · action · crime · drama

United States

Wayward Pines (2015)

tv · drama · horror · mystery

United States

Weeds (2005)

tv · comedy · crime · drama

United States

Westworld (2016)

tv · drama · mystery · sci-fi

United States

Wild Goose Lake (2019)

crime · drama

China · Yi'nan Diao

Wind River (2017)

crime · drama · mystery

United Kingdom · Taylor Sheridan

Winter's Bone (2010)

crime · drama · mystery

United States · Debra Granik

Yellowjackets (2021)

tv · drama · mystery · thriller

United States

You (2018)

tv · crime · drama · romance

United States

Yu Yu Hakusho (2023)

tv · action · adventure · comedy

Japan

Zero Zero Zero (2020)

tv · crime · drama · thriller

Italy

Introducing Kitty Cards

Fri, 23 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

Back in 2023, I toyed with the relevant iOS dev tools needed to create a custom Tesco Clubcard pkpass, and even showed how to scan a QR code from our beloved Emacs (of course).

Neither my friend Vaarnan nor I are strangers to the iOS ecosystem, yet we both agreed the above approach wasn't very practical (for neither devs nor the average iOS user). So we figured we should have a crack at it.

While there are some ready-made solutions out there, they often require downloading additional iOS apps or working through clunky web interfaces. We just wanted a simpler way to create our own Apple Wallet cards, and so Kitty Cards (kitty.cards) was born: no app download or sign-in required.

Hopefully not much to explain. From kitty.cards, customize a card, press the Add to Apple Wallet button, and Bobs your uncle.

Hope you enjoy Kitty Cards!

Bending Emacs - Episode 10: agent-shell

Fri, 16 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

I've just uploaded a new Bending Emacs episode:

Bending Emacs Episode 10: agent-shell

You may have seen some of my previous posts on agent-shell, a package I built offering a uniform user experience across a diverse set of agents. In this video, I showcase the main agent-shell features. I had lots to cover, so the video is on the longer side of things.

I've showcased much of the content in previous agent-shell posts, so I'll just share links to those instead:

Hope you enjoyed the video!

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

Bending Emacs - Episode 9: World times

Tue, 06 Jan 2026 00:00:00 GMT

A new year, a new Bending Emacs episode, so here it goes:

Bending Emacs Episode 9: Time around the world

Emacs comes with a built-in world clock: M-x world-clock

To customize displayed timezones, use:

(setq world-clock-list '(("America/New_York" "New York")
                         ("America/Caracas" "Caracas")
                         ("Europe/London" "London")
                         ("Asia/Tokyo" "Tokyo")))

Each entry requires a valid timezone string (as per entries in your system's /usr/share/zoneinfo) and a display label.

I wanted a slightly different experience than the built-in command (more details here), so I built the time-zones package.

time-zones is available on MELPA, so you can install with:

(use-package time-zones :ensure t)

Toggle help with the "?" key add cities with the "+" key. Shifting time is possible via the "f" / "b" keys, in addition to a other features available via the "?" help menu.

Hope you enjoyed the video!

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

Make it all sustainable

Enjoying this content or my projects? I am an indie dev. Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

My 2025 review as an indie dev

Tue, 30 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

In 2024, I took the leap to go indie full-time. By 2025, that shift enabled me to focus exclusively on building tools I care about, from a blogging platform, iOS apps, and macOS utilities, to Emacs packages. It also gave me the space to write regularly, covering topics like Emacs tips, development tutorials for macOS and iOS, a few cooking detours, and even launching a new YouTube channel.

The rest of this post walks through some of the highlights from 2025. If you’ve found my work useful, please consider sponsoring.

Off we go…

Launched a new blogging service

For well over a decade, my blogging setup consisted of a handful of Elisp functions cobbled together over the years. While they did the job just fine, I couldn't shake the feeling that I could do better, and maybe even offer a blogging platform without the yucky bits of the modern web. At the beginning of the year, I launched LMNO.lol. Today, my xenodium.com blog proudly runs on LMNO.lol.

LMNO.lol blogs render pretty much anywhere (Emacs and terminals included, of course).

2026 is a great year to start a blog! Custom domains totally welcome.

A journaling/note-taking app that feels like tweeting

Sure, there are plenty of journaling and note-taking apps out there. For one reason or another, none of them stuck for me (including my own apps). That is, until I learned a thing or two from social media.

With that in mind, Journelly was born: like tweeting, but for your eyes only. With the right user experience, I felt compelled to write things down all the time. Saving to Markdown and Org markup was the mighty sweet cherry on the cake.

Let's learn Japanese

As a Japanese language learning noob, what better way to procrastinate than by building yet another Kana-practicing iOS app? Turns out, it kinda did the job.

Here's mochi invaders, a fun way to practice your Kana

A new Emacs-native AI/LLM agent (powered by ACP)

2025 brought us the likes of Claude Code, Gemini CLI, Goose, Codex, and many more AI/LLM CLI agents. While CLI utilities have their appeal, I wanted a native Emacs integration, so I simply ignored agents for quite some time.

I was initially tempted to write my own Emacs agent, but ultimately decided against it. My hope was that agent providers would somehow converge to offer editor integration, so I could focus on building an Emacs integration while leveraging the solid work from many teams producing agents. With LLM APIs historically fragmented, my hope for agent convergence seemed fairly far-fetched.

To my surprise, ACP (Agent Client Protocol) was announced by Zed and Google folks. This was the cue I had been waiting for, so I set out to build acp.el, a UX agnostic elisp library, followed by an actual client: agent-shell.

I'm fairly happy with how agent-shell's been shaping up. This is my most popular package from 2025, receiving lots of user feedback. If you're curious about the feature-set, I've written about agent-shell's progress from early on:

chatgpt-shell improvements

While agent-shell is the new kid on the block, chatgpt-shell received DeepSeek, Open Router, Kagi, and Perplexity support, in addition to a handful of other improvements and bugfixes.

A new YouTube channel

While most of what I share usually ends up as a blog post, this year I decided to try something new. I started the Bending Emacs YouTube channel and posted 8 episodes:

Enjoying the content? Leave me a comment or subscribe to my channel.

My decade with org (Emacs Carnival)

While I enthusiastically joined the Emacs Carnival, I didn't quite manage monthly posts. Having said that, when I did participate, I went all in, documenting my org experience over the last decade. Ok well… I also joined in with my elevator pitch ;)

Awesome Emacs on macOS

While migrating workflows to Emacs makes them extra portable across platforms, I've also accumulated a bunch of tweaks enhancing your Emacs experience on macOS.

EverTime for macOS

While we're talking macOS, I typically like my desktop free from distractions, which includes hiding the status bar.

Having said that, I don't want to lose track of time, and for that, I built EverTime, an ever-present floating clock (available via Homebrew).

A new time zone Emacs package

Emacs ships with a perfectly functional world clock, available via M-x world-clock, but I wanted a little more, so I built time-zones.

Also covered in:

A new WhatsApp Emacs client

For better or worse, I rely on WhatsApp Messenger. Migrating to a different client or protocol just isn't viable for me, so I did the next best thing and built wasabi, an Emacs client ;)

While not a trivial task, wuzapi and whatsmeow offered a huge leg up. I wanted tighter Emacs integration, so I upstreamed a handful of patches to add JSON-RPC support, plus easier macOS installation via Homebrew.

Details covered in a couple of posts:

Spiff that shell up

While both macOS and iOS offer APIs for generating URL previews, they also let you fetch rich page metadata. I built rinku, a tiny command-line utility, and showed how to wire it all up via eshell for a nifty shell experience.

With similar eshell magic, you can also get a neat cat experience.

At one with your code

I always liked the idea of generating some sort of art or graphics from a code base, so I built one, a utility to transform images into character art using text from your codebase. Also covered in a short blog post.

Emacs can trim your videos too

Emacs is just about the perfect porcelain for command-line utilities. With little ceremony, you can integrate almost any CLI tool. Magit remains the gold standard for CLI integration.

While trimming videos doesn't typically spring to mind as an Emacs use case, I was pleasantly surprised by the possibilities.

Landing Emacs patches upstream

While I've built my fair share of Emacs packages, I'm still fairly new at submitting Emacs features upstream. This year, I landed my send-to (aka sharing on macOS) patch. While the proposal did spark quite the discussion, I'm glad I stuck with it. Both Eli and Stefan were amazingly helpful.

This year, I also wanted to experiment with dictating into my Emacs text buffers, but unfortunately dictation had regressed in Emacs 30.

Bummer. But hey, it gave me a new opportunity to submit another patch upstream.

Ready Player improvements

Ready Player, my Emacs media-playing package received further improvements like starring media (via Emacs bookmarks), enabling further customizations, and other bug fixes. Also showcased a tour of its features.

GitHub activity

Commits: 1,095
Issues created: 37
PRs reviewed: 106
Average commits per day: ~3

New GitHub projects

EverTime - An ever present clock for macOS
acp.el - An ACP implementation in Emacs lisp
agent-shell - A native Emacs buffer to interact with LLM agents powered by ACP
diverted - Identify temporary Emacs diversions and return to original location
emacs-materialized-theme - An Emacs theme derived from Material
homebrew-evertime - EverTime formula for the Homebrew package manager
homebrew-one - Homebrew recipe for one
homebrew-rinku - Homebrew recipe for rinku
one - Transform images into character art using text from your codebase
rinku - Generate link previews from the command line (macOS)
time-zones - View time at any city across the world in Emacs
video-trimmer - A video-trimming utility for Emacs
wasabi - A WhatsApp Emacs client powered by wuzapi and whatsmeow

Blog posts

Hope you enjoyed my 2025 contributions. Sponsor the work.

Journelly 1.3 released: Hello Markdown!

Sun, 21 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Journelly 1.3 available on the App Store

What is Journelly?

Journelly feels like tweeting but for your eyes only.

A fresh take on frictionless note-taking or journaling for iOS, powered by plain text (Markdown + Org).

Save cooking recipes, movies, music, restaurants, coffee shops…
Jot down your thoughts.
Save your favorite quotes.
Use it as a journal, memo book, or notes.
Write your shopping lists.
Document your travels.
Lots more…

Check out journelly.com for details.

What's new?

Journelly v1.3 brings Markdown support (the most requested feature), along with Simplified Chinese localization and other enhancements.

Markdown support

Journelly first launched with Org markup support, popular among Emacs enthusiasts. Markdown support has by far been the most requested feature. Thank you to everyone who reached out, shared your interest, and helped beta test early builds.

Whether you're a fan of Markdown or Org-mode, Journelly now lets you store entries in your preferred format. Choose your favorite markup on first launch or via the app menu.

So you like Markdown things?

While on topic, I also run lmno.lol, a Markdown-powered blogging service. Simple and focused, without the frustrating parts of the modern web. Custom domains welcome. My xenodium.com blog runs off lmno.lol.

Simplified Chinese (简体中文)

Simplified Chinese (简体中文) is now available, joining Journelly's list of supported languages:

Simplified Chinese (简体中文)
Danish
Dutch
English
Finnish
French
German
Italian
Japanese
Norwegian
Spanish
Swedish

Home Screen Widget

A home screen widget is now available, offering quick access to three key actions right from the home screen.

Discoverable mode

Prefer clear buttons over swipe gestures? You can now enable Discoverable Mode under “Menu > View.” This new mode makes features more visible and easier to navigate, perfect for folks favoring more explicit interaction over gestures or subtle hints.

Org rendering

For Org users: Journelly now renders both quote and code blocks.

Tidying the list up

The entry list received a little refresh to make better use of screen space. Bottom-aligned controls also make for easier one-handed use.

Love Journelly? I need your help

Since launch, Journelly has remained a single-payment app. No subscriptions. I get it, subscriptions are no fun.

That said, sustainable development is tough without regular downloads. I'm hoping the new Markdown support helps Journelly reach a wider audience.

Help Journelly grow:

Leave a review on the App Store.
Share Journelly with your friends.

Thank you

Hope you enjoy the v1.3 update.

Thank you for using Journelly and supporting indie development 💛💙❤️

agent-shell 0.25 updates

Sat, 20 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

It's been a little while since the last agent-shell blog post detailing changes, so we're naturally due another one detailing the latest features.

What's `agent-shell`?

A native Emacs shell to interact with any LLM agent powered by ACP (Agent Client Protocol).

✨ Sponsor agent-shell ✨

So what's new?

Let's go through the latest changes…

Viewport/compose (experimental)

The biggest change is the new experimental viewport/compose mode. While agent-shell's comint shell experience has its benefits, some folks may opt for a more familiar buffer experience, that is less shell-like.

There are perhaps 3 defining characteristics in the new viewport/compose feature:

A dedicated compose buffer: You get a full, multiline buffer dedicated to crafting prompts. I personally find this mode of operation more natural (no need to watch out for accidental submissions via RET), but also opens up the possibility to enable your favourite minor modes that may not play nice with comint. You can launch compose buffers via M-x agent-shell-prompt-compose, edit your prompt, and when you're ready, submit with the familiar C-c C-c binding.

Viewport: I've experimented with shell viewports before and also added a similar experience to chatgpt-shell. This compose/viewport UX quickly became my primary way of interacting with non-agent LLMs. This is a read-only buffer typically displaying the latest agent interaction. Use n/p to navigate through current interaction items. Use f/b to switch through pages/interactions.

Auto-modal: Compose and viewport modes complement each other and offer automatic transition between read-only and editable (compose) buffers. From a viewport, you can always press r to reply to the latest interaction. When replying, you automatically go into edit/compose mode. When submitting via C-c C-c, you automatically transition into viewport (read-only) mode.

While you can use M-x agent-shell-prompt-compose at any time to compose multi-line prompts and send from the shell, to get the compose/viewport hybrid experience, you need to enable with (setq agent-shell-prefer-viewport-interaction t). From then on, M-x agent-shell will favor the compose/viewport experience. You can always jump between viewport and shell with C-c C-o.

Prompt queueing (experimental)

agent-shell buffers now offer the ability to queue additional prompts if the agent is busy. Use M-x agent-shell-queue-request and M-x agent-shell-remove-pending-request to queue and remove requests.

Session model/mode

You can now change models via M-x agent-shell-set-session-model (C-c C-v), when supported by the agent.

For Anthropic users, we now have agent-shell-anthropic-default-model-id and agent-shell-anthropic-default-session-mode-id to set default agent model and modes. You can view available values by expanding shell handshake items.

If keen on using defaults for a different agent, please file a feature request.

Set preferred agent

By default, launching via M-x agent-shell prompts users to select one of the supported agents. You can now skip this by setting your preferred agent (thank you Jonathan).

(setq agent-shell-new-shell-config (agent-shell-anthropic-make-claude-code-config))

Automatic transcripts

While shell-maker automatically prompts users to save content when killing agent-shell buffers, its integration was a little clunky with agents. Elle Najt's agent-shell-specific implementation is now enable by default, saving Markdown transcripts to project/.agent-shell/transcripts. When launching new shells, you should see a message like:

Created project/.agent-shell/transcripts/2025-12-17-22-07-38.md

You can always open the current transcript via M-x agent-shell-open-transcript.

To disable the new transcript generation use:

(setq agent-shell-transcript-file-path-function nil)

MCP servers

Jonathan Jin introduced agent-shell-mcp-servers, enabling folks to add MCP servers to their agents.

For example:

(setq agent-shell-mcp-servers
      '(((name . "notion")
         (type . "http")
         (headers . [])
         (url . "https://mcp.notion.com/mcp"))))

Buffer search

You can now search across shell nodes, including collapsed ones. When using isearch (swiper too), matching nodes are now automatically expanded.

DWIM context

When invoking M-x agent-shell, active region, flymake errors, dired and image buffers are now automatically considered and brought over to agent-shell buffers to be included while crafting prompts.

There's one more. From a viewport buffer, selecting a region and pressing "r" (for reply) brings the selection over to the compose buffer as blockquoted text.

Cursor support (migrated to Mike Moore's adapter)

We've migrated Cursor agent support to use Mike Moore's ACP Adapter.

Install with:

npm install -g @blowmage/cursor-agent-acp

New related packages

Paul Nelson built agent-shell-attention.el offering a mode line attention indicator.
Julian Hirn built agent-review introducing a streamlined workflow.

Bug fixes

#106: Use replace-buffer-contents instead of erase-buffer/insert
#127: No longer possible to select the Anthropic model used by Claude Code
#142: [bug] Crash during message streaming: markdown overlay receives nil positions
#143: gemini 0.17.1 requires authMethod to authenticate (fix by Andrea)
#144: Make collapsible indicator keymap customizable
#145: Unable to enter Plan Mode until after first message is sent
#150: Warning (undo): Buffer 'Codex Agent @ …' undo info was 25664948 bytes long
#154: Gemini CLI doesn't need authorization if already logged in

Pull requests

Thank you to all contributors for these improvements!

#125: Fix error when viewing proposed diffs (Nat Page)
#129: Support setting a preferred agent config (Jonathan Jin)
#138: Enable specifying MCP server configurations via custom variable (Jonathan Jin)
#139: Document MCP server config functionality (Jonathan Jin)
#140: README: Add MELPA badge + expand install instructions (Jonathan Jin)
#141: Add keybindings to cycle/set session mode (Jonathan Jin)
#149: Use fixed-pitch for ascii art logos (Mark A. Hershberger)
#155: Give the new custom flag to gemini for skipping the authorization (ccQpein)

Lots of other work ❤️😅

Beyond what's showcased, much love and effort's been poured into polishing the agent-shell experience. Interested in the nitty-gritty? Have a look through the 122 commits since the last blog post.

Make the work sustainable

If agent-shell or acp.el are useful to you, please consider sponsoring development. LLM tokens aren't free, and neither is the time dedicated to building this stuff ;-)

Bending Emacs - Episode 8: completing-read

Sat, 13 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Nearly a couple of weeks since the last Bending Emacs episode, so here's a new episode:

Bending Emacs Episode 8: completing-read

In this video, we take a look at the humble but mighty completing-read function. We can use it to craft our purpose-built tools, whether in pure elisp or to interact with command-line utilities.

Of interest, I also highlighted the great elisp-demos package, which extends your help buffers with sample snippets.

Here are some of the completing-read snippets we played with:

Pick a queen:

(completing-read "Pick a Queen: "
                 '("Queen of Hearts ♥"
                   "Queen of Spades ♠"
                   "Queen of Clubs ♣"
                   "Queen of Diamonds ♦")
                 ;; predicate
                 nil
                 ;; require match
                 t)

Our own hashing function with an algo picker:

(defun misc/hash-region ()
  (interactive)
  (message "Hash: %s" (secure-hash (intern (completing-read
                                            "Hash type: "
                                            '(md5 sha1 sha224 sha256 sha384 sha512)))
                                   (current-buffer)
                                   (when (use-region-p)
                                     (region-beginning))
                                   (when (use-region-p)
                                     (region-end)))))

A first look at integrating completing read with a CLI util:

(completing-read "Select file: "
                 (string-split (shell-command-to-string "ls -1 ../") "\n"))

Also got creative with BluetoothConnector on macOS and completing-read.

(completing-read "Toggle BT connection: "
                 (mapcar (lambda (device)
                           ;; Extract device name
                           (nth 1 (split-string device " - ")))
                         (seq-filter
                          (lambda (line)
                            ;; Keep lines like: af-8c-3b-b1-99-af - Device name
                            (string-match-p "^[0-9a-f]\\{2\\}" line))
                          (split-string (shell-command-to-string "BluetoothConnector") "\n"))))

Some of my completing-read uses:

Emacs: quickly killing processes.
Emacs: insert and render SF symbols.
macOS open with.
macOS set default app.
macOS share (the unhinged way).
ready-player search.

Hope you enjoyed the video!

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

Make it all sustainable

Enjoying this content or my projects? I am an indie dev. Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

At one with your code

Tue, 02 Dec 2025 00:00:00 GMT

While in the mood to goof around with Emacs, CLI, and image rendering, I've revised an idea to generate some sort of art from your codebase (or any text really). That is, given an image, generate a textual representation, potentially using source code as input.

With that, here's one: a utility to transform images into character art using text from your codebase.

Rather than tell you more about it, best to see it in action.

Just a bit of fun. That's all there is to it.

While I've only run it on macOS, one's written in Go, so should be fairly portable. I'd love to know if you get it running on Linux. The code's on GitHub.

If you're on macOS, I've added a Homebrew on GitHub, so you should just be able to install with:

brew install --HEAD xenodium/one/one

Make it all sustainable

Having fun with one? Enjoying this blog or my projects? I am an 👉 indie dev 👈. Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

Bending Emacs - Episode 7: Eshell built-in commands

Sun, 30 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

With my recent rinku post and Bending Emacs episode 6 both fresh in mind, I figured I may as well make another Bending Emacs episode, so here we are:

Bending Emacs Episode 7: Eshell built-in commands

Check out the rinku post for a rundown of things covered in the video.

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

Make it all sustainable

Enjoying this content or my projects? I am an indie dev. Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

Rinku: CLI link previews

Sat, 29 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

In my last Bending Emacs episode, I talked about overlays and used them to render link previews in an Emacs buffer.

While the overlays merely render an image, the actual link preview image is generated by rinku, a tiny command line utility I built recently.

Rinku leverages macOS APIs to do the actual heavy lifting, rendering/capturing a view off screen, and saving to disk. Similarly, it can fetch preview metadata, also saving the related thumbnail to disk. In both cases, rinku outputs to JSON.

By default, rinku fetches metadata for you.

rinku https://soundcloud.com/shehackedyou

Returns:

{
  "title": "she hacked you",
  "url": "https://soundcloud.com/shehackedyou",
  "image": "path/to/preview.png"
}

In this instance, the image looks a little something like this:

On the other hand, the --render flag generates a preview, very much like the ones you see in native macOS and iOS apps.

rinku --render https://soundcloud.com/shehackedyou

Returns:

{
  "image": "path/to/preview.png"
}

Similarly, the preview renders as follows:

Eshell superpowers

While overlays is one way to integrate rinku anywhere in Emacs, I had been meaning to look into what I can do for eshell in particular. Eshell is just another buffer, and while overlays could do the job, I wanted a shell-like experience. After all, I already knew we can echo images into an eshell buffer.

Before getting to rinku on eshell, there's a related hack I'd been meaning to get to for some time… While we're all likely familiar with the cat command, I remember being a little surprised to find that eshell offers an alternative cat elisp implementation. Surprised too? Go check it!

$ which cat
eshell/cat is a native-comp-function in ‘em-unix.el’.

Where am I going with this? Well, if eshell's cat command is an elisp implementation, we know its internals are up for grabs, so we can technically extend it to display images too. eshell/cat is just another function, so we can advice it to add image superpowers.

I was pleasantly surprised at how little code was needed. It basically scans for image arguments to handle within advice and otherwise delegates to eshell's original cat implementation.

(defun adviced:eshell/cat (orig-fun &rest args)
  "Like `eshell/cat' but with image support."
  (if (seq-every-p (lambda (arg)
                     (and (stringp arg)
                          (file-exists-p arg)
                          (image-supported-file-p arg)))
                   args)
      (with-temp-buffer
        (insert "\n")
        (dolist (path args)
          (let ((spec (create-image
                       (expand-file-name path)
                       (image-type-from-file-name path)
                       nil :max-width 350
                       :conversion (lambda (data) data))))
            (image-flush spec)
            (insert-image spec))
          (insert "\n"))
        (insert "\n")
        (buffer-string))
    (apply orig-fun args)))

(advice-add #'eshell/cat :around #'adviced:eshell/cat)

And with that, we can see our freshly powered-up cat command in action:

By now, you may wonder why the cat detour when the post was really about rinku? You see, this is Emacs, and everything compounds! We can now leverage our revamped cat command to give similar eshell superpowers to rinku, by merely adding an eshell/rinku function.

As we now know, rinku outputs things to JSON, so we can use json-read-from-string to parse the process output and subsequently feed the image path to eshell/cat. rinku can also output link titles, so we can show that too whenever possible.

(defun eshell/rinku (&rest args)
  "Fetch link preview with rinku and display image inline.

Usage: rinku https://soundcloud.com/shehackedyou
       rinku --render https://soundcloud.com/shehackedyou"
  (unless args
    (error "rinku: no arguments provided"))
  (let* ((output (with-temp-buffer
                   (apply #'call-process "rinku" nil t nil args)
                   (buffer-string)))
         (metadata (condition-case nil
                       (json-read-from-string output)
                     (error nil))))
    (if metadata
        (concat
         (if (map-elt metadata 'image)
             (eshell/cat (map-elt metadata 'image))
           "\n")
         (when (map-elt metadata 'title)
           (concat (map-elt metadata 'title)
                   "\n\n")))
      output)))

With that, we can see the lot in action:

While non-Emacs users are often puzzled by how frequently we bring user flows and integrations on to our beloved editor, once you learn a little elisp, you start realising how relatively easily things can integrate with one another and pretty much everything is up for grabs.

Make it all sustainable

Reckon rinku and these tips will be useful to you? Enjoying this blog or my projects? I am an 👉 indie dev 👈. Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

Bending Emacs - Episode 6: Overlays

Thu, 27 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The Bending Emacs series continues with a new a new episode.

Bending Emacs Episode 6: Overlays

Today we had a quick intro to overlays. Here's the snippet I used for adding snippets:

(save-excursion
  (goto-char (point-min))
  (when (search-forward "Hello World" nil t)
    (let* ((start (match-beginning 0))
           (end (match-end 0))
           (ov (make-overlay start end)))
      (overlay-put ov 'face '(:box (:line-width 1 :color "yellow")))
      ;; (overlay-put ov 'face 'underline)
      ;; (overlay-put ov 'face 'highlight)
      ;; (overlay-put ov 'before-string "🔥 ")
      ;; (overlay-put ov 'after-string  " 🚀")
      ;; (overlay-put ov 'display  "Howdy Planet")
      ;; (overlay-put ov 'invisible t)
      ;; (overlay-put ov 'help-echo "Yay overlay!")
      ;; (overlay-put ov 'mouse-face 'success)
      (overlay-put ov 'category 'overlays)
      (overlay-put ov 'evaporate t)
      ov)))

Similarly, this is what we used for removing the overlay.

(remove-overlays (point-min) (point-max)
                 'category 'overlays)

Of the experiments, you can find:

Redaction snippet at the related blog post.
Dired media metadata at Ready Player's ready-player-dired.el.
Link previews: While I don't have elisp to share for link previews just yet, I did release a tiny thumbnail utility named rinku ;)

Hope you enjoyed the video!

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

Make it all sustainable

Enjoying this content or my projects? I am an indie dev. Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

WhatsApp from you know where

Mon, 24 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

While there are plenty of messaging alternatives out there, for better or worse, WhatsApp remains a necessity for some of us.

With that in mind, I looked for ways to bring WhatsApp messaging to the comfort of my beloved text editor.

As mentioned in my initial findings, WhatsApp on Emacs is totally doable with the help of wuzapi and whatsmeow, which offer a huge leg up.

Wasabi joins the chat

Today, I introduce a super early version of Wasabi, a native Emacs interface for WhatsApp messaging.

Simple install as a feature/goal

I wanted Wasabi installation/setup to be as simple as possible. Ideally, you install a single Emacs package and off you go.

While leveraging XMPP is rather appealing in reusing existing Emacs messaging packages, I felt setting up a WhatsApp gateway or related infrastructure to be somewhat at odds with wasabi's simple installation goal. Having said that, wuzapi/whatsmeow offer a great middle ground. You install a single binary dependency, along with wasabi, and you're ready to go. This isn't too different from the git + magit combo.

As of now, wasabi's installation/setup boils down to two steps if you're on macOS:

(use-package wasabi
  :ensure t
  :vc (:url "https://github.com/xenodium/wasabi" :branch "main"))

brew install asternic/wuzapi/wuzapi

While you may try Homebrew on Linux, you're likely to prefer your native package manager. If that fails, building wuzapi from source is also an option.

Upstreaming `wuzapi` patches

While wuzapi runs as a RESTful API service + webhooks, I wanted to simplify the Emacs integration by using json-rpc over standard I/O, enabling us to leverage incoming json-rpc notifications in place of webhooks.

I floated the idea of adding json-rpc to wuzapi to wuzapi's author Nicolas, and to my delight, he was keen on it. He's now merged my initial proof of concept, and I followed up with a handful of additional patches (all merged now):

Early days - But give it a try!

With the latest Wasabi Emacs package and wuzapi binary, you now get the initial WhatsApp experience I've been working towards. At present, you can send/receive messages to/from 1:1 or group chats. You can also download/view images as well as videos. Viewing reactions is also supported.

Needless to say, you may find some initial rough edges in addition to missing features. Having said that, I'd love to hear your feedback and experience. As mentioned Wasabi is currently available on GitHub.

Reckon Wasabi is worth it?

I've now put in quite a bit of effort prototyping things, upstreaming changes to wuzapi, and building the first iteration of wasabi. I gotta say, it feels great to be able to quickly message and catch up with different chats from the comfort of Emacs. Having said that, it's taken a lot of work to get here and will require plenty more to get to a polished and featureful experience.

Since going full-time indie dev, I have the flexibility to work on projects of choice, but that's only to an extent. If I cannot make the project sustainable, I'll eventually move to work on something else that is.

If you're keen on Wasabi's offering, please consider sponsoring the effort, and please reach out to voice your interest (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Bluesky).

Reckon a WhatsApp Emacs client would help you stay focused at work (less time on your phone)? Ask your employer to sponsor it too ;-)

Want a WhatsApp Emacs client? Will you fund it?

Wed, 12 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Like it or not, WhatsApp is a necessity for some of us. I wish it weren't the case, but here we are.

Given the circumstances, I wish I could use WhatsApp a little more on my terms. And by that, I mean from an Emacs client, of course. Surely I'm not the only one who feels this way, right? Right?! Fortunately, I'm not alone.

With that in mind, I've been hard at work prototyping, exploring what's feasible. Spoiler alert: it's totally possible, though will require a fair bit of work.

Thankfully, two wonderful projects offer a huge leg up: wuzapi and whatsmeow.

wuzapi offers a REST API on top of whatsmeow, a Go library leveraging WhatsApp's multi-device web API.

Last week, I prototyped sending a WhatsApp message using wuzapi's REST API.

I got there fairly quickly by onboarding myself on to wuzapi using its web interface and wiring shell-maker to send an HTTP message request via curl. While these two were enough for a quick demo, they won't cut it for a polished Emacs experience.

While I can make REST work, I would like a simpler integration under the hood. REST is fine for outgoing messages, but then I need to integrate webhooks for incoming events. No biggie, can be done, but now I have to deal with two local services opening a couple of ports. Can we simplify a little? Yes we can.

You may have seen me talk about agent-shell, my Emacs package implementing Agent Client Protocol (ACP)… Why is this relevant, you may ask? Well, after building a native Emacs ACP implementation, I learned a bit about json-rpc over standard I/O. The simplicity here is that we can bring bidirectional communication to an Emacs-owned process. No need for multiple channels handling incoming vs outgoing messages.

So where's this all going?

I've been prototyping some patches on top of wuzapi to expose json-rpc over standard I/O (as an alternative to REST). This prototype goes far beyond my initial experiment with sending messages, and yet the Emacs integration is considerably simpler, not to mention looking very promising. Here's a demo showing incoming WhatsApp messages, received via json-rpc, all through a single Emacs-owned process. Look ma, no ports!

It's feasible (but still lots to do)

These early prototypes are encouraging, but we've only scratched the surface. Before you can send and receive messages, you need to onboard users to the WhatsApp Emacs client. That is, you need to create a wuzapi user, manage/connect to a session, authorize via a QR code, and more. You'll want this flow to be realiable and that's just onboarding.

From there, you'll need to manage contacts, chats, multiple message types, incoming notifications… the list goes on. That's just the Emacs side. As mentioned, I've also been patching wuzapi. My plan is to upstream these changes, rather than maintaining a fork.

Will you fund the work?

I've prototyped quite a few things now, including the onboarding experience with QR code scanning. At this point, I feel fairly optimistic about feasibility, which is all pretty exciting! But there's a bunch of work needed. Since going full-time indie dev, I have the time available (for now), but it's hard to justify this effort without aiming for some level of sustainability.

If you're interested in making this a reality, please consider sponsoring the effort, and please reach out to voice your interest (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Bluesky).

Reckon a WhatsApp Emacs client would help you stay focused at work (less time on your phone)? Ask your employer to sponsor it too ;-)

Bending Emacs - Episode 5: Ready Player Mode

Wed, 05 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I'm now a bit over a month into my Emacs video-making journey. Today I bring a new episode.

Bending Emacs Episode 5: Ready Player Mode

Having migrated to mostly playing offline music, in this episode I show how to use Ready Player Mode (a package I built) for this purpose.

This is what my Ready Player configuration mostly looks like:

(use-package ready-player
  :ensure t
  :custom
  (ready-player-my-media-collection-location "~/Music/Music/Media.localized/Music")
  :config
  (ready-player-mode +1))

Note that ready-player-mode adds a global C-c m, which is https://github.com/xenodium/ready-player?tab=readme-ov-file#global-key-bindingsh

On macOS, I have one additional bit to tweak button icons to use SF Symbols. You'll need to tweak your fonts too.

(set-fontset-font t nil "SF Pro Display" nil 'append)
(ready-player-macos-use-sf-symbols)

On a related blog post, I gave a tour of Ready Player Mode.

In the video, I also mentioned dired buffers are at the heard of Ready Player. My dired abstraction post shows how to programmatically craft a valid dired buffer. Spoiler alert, it's pretty simple:

(let ((default-directory "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson"))
  (dired '("*My fancy m3u list*"
           "Body Talk/01 Dance.mp3"
           "Body Talk/02 When Love Has Grown.mp3"
           "Body Talk/03 Plum.mp3"
           "Original Album Classics/1-01 So What.mp3"
           "Original Album Classics/1-02 The Gentle Rain (From the Film, _The Gentle Rain_).mp3"
           "Original Album Classics/1-03 All Clear.mp3"
           "The Shape Of Things To Come/01 Footin' It.mp3"
           "The Shape Of Things To Come/02 Face It Boy It's Over.mp3"
           "The Shape Of Things To Come/03 Shape Of Things To Come.mp3")))

Hope you enjoyed the video!

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Make it all sustainable

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agent-shell 0.17 improvements + MELPA

Tue, 04 Nov 2025 00:00:00 GMT

While it's only been a few weeks since the last agent-shell post, there are plenty of new updates to share.

What's agent-shell again? A native Emacs shell to interact with any LLM agent powered by ACP (Agent Client Protocol).

Thank you sponsors

Before getting to the latest and greatest, I'd like to say thank you to new and existing sponsors backing my projects.

While the work going in remains largely unsustainable, your contributions are indeed helping me get closer to sustainability. Thank you!

If you benefit from my content and projects, please consider sponsoring to make the work sustainable.

More productive at work?

Work paying for your LLM tokens and other tools? Why not get your employer to sponsor agent-shell also?

MELPA

Now on to the very first update… Both agent-shell and acp.el are now available on MELPA. As such, agent-shell installation now boils down to:

(use-package agent-shell :ensure t)

New providers

OpenCode and Qwen Code are two of the latest agents to join agent-shell. Both accessible via M-x agent-shell and M-x agent-shell-new-shell through the agent picker, but also directly from M-x agent-shell-opencode-start-agent and M-x agent-shell-qwen-start.

Send files - Thanks to Ian Davidson

Adding files as context has seen quite a few improvements in different shapes. Thank you Ian Davidson for contributing embedded context support.

Send screenshots

Invoke M-x agent-shell-send-screenshot to take a screenshot and automatically send it over to agent-shell.

Activity Indicator

A little side-note, did you notice the activity indicator in the header bar? Yep. That's new too.

@ completion (experimental)

While @ file completion remains experimental, you can enable via:

(setq agent-shell-file-completion-enabled t)

Send files or regions

From any file you can now invoke M-x agent-shell-send-file to send the current file to agent-shell. If region is selected, region information is sent also. Fancy sending a different file other than current one? Invoke M-x agent-shell-send-file with C-u prefix, or just use M-x agent-shell-send-other-file.

Send `dired` files

M-x agent-shell-send-file, also operates on dired files (selection or region), DWIM style ;-)

Shorter paths in titles

You may have noticed paths in section titles are no longer displayed as absolute paths. We're shortening those relative to project roots.

Shell creation / handling

While you can invoke M-x agent-shell with C-u prefix to create new shells, M-x agent-shell-new-shell is now available (and more discoverable than C-u).

Cancelling sessions

Cancelling prompt sessions (via C-c C-c) is much more reliable now. If you experienced a shell getting stuck after cancelling a session, that's because we were missing part of the protocol implementation. This is now implemented.

Shell commands

Use the new M-x agent-shell-insert-shell-command-output to automatically insert shell (ie. bash) command output.

Markdown transcripts (experimental) - Thanks to Elle Najt

Initial work for automatically saving markdown transcripts is now in place. We're still iterating on it, but if keen to try things out, you can enable as follows:

(setq agent-shell--transcript-file-path-function #'agent-shell--default-transcript-file-path)

Configuration

Turn off ASCII welcome banners

(setq agent-shell-show-welcome-message nil)

Turn off graphical header

Text header

(setq agent-shell-header-style 'text)

No header

(setq agent-shell-header-style nil)

Inline display of historical changes - Thanks to Elle Najt

Applied changes are now displayed inline.

Session mode - Thanks to Elle Najt

The new M-x agent-shell-cycle-session-mode and M-x agent-shell-set-session-mode can now be used to change the session mode.

Agent capabilities

You can now find out what capabilities and session modes are supported by your agent. Expand either of the two sections.

Accepting/rejecting changes from diff buffer

Tired of pressing q and y to accept changes from the diff buffer? Now just press y from the diff viewer to accept all hunks.

Same goes for rejecting. No more q and n. Now just press C-c C-c from the diff buffer.

Transient menu

We get a new basic transient menu. Currently available via M-x agent-shell-help-menu.

Contributions

We got lots of awesome pull requests from wonderful folks. Thank you for your contributions!

Arthur Heymans: Add a Package-Requires header (PR).
Elle Najt: Execute commands in devcontainer (PR).
Elle Najt: Fix Write tool diff preview for new files (PR).
Elle Najt: Inline display of historical changes (PR).
Elle Najt: Live Markdown transcripts (PR).
Elle Najt: Prompt session mode cycling and modeline display (PR).
Fritz Grabo: Devcontainer fallback workspace (PR).
Guilherme Pires: Codex subscription auth (PR).
Hordur Freyr Yngvason: Make qwen authentication optional (PR).
Ian Davidson: Embedded context support (PR).
Julian Hirn: Fix quick-diff window restoration for full-screen (PR).
Ruslan Kamashev: Hide header line altogether (PR).
festive-onion: Show Planning mode more reliably (PR).

Lots of other work ❤️😅

Beyond what's been showcased here, much love and effort's been poured into polishing the agent-shell experience. Interested in the nitty-gritty? Have a look through the 173 commits since the last blog post.

Support this work

If agent-shell or acp.el are useful to you, please consider sponsoring its development. LLM tokens aren't free, and neither is the time dedicated to building this stuff ;-)

time-zones now on MELPA. Do I have your support?

Mon, 27 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

A little over a week ago, I introduced time-zones, an Emacs utility to easily check city times around the world. Today, I'm happy to report, the package has been accepted into MELPA.

It's been wonderful to see how well time-zones was received on Reddit.

✓ You asked for MELPA publishing and I delivered.

✓ You asked for DST display and I delivered.

✓ You asked for a UTC picker and I delivered.

✓ You asked for UTC offset display and I delivered.

✓ You asked for Windows support and I delivered.

✓ You asked for help and bug fixes and I delivered.

Will you make the work sustainable?

Bringing features and improving our beloved text editor takes time and effort. time-zones isn't my first package, I've also published a bunch of Emacs packages. Will you help make this work sustainable?

Bending Emacs - Episode 4: Batch renaming files

Thu, 23 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I'm now a few weeks into my Bending Emacs series. Today I share a new episode.

Bending Emacs Episode 4: Batch renaming files

In this video, I show a few ways of batch renaming files.

The covered flows are:

Dired editable buffers.
Multiple cursors using region-bindings-mode to insert numbers via # (I had a tiny blog entry on this).
We can batch rename using Keyboard Macros too and insert numbers via macro counters.
While I typically use multiple cursors for batch renaming files, I also experimented with dwim-shell-command via M-x dwim-shell-commands-rename-all.

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

Make it all sustainable

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Emacs time-zones

Sun, 19 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs ships with a perfectly functional world clock, available via M-x world-clock. Having said that, there are two things I wish it had:

A quick way to interactively add any city (bonus points for fuzzy search).
An easy way to shift the time back and forth.

As far as I can tell, these are neither available nor possible on the built-in world-clock (please correct me if otherwise), so when my friend across the world recently asked me for the best time to meet, I knew this was the last nudge I needed to get this done.

With that, I give you M-x time-zones (now on GitHub).

There isn't much to talk about other than time-zones accomplishes the above tasks very easily without resorting to writing elisp nor accessing via customize, which I seldom use.

As I mentioned, time-zones is on GitHub if you'd like to give it a spin. It's super fresh, so please report any issues. Hope you like it.

Make it all sustainable

Reckon time-zones will be useful to you? Enjoying this blog or my projects? I am an indie dev. Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

Bending Emacs - Episode 3: Git clone (the lazy way)

Wed, 15 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Continuing on the Bending Emacs series, today I share a new episode.

Bending Emacs Episode 03: Git clone (the lazy way)

In this video, I show my latest iteration on an expedited git clone flow.

If this topic sounds familiar, I covered it back in 2020 with my clone git repo from clipboard post.

My git clone flow consists of copying a git repo URL to the clipboard and subsequently invoking M-x dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-clipboard-url. Everything else is taken care of for you.

I've revisited this git clone command and added a couple of improvements:

Configurability (via dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-dirs). For example:

(setq dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-dirs
      '("~/Downloads"
        "~/Desktop"))

Optional prefixes to change function behavior
- C-u: Pick target location dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-dirs.
- C-u C-u: Pick any directory.
Automatically place point/cursor at README file.

I was going to post the snippet here, though may as well point you over to GitHub where dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-clipboard-url is more likely to remain up-to-date.

Note that dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-dirs is now optionally available as part of my dwim-shell-command package.

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

agent-shell 0.5 improvements

Sun, 12 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

While it's only been a few weeks since introducing Emacs agent-shell, we've landed nearly 100 commits and enough improvements to warrant a new blog post.

More agents

agent-shell now includes support for two additional ACP-capable agents:

Claude Code
Codex via codex-acp (new)
Gemini CLI
Goose (new)

Unified entry point

In addition to starting new shells via agent-specific commands, we now have a unified M-x agent-shell entry point, enabling selection from a list of supported agents.

The agent-specific commands remain available as usual:

M-x agent-shell-anthropic-start-claude-code
M-x agent-shell-openai-start-codex
M-x agent-shell-google-start-gemini
M-x agent-shell-goose-start-agent

Toggling display

agent-shell now provides basic control to toggle display of shell buffers:

M-x agent-shell-toggle: Toggles display of the most recently accessed agent (per project).
agent-shell-display-action: Controls how agent shells are displayed when activated.

agent-shell-sidebar (new package)

While agent-shell provides basic display toggling, Calum MacRae offers a comprehensive sidebar package. Check out agent-shell-sidebar.

Experimental dev container support (thanks to Fritz Grabo)

agent-shell now has experimental support for running agents inside dev containers. See docs.

quick-diff improvements

quick-diff buffers, proposing changes, get a more polished experience. More notably, diffs get context (thanks to David J. Rosenbaum), single-key patch navigation/acceptance, and file names now displayed in header line.

Environment variables

Environment variables can now be loaded from either the Emacs environment, .env files, and/or overridden inline:

(setq agent-shell-anthropic-claude-environment
      (agent-shell-make-environment-variables
       :inherit-env t
       :load-env "~/.env"
       "CUSTOM_VAR" "custom_value"))

Authentication methods

Different authentication methods are now supported. For example:

;; Login-based auth
(setq agent-shell-anthropic-authentication
      (agent-shell-anthropic-make-authentication :login t))

;; API key auth
(setq agent-shell-anthropic-authentication
      (agent-shell-anthropic-make-authentication
       :api-key (lambda () (auth-source-pass-get "secret" "anthropic-api-key"))))

Check agent-shell-*-authentication per provider, as available options may differ.

UX polish

On the smaller side, but also contributing to overall polish:

Single-key permission bindings (y/n/!).
Improved error messages.
Improved task status rendering.
Improved TAB navigation.

Traffic inspection and debugging

While not technically part of agent-shell, acp.el's traffic inspection has been getting some love to help users diagnose issues.

Contributions

Thank you for your contributions!

David J. Rosenbaum: Context support in diffs (PR).
Fritz Grabo: Dev container support (PR).
Grant Surlyn: Doom Emacs installation instructions (PR).
Mark A. Hershberger: Goose key improvement (PR).
Ruslan Kamashev: Customization group fix (PR).

Support this work

If agent-shell or acp.el are useful to you, consider sponsoring its development. LLM tokens aren't free, and neither is the time dedicated to building this stuff ;-)

Bending Emacs - Episode 2: From vanilla to your flavor

Wed, 08 Oct 2025 00:00:00 GMT

While still finding my footing making Emacs videos, today I'm sharing my second video.

Bending Emacs Episode 02: From vanilla to your flavor

The video is a little longer than I intended at 14:37, so plan accordingly.

In this video, I show some of my favorite UI customizations, with additional tips and tricks along the way. Like my first video, I'm hoping you find unexpected goodies in there despite being familiar with the general topic.

Read on for all supporting material…

Evaluating elisp

Showcased a handful of ways to evaluate elisp.

M-x eval-last-sexp
M-x eval-expression
M-x eval-buffer
M-x ielm

M-x org-ctrl-c-ctrl-c (Evaluate org source blocks)

Sample snippets:

(set-face-attribute 'default nil :background "DarkSlateGray")

(set-face-attribute 'default nil :background "#212121")

Launching a separate Emacs instance

path/to/emacs/nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs -Q --init-directory /tmp/secondary/.emacs.d --load path/to/other-emacs.el

other-emacs.el (minimal, almost vanilla setup):

; -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-

(server-force-delete)
(make-directory "/tmp/secondary/" t)
(setq server-socket-dir "/tmp/secondary/")
(setq server-name "emacs-server")
(server-start)

(setq package-archives
      '(("melpa" . "https://melpa.org/packages/")))

(setq package-archive-priorities
      '(("melpa" .  4)))

(require 'package)
(package-initialize)
(mapc #'package-delete (mapcar #'cadr package-alist))

(add-to-list 'custom-theme-load-path "path/to/emacs-materialized-theme")

with-other-emacs macro (ie. evaluate elisp elsewhere)

(defmacro with-other-emacs (&rest body)
  "Evaluate BODY in the current buffer of the other Emacs instance."
  `(call-process "emacsclient" nil nil nil
                 "--socket-name=/tmp/secondary/emacs-server"
                 "--eval"
                 (prin1-to-string
                  '(with-current-buffer (window-buffer (selected-window))
                     ,@body))))

Looking up functions

M-x describe-function (built-in).
M-x helpful-callable (via third-party helpful package).

Advicing org-babel-expand-body:emacs-lisp

We want to extend source blocks to accept the :other-emacs header argument as follows:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :other-emacs t
  (message (propertize "Hello again twin" 'face '(:height 6.0)))
#+end_src

So we advice org-babel-expand-body:emacs-lisp:

(defun adviced:org-babel-expand-body:emacs-lisp:other-emacs (orig-fn body header-args)
  (if (map-elt header-args :other-emacs)
      (format "(with-other-emacs %s)" (funcall orig-fn body header-args))
    (funcall orig-fn body header-args)))

(advice-add #'org-babel-expand-body:emacs-lisp
            :around #'adviced:org-babel-expand-body:emacs-lisp:other-emacs)

UI customizations

Font (JetBrains Mono)

(set-face-attribute 'default nil
                    :height 160 ;; 16pt
                    ;; brew tap homebrew/cask-fonts && brew install --cask font-jetbrains-mono
                    :family "JetBrains Mono")

Theme (Materialized)

(load-theme 'materialized t)

Calle 24 toolbar (macOS)

(use-package calle24 :ensure t
  :config
  (calle24-install)
  (calle24-refresh-appearance)))

Hide toolbar

(tool-bar-mode -1)

Titlebar

No text in title bar

(setq-default frame-title-format "")

Transparent titlebar (macOS)

(set-frame-parameter nil 'ns-transparent-titlebar t)
(add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-transparent-titlebar . t))

Hide scrollbars

(scroll-bar-mode -1)

Mode line

Minions

(use-package minions
  :ensure t
  :custom
  (mode-line-modes-delimiters nil)
  (minions-mode-line-lighter " …")
  :config
  (minions-mode +1)
  (force-mode-line-update t))

Moody

(use-package moody
  :ensure t
  :config
  (setq-default mode-line-format
                '(""
                  mode-line-front-space
                  mode-line-client
                  mode-line-frame-identification
                  mode-line-buffer-identification
                  " "
                  mode-line-position
                  (vc-mode vc-mode)
                  (multiple-cursors-mode mc/mode-line)
                  mode-line-modes
                  mode-line-end-spaces))
  (moody-replace-mode-line-buffer-identification)
  (moody-replace-vc-mode))

Nyan Cat (of course)

(use-package nyan-mode
  :ensure t
  :custom
  (nyan-bar-length 10)
  :config
  (nyan-mode +1)))

Welcome screen

A little static welcome screen I cooked up.

(defun ar/show-welcome-buffer ()
  "Show *Welcome* buffer."
  (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*Welcome*")
    (setq truncate-lines t)
    (setq cursor-type nil)
    (read-only-mode +1)
    (ar/refresh-welcome-buffer)
    (local-set-key (kbd "q") 'kill-this-buffer)
    (add-hook 'window-size-change-functions
              (lambda (_frame)
                (ar/refresh-welcome-buffer)) nil t)
    (add-hook 'window-configuration-change-hook
              #'ar/refresh-welcome-buffer nil t)
    (switch-to-buffer (current-buffer))))

(defun ar/refresh-welcome-buffer ()
  "Refresh welcome buffer content for WINDOW."
  (when-let* ((inhibit-read-only t)
              (welcome-buffer (get-buffer "*Welcome*"))
              (window (get-buffer-window welcome-buffer))
              (image-path "~/.emacs.d/emacs.png")
              (image (create-image image-path nil nil :max-height 300))
              (image-height (cdr (image-size image)))
              (image-width (car (image-size image)))
              (top-margin (floor (/ (- (window-height window) image-height) 2)))
              (left-margin (floor (/ (- (window-width window) image-width) 2)))
              (title "Welcome to Emacs"))
    (with-current-buffer welcome-buffer
      (erase-buffer)
      (setq mode-line-format nil)
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (insert (make-string top-margin ?\n))
      (insert (make-string left-margin ?\ ))
      (insert-image image)
      (insert "\n\n\n")
      (insert (make-string (- (floor (/ (- (window-width window) (string-width title)) 2)) 1) ?\ ))
      (insert (propertize title 'face '(:height 1.2))))))

(ar/show-welcome-buffer)

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll continue making more videos!

Bending Emacs - Episode 1: Applying CLI utils

Tue, 30 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

While most of the content I share is typically covered in blog posts, I'm trying something new.

Today, I'll share my first episode of Bending Emacs. This video focuses on how I like to apply (or batch-apply) command line utilities.

While the video focuses on applying command line utilities, here's a list of all the things I used:

Org mode for the presentation itself.
ffmpeg does the heavy lifting converting videos to gifs.
Asked Claude for the relevant ffmpeg command via chatgpt-shell's M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose.
Browsed the video directory via dired mode.
Previewed video thumbnails via ready-player mode.
Previewed gifs via image mode's M-x image-toggle-animation.
Validated the ffmpeg command via eshell.
Applied a DWIM shell command via M-x dwim-shell-command.
Duplicated files from dired via M-x dwim-shell-commands-duplicate.

Want more videos?

Liked the video? Please let me know. Got feedback? Leave me some comments.

Please go like my video, share with others, and subscribe to my channel.

If there's enough interest, I'll make more videos!

Introducing Emacs agent-shell (powered by ACP)

Thu, 25 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Not long ago, I introduced acp.el, an Emacs lisp implementation of ACP (Agent Client Protocol), the agent protocol developed between Zed and Google folks.

While I've been happily accessing LLMs from my beloved text editor via chatgpt-shell (a multi-model package I built), I've been fairly slow on the AI agents uptake. Probably a severe case of old-man-shouts-at-cloud sorta thing, but hey I want well-integrated tools in my text editor. When I heard of ACP, I knew this was the thing I was waiting for to play around with agents.

With an early acp.el client library in place, I set out to build an Emacs-native agent integration… Today, I have an initial version of agent-shell I can share.

agent-shell is a native Emacs shell, powered by comint-mode (check out Mickey's comint article btw). As such, we don't have to dance between char and line modes to interact with things. agent-shell is just a regular Emacs buffer like any other you're used to.

Agent-agnostic

Thanks to ACP, we can now build agent-agnostic experiences by simply configuring our clients to communicate with their respective agents using a common protocol. As users, we benefit from a single, consistent experience, powered by any agent of our choice.

Configuring different agents from agent-shell boils down which agent we want running in the comms process. Here's an example of Gemini CLI vs Claude Code configuration:

(defun agent-shell-start-gemini-agent ()
  "Start an interactive Gemini CLI agent shell."
  (interactive)
  (agent-shell--start
   :new-session t
   :mode-line-name "Gemini"
   :buffer-name "Gemini"
   :shell-prompt "Gemini> "
   :shell-prompt-regexp "Gemini> "
   :needs-authentication t
   :authenticate-request-maker (lambda ()
                                 (acp-make-authenticate-request :method-id "gemini-api-key"))
   :client-maker (lambda ()
                   (acp-make-client :command "gemini"
                                    :command-params '("--experimental-acp")
                                    :environment-variables (list (format "GEMINI_API_KEY=%s" (agent-shell-google-key)))))))

(defun agent-shell-start-claude-code-agent ()
  "Start an interactive Claude Code agent shell."
  (interactive)
  (agent-shell--start
   :new-session t
   :mode-line-name "Claude Code"
   :buffer-name "Claude Code"
   :shell-prompt "Claude Code> "
   :shell-prompt-regexp "Claude Code> "
   :client-maker (lambda ()
                   (acp-make-client :command "claude-code-acp"
                                    :environment-variables (list (format "ANTHROPIC_API_KEY=%s" (agent-shell-anthropic-key)))))))

I've yet to try other agents. If you get another agent running, I'd love to hear about it. Maybe submit a pull request?

Traffic

While I've been relying on my acp.el client library, I'm still fairly new to the protocol. I often inspect traffic to see what's going on. After staring at json for far too long, I figured I may as well build some tooling around acp.el to make my life easier. I added a traffic buffer for that. From agent-shell, you can invoke it via M-x agent-shell-view-traffic.

Fake agents

Developing agent-shell against paid agents got expensive quickly. Not only expensive, but my edit-compile-run cycle also became boringly slow waiting for agents. While I knew I wanted some sort of fake agent to work against, I didn't want to craft the fake traffic myself. Remember that traffic buffer I showed ya? Well, I can now save that traffic to disk and replay it later. This enabled me to run problematic sessions once and quickly replay multiple times to fix things. While re-playing has its quirks and limitations, it's done the job for now.

You can see a Claude Code session below, followed by its replayed counterpart via fake infrastructure.

What's next

Getting here took quite a bit of work. Having said that, it's only a start. I myself need to get more familiar with agent usage and evolve the package UX however it feels most natural within its new habitat. Lately, I've been experimenting with a quick diff buffer, driven by n/p keys, shown along the permission dialog.

#+ATTR_HTML: :width 99%

While I've implemented enough parts of the Agent Client Protocol Schema to make the package useful, it's hardly complete. I've yet to fully familiarize myself with most protocol features.

Take them for a spin

Both of my new Emacs packages, agent-shell and acp.el, are now available on GitHub. As an agent user, go straight to agent-shell. If you're a package author and would like to build an ACP experience, then give acp.el a try. Both packages are brand new and may have rough edges. Be sure to file bugs or feature requests as needed.

Paying for LLM tokens? How about sponsoring your Emacs tools?

I've been heads down, working on these packages for some time. If you're using cloud LLM services, you're likely already paying for tokens. If you find my work useful, please consider routing some of those coins to help fund it. Maybe my tools make you more productive at work? Ask your employer to support the work. These packages not only take time and effort, but also cost me money. Help fund the work.

Introducing acp.el

Sun, 14 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I recently shared my early Emacs experiments with ACP, the Agent Client Protocol now supported by Gemini CLI and Claude Code LLM agents.

While we can already run these agents from Emacs with the likes of vterm, I'm keen to offer an Emacs-native alternative to drive them. To do that, I'm working an a new package: agent-shell (more on this to be shared soon). While this new Emacs agent shell has an opinionated user experience, it uses ACP under the hood. Being a protocol, it's entirely UI-agnostic. For this, I now have an early version available of the acp.el library.

acp.el implements Agent Client Protocol for Emacs lisp as per agentclientprotocol.com. While this library is in its infancy, it's enabling me to carry on with my agent-shell work. acp.el lives as a separate library, is UI-agnostic, and can be used by Emacs package authors to build the their desired ACP-powered agent experience.

You can instantiate an ACP client and send a request as follows:

(setq client (acp-make-client :command "gemini"
                              :command-params '("--experimental-acp")
                              :environment-variables (when api-key
                                                       (list (format "GEMINI_API_KEY=%s" "your-api-key")))))

(acp-send-request
 :client client
 :request (acp-make-initialize-request :protocol-version 1)
 :on-success (lambda (response)
               (message "Initialize success: %s" response))
 :on-failure (lambda (error)
               (message "Initialize failed: %s" error)))

((protocolVersion . 1)
 (authMethods . [((id . oauth-personal)
                  (name . Log in with Google)
                  (description . :null))
                 ((id . gemini-api-key)
                  (name . Use Gemini API key)
                  (description . Requires setting the `GEMINI_API_KEY` environment variable))
                 ((id . vertex-ai)
                  (name . Vertex AI)
                  (description . :null))])
 (agentCapabilities (loadSession . :false)
                    (promptCapabilities (image . t)
                                        (audio . t)
                                        (embeddedContext . t))))

I'm new at using ACP myself, so I've added a special logging buffer to acp.el which enables me to inspect traffic and learn about the exchanges between clients and agents. You can enable logging with:

(setq acp-logging-enabled t)

Look out for the *acp traffic* buffer, which looks a little like this:

If you're keen to experiment with ACP in Emacs lisp and build agent-agnostic packages, take a look at acp.el (now on GitHub). As mentioned, it's early days for this library, but it's a start. Please file issues and feature requests. If you build anything on top of acp.el, lemme know. I'd love to see it in action.

Make this work possible

I'm working on two new Emacs packages: acp.el (introduced in this post) and agent-shell (I'll soon share more about that). Please help me make development of these packages sustainable. These packages take time and effort, but also cost me money as I have to pay for LLM tokens throughout testing and development. Please help fund it.

So you want ACP (Agent Client Protocol) for Emacs?

Tue, 09 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Last week, I was delighted to see the Zed editor shipping beta support for their Claude Code integration. Being an Emacs enthusiast, you may wonder about my excitement. In their demo, the Zed team mentioned the integration is now possible thanks to Agent Client Protocol (ACP), which they developed in collaboration with Google. This is great news for Emacs users, as it opens the possibilities for deeper native agent integrations in our beloved editor. You can think of ACP as LSP but for LLM agents.

While I have a bunch of LLM models integrated into chatgpt-shell (including local ones), I've yet to make much headway into enabling the models to access smarter context (ie. filesystem or local tools), beyond my initial tool calling experiment.

Somehow, I wasn't super excited about tool calling, as it felt like these integrations would fall short when compared to more advanced agents like Anthropic's Claude Code or Google's Gemini CLI. In fact, I haven't been that enthusiastic about these agents, since they offered relatively little API surface to enable deeper Emacs integration (which is where I live!). That is, until ACP came along.

With ACP in mind, I'm much more likely to get on board with Emacs-agent integrations. I can now delegate all that complex agent logic to external tools and focus on building a great Emacs experience I'd be happy with.

And with that, I had an initial go at prototyping a bare minimum but with enough UX shell goodies to get me excited about it. I chose Gemini for this prototype. You can see it all in its minimal glory:

So how badly do you want ACP support in your beloved Emacs?

While getting the initials kinda working was relatively straightforward (with everything I already know about building chatgpt-shell), adding support for all ACP features with a delightfully polished Emacs experience will take a bunch of effort. While I'm excited about the prospects, dedicating a chunk of my time to make this happen isn't super feasible. You may have noticed more Emacs-related work/posts from me lately. This is currently possible because I've gone full indie dev. The flexibility is great, but doing Emacs things isn't exactly gonna help pay the bills unless interested folks help fund/support the effort.

My shell packages have quite a few enthusiastic users who more often than not, are using my package to talk to paid cloud services from the likes of OpenAI, Anthropic, or Google. I'm looking at you folks! I understand you're sending money to these companies who are providing you with a great service, but also remember the lovely Emacs integrations you use, which also need funding (much more than these well-funded commercial entities). While I'm a fan of chat-like Emacs shells for LLM/agents and would like to build a new agent shell, I also want to dedicate a chunk of this effort to building a UX-agnostic ACP Emacs library (acp.el). This library could be leveraged by me or any other Emacs package author.

So how badly do you want ACP support in your beloved Emacs? Enough to take your wallets out and help fund it?

Diverted mode

Tue, 02 Sep 2025 00:00:00 GMT

James Dyer and I both ran into the same workflow snag when fixing source indentation. He explains it best:

You’re working in a file with inconsistent indentation

You want to fix the entire buffer’s formatting

You run C-x h (select all) followed by M-x indent-region

Your mark is now at the beginning of the buffer, disrupting your workflow

Naturally, this is Emacs and were both able to patch our editor to smoothen things out.

While I ran into the same indent-region snag after selecting an entire buffer (via mark-whole-buffer), I also faced it with mark-defun and er/expand-region (awesome package btw).

With three cases in mind, I wanted a somewhat generic solution, so I built diverted.el, a little minor mode to identify these momentary diversions and try to bring the point back to the original location. Mind you, this was back in 2019 and until James's post, I hadn't heard of anyone else running into a similar snag. Since then, I kept the package as part of my config. James's post gave me the nudge I needed to move diverted.el out of my config and into its own GitHub repo.

By default, diverted.el recognizes both mark-defun and mark-whole-buffer as diversions, but you can also recognize the likes of er/expand-region via diverted-events. I'm hoping configuring is fairly self-explanatory. To date, I only have mark-whole-buffer, mark-defun, and er/expand-region as recognized diversions.

(defcustom diverted-events
  (list
   (make-diverted-event :from 'mark-defun
                        :to 'indent-for-tab-command
                        :breadcrumb (lambda ()
                                      (diverted--pop-to-mark-command 2)))
   (make-diverted-event :from 'mark-whole-buffer
                        :to 'indent-for-tab-command
                        :breadcrumb (lambda ()
                                      (diverted--pop-to-mark-command 2))))
  "Diversion events to look for.

For example:

  (add-to-list 'diverted-events
    (make-diverted-event
      :from 'er/expand-region
      :to 'indent-for-tab-command
      :breadcrumb (lambda ()
                    (diverted--pop-to-mark-command 2))))"
  :type '(repeat sexp)
  :group 'diverted)

Read on for a little demo…

Without diverted-mode

Notice how point is left at the top of the screen after pressing TAB to indent region.

With diverted-mode

Notice how point is left where it was prior to selecting the function and pressing TAB to indent region.

That's it for today. If you want to give diverted.el a try, head over to GitHub.

Make it all sustainable

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Who moved my text?

Sun, 31 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I had an annoying chatgpt-shell bug where sometimes the compose buffer's svg header would disappear while text was streaming into the Emacs buffer. There are a number of things that could have gone rogue when streaming and post-processing buffer text, so I wasn't quite sure where to start narrowing things down.

I had a feeling I could maybe use something like after-change-functions hook to monitor changes, but that only tells me about the text modified. I wanted to know which of my functions triggered the change, so maybe I could print a few frames from the stack? So that's what I did…

(defun my-change-tracker (beg end len)
  (let ((stack (mapcar (lambda (frame)
                         (car (cdr frame)))
                       (backtrace-frames))))
    (message "Buffer %s changed: %d-%d | Stack: %s"
             (buffer-name) beg end
             (take 15 stack)))) ;; Adjust as needed

(add-hook 'after-change-functions 'my-change-tracker nil t)

Here's an extract from the logs:

Buffer claude llm (sonnet-4/Programming)> compose changed: 496-498 | Stack: (backtrace-frames mapcar let my-change-tracker insert save-excursion let save-current-buffer progn if #[(output) ((setq output (or output )) (if (buffer-live-p buffer) (progn (save-current-buffer (set-buffer buffer) (let ((inhibit-read-only t)) (save-excursion (if orig-region-active (progn (delete-region region-beginning region-end) (setq orig-region-active nil))) (goto-char marker) (insert output) (set-marker marker (+ (length output) (marker-position marker))))))))) ((region-end) (region-beginning) (orig-region-active) (marker . # compose*>) (buffer . claude llm (sonnet-4/Programming)> compose))] shell-maker–write-reply…

After increasing the number of logged frames, I started seeing bits of my code and… bingo! I found a very suspicious delete-region. After spotting this, fixing the bug was trivial.

While the bug was annoying, I had been procrastinating on fixing as it could have been a number of things. In this case, printing frames from after-change-functions turned out perfect for narrowing things down. I'll be keeping this in the toolbox. Maybe it can help you too.

Make it all sustainable

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Dired buffers with media overlays

Fri, 29 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

It's been well over a year now since I've moved most of my music consumption away from streaming. I started purchasing music again, just so I can play offline at any time (and on my terms). That's not so say I don't stream, but that's now purely reserved for discovery. Most playback happens via Ready Player Mode, a little Emacs player I built when I decided to take playback offline. This post isn't so much about Ready Player and more about a recent dired experience.

I had a directory with a handful of mp3s, which I wanted to split into separate album subdirectories. The challenge being the mp3 file names did not include album names. Sorting this out isn't a big task for a music-organization tool, but my brain quickly went hmmm… if dired displayed album metadata, I could just use that to quickly guide me through all the file management I needed. After all, I already know how to use ffprobe to extract relevant metadata, so I could just enhance dired's listing to also show me metadata as overlays. dired-git-info does just that.

With that, ready-player-dired-mode was born. After enabling with M-x ready-player-dired-mode, I can easily get on with my tiny file reorg without any procrastination whatsoever.

I've just pushed ready-player-dired-mode to Ready Player's GitHub repo. It's pretty fresh, so you may (or may not) encounter rough edges.

Make it all sustainable

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Brisket recipe

Wed, 27 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

On a whim, after seeing a random brisket picture online, I decided today was the day to make my first brisket.

Ingredients

15g Kosher salt (coarse)
15g Black pepper (coarsely ground)
10g Smoked paprika
5g Chipotle powder
5g Onion granules
5g Garlic granules
2g Cumin seeds, toasted and ground
2g S&B hot mustard powder
5g Brown sugar

Clean

Rinse and pat dry.

Sear

Salt both sides and sear.

Dry rub

Crush spices, mix, and apply the rub generously all over the surface of the brisket, pressing gently to ensure it adheres.

Wrap up

Wrap up in baking paper, place on tray, and wrap with foil.

Bake

Bake at 120°C. Roughly 2-3 hours per kilo.

A tiny upgrade to the LLM model picker

Mon, 25 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

A little while ago, I added an info header to chatgpt-shell's compose buffer. It displays the current model's icon, using the lovely Lobe Icons 🥨.

With that in place, it was only a matter of time until M-x chatgpt-shell-swap-model got a similar upgrade in my Emacs package. As of chatgpt-shell v2.30.1, you can get the upgrade too.

If you prefer to keep graphics out of model-picking, I got you covered. Set chatgpt-shell-show-model-icons to nil.

Make it all sustainable

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Emacs elevator pitch

Wed, 20 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Me: Have you heard of Emacs?
Me: On the surface, it looks like a text editor…
Me: But really, it's more like a gateway to a world moulded to your needs.
Me: Emacs ships with an RPN calculator and even a doctor.
Me: Naturally, it doesn't do everything I want it to do nor how I want it to.
Me: Luckily, I can throw elisp at it and make it do things my way.

Stranger: Huh??

Me: Emacs didn't quite do all the things I wanted it to, so…
Me: I made it play music how I wanted it to.
Me: Control my operating system (1, 2, 3, 4).
Me: Help me learn Japanese.
Me: Trim videos… or video screenshots.
Me: Talk to the LLM robots (1, 2).
Me: Preview SwiftUI layouts.
Me: Batch-apply all sorts of utils.
Me: Send notes to my Kindle.
Me: Tweak the debugger.
Me: Enhance my shell.

Stranger: ??!?

Me: Do what I mean.
Me: Tweak my email client (1, 2).
Me: Bring closer macOS integration (1, 2, 3, 4).
Me: Scan QR codes.
Me: Record Screencasts.
Me: Build iOS apps.
Me: Blog about all sorts of things.
Me: Tailor completion.
Me: Easily clone repos.
Me: Use my preferred eye candy.
Me: Evaluate Objective-C code.

Stranger: Sir…

Me: Write however I want.
Me: Stitch images.
Me: Make multiple cursors do what I want.
Me: Make searching smarter.
Me: Look up where I took photos.
Me: SQLite feel like a spreadsheet.
Me: Easily insert SF Symbols.
Me: Build an emotional zone.
Me: Tweak my file manager (1, 2, 3).
Me: Generate documentation.
Me: Gosh, I could keep going…

Stranger: Sir this is a Wendy's.

Emacs Carnival

This post is part of the Emacs Carnival, themed "Your Elevator Pitch for Emacs", hosted by Jeremy Friesen.

Make it all sustainable

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Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

Emacs as your video-trimming tool

Tue, 19 Aug 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Marcin ‘mbork’ Borkowski has a nice post showing us how he trims video clips from our beloved editor. Trimming clips is something I do from time to time, specially when posting a screencast of sorts. Since I don't need much, I typically resort to QuickTime Player's trimming functionality that ships with macOS. While it does the job, ever since I added a "graphical" seeker to Ready Player Mode, I had been meaning to build a simple video trimming tool of sorts. Marcin's post was just about the right nudge I needed to also give this a go, yielding video-trimmer-mode.

The solution relies on ffmpeg to do the heavy lifting and is roughly 300 lines of code. I was going to share the entire snippet in this post, though may as well point you to its repo. I'm likely to tweak it, so you may as well take a look at its latest incarnation.

Make it all sustainable

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macOS dictation returns to Emacs (fix merged)

Sat, 26 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

macOS apps typically benefit from built-in voice dictation input (included as a macOS freebie), with little to no additional work required from app developers.

Emacs had supported this capability until relatively recently, when we began seeing reports that dictation was no longer available as of Emacs 30.

While I have no direct experience with macOS dictation-related APIs, I bisected Emacs 30 changes affecting macOS-related code (typically Objective-C code with .m file extensions). This led me to a seemingly harmless change introducing NSTextInputClient, intended to remove a deprecation warning. From that change onwards, dictation stopped working.

Reverting the change did indeed bring dictation back, but at the cost of re-introducing the deprecation warning. Looking closer at the current NSTextInputClient implementation, I noticed some stubbed-out methods. In particular, selectedRange stood out:

- (NSRange)selectedRange
{
  if (NS_KEYLOG)
    NSLog (@"selectedRange request");
  return NSMakeRange (NSNotFound, 0);
}

Turns out implementing selectedRange is all it took to bring dictation back:

diff --git a/src/nsterm.m b/src/nsterm.m
index 003aadb9782..2b34894f36e 100644
--- a/src/nsterm.m
+++ b/src/nsterm.m
@@ -7413,7 +7413,24 @@ - (NSRange)selectedRange
 {
   if (NS_KEYLOG)
     NSLog (@"selectedRange request");
-  return NSMakeRange (NSNotFound, 0);
+
+  struct window *w = XWINDOW (FRAME_SELECTED_WINDOW (emacsframe));
+  struct buffer *buf = XBUFFER (w->contents);
+  ptrdiff_t point = BUF_PT (buf);
+
+  if (NILP (BVAR (buf, mark_active)))
+    {
+      NSUInteger selection_location = point - BUF_BEGV (buf);
+      return NSMakeRange (selection_location, 0);
+    }
+
+  ptrdiff_t mark = marker_position (BVAR (buf, mark));
+  ptrdiff_t region_start = min (point, mark);
+  ptrdiff_t region_end = max (point, mark);
+  NSUInteger selection_location = region_start - BUF_BEGV (buf);
+  NSUInteger selection_length = region_end - region_start;
+
+  return NSMakeRange (selection_location, selection_length);
 }

Implementing selectedRange didn't just bring dictation back, but now leverages a newer macOS dictation implementation. You can see the slight differences in UI.

Before

After

Merged upstream

I've since submitted a patch upstream. I'm happy to report that as of today, the patch is now merged into master. Thank you Gerd Möllmann and Eli Zaretskii for your help! Also big thanks to Stephen Englen, Fritz Grabo, @veer66 and @dotemacs on the fediverse who quickly jumped in to help validate the fix.

While we've yet to find out when the next Emacs release will ship, we at least know the fix is coming! If like me, you'd like to get the fix backported to Emacs 30, I've shown you how to do just that on Emacs Plus (my favourite macOS build).

Make it all sustainable

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Writing experience: My decade with Org

Fri, 25 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

While I missed Emacs Carnival's Take two, with this month's prompt being Writing Experience, I figured I may have a thing or two to share about my Org adoption.

Org mode is often regarded as one of the indispensable Emacs features. A Swiss army of sorts enabling outlining, presentations, task management, agenda, note-taking, blogging, literate programming, the list goes on… At its core, Org features are powered by a versatile markup. Kinda like Markdown but on steroids. When starting with Org, it's easy to feel lost in the overwhelming sea of features.

Luckily, we don't have to know or understand all of Org to get started nor ever need to. You get to pick and use what's useful to you at any given time.

Getting started

Want to get started with outlines? Easy. Let's say you wanted to start collecting python idioms, you can start with an entry like:

* Python idioms

- Prefer double quotes if escaping single quotes.
- Prefer string interpolation over join. Eg. "'%s'" % member_default.

...

That's precisely what I did when I started using Org nearly 12 years ago. I created a notes file and added my first entry to collect python 2 idioms. While the idioms may be outdated by now (who knows, it's been many years since I've written any significant amount of python code), but hey that's besides the point. I wanted to start a personal notes file and Org sounded awesome for that.

Over time, my notes file grew in usefulness. The more I wrote, the more I could recall with search. That is, until I was away from my computer. At that point, I figured I could just export my notes to HTML (via M-x org-export-dispatch) and post online. Over time, folks started reaching out about something read in my notes, and so by then I suppose I had accidentally become a blogger.

Blogging

In 12 years of "blogging", my approach hasn't changed much. I still write to the very same Org file (beware it's big) I started writing notes to. I found this approach fairly accessible, with little ceremony. When I want to write, I open the usual text file and just write. It wasn't until fairly recently I learned this is often referred to as "one big text file" (OBTF).

My HTML exporting evolved into hacky elisp cobbled together over time. While the code was nothing to rave about, it did the job just fine for well over a decade. Having said that, it was more of an "it works on my machine" sorta thing. Last year, I finally decided to change my blogging approach and built a blogging platform (in 2024?! I know right?!). Well, the modern web has led us to a sea of tracking, bloat, advertising, the list goes on… I wanted to offer a lightweight blogging alternative with none of the typical crummy bits, so I built LMNO.lol. Today, my xenodium.com blog runs off that.

Org and Markdown are friends

LMNO.lol is powered by Markdown. Wait, what? You may be wondering why an Org fan would build a blogging platform powered by a different markup? In a nutshell, reach. While I remain a faithful Org fan for its capabilities, if I want my blogging platform to appeal to more users, I can't ignore the fact that today Markdown is the prevalent format. Having said that, I wasn't about to give up on Org for personal use. I can actually have my cake and eat it too. You see, I continue writing to Org and convert to Markdown before uploading to LMNO.lol via pandoc, the Swiss Army tool of file converters.

Incremental Org adoption

Tables

As you know, my Org adoption started with a very simple outline intended for personal notes, but we know Org is a universe of its own. I soon learned about Org tables.

| name                 | job              | origin             |
|----------------------+------------------+--------------------|
| Fry                  | Delivery Boy     | Earth              |
| Bender               | Bending Unit     | Earth              |
| Leela                | Captain          | Mutant Underground |
| Professor Farnsworth | Scientist        | Earth              |
| Amy Wong             | Intern           | Mars               |
| Dr. Zoidberg         | Staff Doctor     | Decapod 10         |
| Hermes Conrad        | Bureaucrat       | Earth              |
| Zapp Brannigan       | 25-Star General  | Earth              |
| Mom                  | Owner of MomCorp | Earth              |
| Nibbler              | Leela's pet      | Planet Eternium    |

I'd keep finding really handy Org tips here and there. Like converting csv to Org by merely selecting the text from my beloved editor.

Tasks

We mentioned Org handling task management, amongst many other things. In a nutshell, tasks in Org are "simple TODO lists", using special keywords. I got started with Org tasks with something like this:

* DONE Call granny
* DONE Post on Reddit
* STARTED Procrastinate some more
* TODO Do your homework

I say "simple TODO lists" (in quotes) because Org task management is a another universe of its own. You can schedule tasks in all sorts of ways (like recurring), as habits, tag them, refile them, etc. and even get a nice agenda view to interact with.

I don’t have an agenda post on this myself, but Christian Tietze has a wonderful write-up showcasing an improved Org-mode agenda display.

Babel

Moving on from task management, I soon discovered babel, another Org super power enabling you to include code snippets. Not too different to Markdown, but I found the ability to evaluate/execute snippets and capture output pretty magical.

#+BEGIN_SRC python
  print("Hello python world")
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
: Hello python world

Adding Objective-C Org babel support

At the time, I was writing a fair bit of Objective-C code but found babel support was missing. By looking at ob-C.el and ob-java.el, I figured how to add Objective-C support. Surprisingly, it took very little code and I could now execute Objective-C code just like python from the comfort of an Org buffer.

#+BEGIN_SRC objc
  #import 

  int main() {
    NSLog(@"Hello ObjC World");
    return 0;
  }
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
: Hello ObjC World

Adding Org block completion

With Org code blocks (and babel superpowers), I soon found myself including lots of snippets in my notes. I tried different different input mechanisms and eventually settled on writing my own company completion backend.

company-org-block is available on GitHub and MELPA.

Later on, with Michael Eliachevitch's help, we got org-block-capf going.

Fitbit API, Org babel, and gnuplot

I continued having fun with Org babel. You can combine source blocks for different purposes, so I used it to fetch and plot Fitbit data via Gnuplot.

#+BEGIN_SRC sh :results table
curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" https://api.fitbit.com/1/user/USER_ID/body/weight/date/2018-06-09/2018-07-11.json | jq '.[][] | "\(.dateTime) \(.value)"' | sed 's/"//g'
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS: weight-data
| 2018-06-09 | 65.753 |
| 2018-06-10 | 65.762 |
...
| 2018-07-10 |  64.22 |
| 2018-07-11 |  63.95 |

#+BEGIN_SRC gnuplot :var data=weight-data :exports code :file images/fitbit-api-org-babel-and-gnuplot/weight.png
reset
set title "My recent weight"
set xdata time
set timefmt '%Y-%m-%d'
set format x "%d/%m/%y"
set term png
set xrange ['2018-06-09':'2018-07-11']
plot data u 1:2 with linespoints title 'Weight in Kg'
#+END_SRC

Adding SwiftUI Org babel support

Having learned that babel can generate images (like Gnuplot), I figured I could have fun with SwiftUI too and built ob-swiftui. Also on MELPA.

Adding Org links (DWIM style)

Notes aren't complete without links to references. I was already using a keyboard shortcut of sorts, but I figured I could make it much smarter. As in DWIM: Do what I mean. Like automatically fetching link title from the web and other things.

Scraping useful links

Comments in posts can be a great source of recommendations (someone asking for books, blogs, etc), so I figured I could get Emacs to extract all links from an online post and dump them to an org file.

Change your MAC address in Org of course

Cause you never know when you're gonna need it, I randomly saved a snippet to change your MAC address from the comfort of your Org notes. Execute via C-c C-c.

#+begin_src bash :dir /sudo::
  changeMAC() {
      local mac=$(openssl rand -hex 6 | sed 's/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//')
      ifconfig en0 ether $mac
      ifconfig en0 down
      ifconfig en0 up
      echo "Your new physical address is $mac"
  }

  changeMAC
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: Your new physical address is b4:b2:f8:77:bb:87

By the way, noticed the :dir /sudo:: header? It enables executing the snippet as root.

Generating documentation for your Emacs package

Having built a handful of Emacs packages, maintaining a README.org documenting commands available (and keeping it up-to-date) was a bit of a chore. I figured you could automate things and generate a nice Org table documenting your package commands and customizable variables.

When you see this table in my GitHub project, you now know how it was generated.

A noweb detour: the lesser known Org babel glue

While Org babel's noweb support isn't super widely known, I learned it's great for glueing org babel blocks. I love how Org knowledge (and Emacs benefits really) just keep compounding. I started by just writing a simple Org outline. Remember?

LLMs join the babel chat

In 2023, I started experimenting with LLMs and Emacs integrations. Naturally, I had to add babel support too, so ob-chatgpt-shell (MELPA) and ob-dall-e-shell (MELPA) were added to the mix.

Smarter Org capture templates

Your knowledge base is only as useful as its wealth. The more you write, the better. And of course, the less friction, the more likely you are to write more.

Org capture is super useful to save your thoughts quickly into an Org file. You can come up with all sorts of templates to expedite the process. In addition to the base structure, I figured I could automatically capture my current location, date, time, and weather as part of a note.

Presenting in style

There are no shortages of Emacs packages leveraging Org mode to give presentations (org-present is one of many). I often enjoy David Wilson's videos. In this one, he shares his presentation setup. I figured it'd be fun to experiment with org-present to spiff things up. I wanted a sort of smart navigation where items are automatically expanded and collapsed as I my way through a presentation.

Org as lingua franca

With my Org usage growing, I felt like I was missing Org support outside of Emacs. Web access to my blog wasn't enough. I wanted to quickly capture things while on the go, so I started building iOS apps revolving around my Emacs and Org usage.

Journelly (iOS)

Journelly is my latest iOS app, centered around note-taking and journaling. The app feels like tweeting, but for your eyes only of course. It's powered by Org markup, which can be synced with Emacs via iCloud.

Flat Habits (iOS)

Org habits are handy for tracking daily habits. However, it wasn't super practical for me as I often wanted to check things off while on the go (away from Emacs). That led me to build Flat Habits.

Scratch (iOS)

While these days I'm using Journelly to jot down just about anything, before that, I built and used Scratch as scratch pad of sorts. No iCloud syncing, but needless to say, it's also powered by Org markup.

Plain Org (iOS)

For more involved writing, nothing beats Emacs Org mode. But what if I want quick access to my Org files while on the go? Plain Org is my iOS solution for that.

LMNO.lol

While I already mentioned LMNO.lol, it's been heavily inspired by my Org workflow. You write your notes or blog posts to a single plain text file, sprinkling Markdown this time around, and just drag and drop it to the web. LMNO.lol takes care of the rest.

Org bookmarks

While there is newer content out there, I did capture a handful of Org bookmarks at some point. This one took me down memory lane. Sacha Chua used make these really fun videos interviewing Emacs folks, often discussing their Emacs configs. I learned a ton from these videos. That time, Sacha interviewed Howard Abrams. Gosh, that was over 10 years ago.

Off the top of my head, Karl Voit also comes to mind, for championing Org for years. I know I'm not doing it justice. There are far too many folks I've learned from, who kindly share their knowledge. I've bookmarked some of them in the past.

Naturally, my Org journey wouldn't be possible without Org mode itself and the incredible work from the authors and maintainers. I've personally donated to their cause and even got my ex-employer to donate multiple times.

I could keep showing more things…

You could argue my Org usage is fairly random. Maybe it is. I'd say it's more organic than anything. I more or less started writing outlines and TODO lists, incrementally adopting whatever needed over time. It's up to you how much or little Org you adopt. Whatever you pick is the right answer for you. The Org feature set is just so vast. Some of the things I've tried didn't stick for me like plotting ledger reports or combating spam through Org, but by trying things I got to discover other things that probably did stick.

I could keep going, showing you more examples of the things I discovered, but in such a vast universe what's useful to me may not be useful to you. With such a diverse toolbox, it's highly likely you'll find just the right tool for your needs.

Ok, we get it. The feature set is rich. But most importantly, your data is saved in plain, transparent text, easily accessible to other tools. Heck, I even wrote my own iOS apps to view and edit Org files on the go. In over ten years of using Org, I've never lost access to my data, and I never will. That alone is the non-negotiable cherry on the cake.

Make it all sustainable

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Interactive ordering of dired items

Thu, 24 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Redditor sauntcartas offers a nice solution for getting Emacs dired filenames in an arbitrary order. I have to say, while relatively rare, this is something I need from time to time. You see, I like to apply batch file operations from the comfort of dired buffers (via dwim-shell-command).

Take, for example, M-x dwim-shell-commands-join-images-horizontally. It does what it says on the tin. I can mark a handful of image files via dired and easily join them into a single file. The problem is that the file listing isn't always in the desired order, so this is where custom ordering comes in handy.

I wanted an interactive way of reordering dired items. While bouncing ideas with arthurno1, it led us to a drag-stuff experience, which I'm already a fan of. While drag-stuff works in most editable buffers, it breaks on dired. For now, I figured I could just write a couple of dired-specific interactive commands to provide a similar dragging experience, and so I did.

We can likely improve the commands a bit, but hey they do the job as is…

(defun ar/dired-drag-item-up ()
  "Drag dired item down in buffer."
  (interactive)
  (unless (dired-get-filename nil t)
    (error "Not a dired draggable item"))
  (when (= (line-number-at-pos) 2)
    (error "Already at top"))
  (let* ((inhibit-read-only t)
         (col (current-column))
         (item-start (line-beginning-position))
         (item-end (1+ (line-end-position)))
         (item (buffer-substring item-start item-end)))
    (delete-region item-start item-end)
    (forward-line -1)
    (beginning-of-line)
    (insert item)
    (forward-line -1)
    (move-to-column col)))

(defun ar/dired-drag-item-down ()
  "Drag dired item down in buffer."
  (interactive)
  (unless (dired-get-filename nil t)
    (error "Not a dired draggable item"))
  (when (save-excursion
          (forward-line 1)
          (eobp))
    (error "Already at bottom"))
  (let* ((inhibit-read-only t)
         (col (current-column))
         (item-start (line-beginning-position))
         (item-end (1+ (line-end-position)))
         (item (buffer-substring item-start item-end)))
    (delete-region item-start item-end)
    (forward-line 1)
    (beginning-of-line)
    (insert item)
    (forward-line -1)
    (move-to-column col)))

I gotta say, these dired dragging commands work great with M-x dwim-shell-commands-join-images-horizontally. I bind them to M- and M- same as drag-stuff elsewhere (already in my config).

(use-package dired
  :bind (:map dired-mode-map
              ("M-" . ar/dired-drag-item-up)
              ("M-" . ar/dired-drag-item-down)))

You can see the new dired commands in action.

Bonus

While bouncing ideas with arthurno1, we also came up with another helper to create new dired buffers populated from marked items, maybe needed for those times you want a more focused experience.

(defun ar/dired-from-marked-items ()
  "Create a new dired buffer containing only the marked files.

Also allow dragging items up and down via M- and M-x."
  (interactive)
  (let ((marked-files (dired-get-marked-files))
        (buffer-name (generate-new-buffer-name
                      (format "*%s (selection)*"
                              (file-name-nondirectory
                               (directory-file-name default-directory))))))
    (unless marked-files
      (error "No dired marked files"))
    (dired (cons buffer-name
                 (mapcar (lambda (path)
                           (file-relative-name path default-directory))
                         marked-files)))))

Make it all sustainable

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Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

Patching your Homebrew's Emacs Plus (macOS)

Wed, 23 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Patching and building Emacs from source on macOS is fairly straightforward, but what if I'd like to patch my Emacs Plus Homebrew builds?

Let's cover both ways of patching our favourite editor…

Patching Emacs upstream sources

If you'd like to build from the master branch, you can check its sources out like so:

git clone git://git.sv.gnu.org/emacs.git
cd emacs

Next, we'll patch Emacs source as needed. For example, I recently wanted to patch src/nsterm.m to see if I could fix a macOS dictation regression introduced on Emacs 30.

diff --git a/src/nsterm.m b/src/nsterm.m
index 003aadb9782..2b34894f36e 100644
--- a/src/nsterm.m
+++ b/src/nsterm.m
@@ -7413,7 +7413,24 @@ - (NSRange)selectedRange
 {
   if (NS_KEYLOG)
     NSLog (@"selectedRange request");
-  return NSMakeRange (NSNotFound, 0);
+
+  struct window *w = XWINDOW (FRAME_SELECTED_WINDOW (emacsframe));
+  struct buffer *buf = XBUFFER (w->contents);
+  ptrdiff_t point = BUF_PT (buf);
+
+  if (NILP (BVAR (buf, mark_active)))
+    {
+      NSUInteger selection_location = point - BUF_BEGV (buf);
+      return NSMakeRange (selection_location, 0);
+    }
+
+  ptrdiff_t mark = marker_position (BVAR (buf, mark));
+  ptrdiff_t region_start = min (point, mark);
+  ptrdiff_t region_end = max (point, mark);
+  NSUInteger selection_location = region_start - BUF_BEGV (buf);
+  NSUInteger selection_length = region_end - region_start;
+
+  return NSMakeRange (selection_location, selection_length);
 }

 #if defined (NS_IMPL_COCOA) || GNUSTEP_GUI_MAJOR_VERSION > 0 || \

Now we're ready to configure and build.

./autogen.sh
./configure --with-ns --prefix="$PWD/nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS" --enable-locallisppath="${PWD}/nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS"
make install

We've used nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS as our target directory, so we can test our builds from exactly there… and there you have it, your newly built Emacs.app, ready for opening.

open nextstep/Emacs.app

Patching Emacs Plus

While patching and building upstream Emacs sources as above is fairly common, patching Emacs Plus may not be as well known.

I'm a big fan of Boris Buliga's excellent Homebrew recipe and use it daily, so it makes sense for me to get acquainted with its patching capabilities.

First we check out the Emacs Plus Homebrew repo:

git clone https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus.git
cd homebrew-emacs-plus

At this point, it's worth noting Emacs Plus enables building different Emacs versions (29, 30, and even master). It extends Emacs by applying its own patches at build time. For example, if we'd like to patch Emacs 30, we'll customise the 30 build to apply our own changes.

Remember our src/nsterm.m patch above? We'll rebased it against the Emacs 30 tarball and save in the Emacs Plus patches directory:

./patches/emacs-30/dictation.patch

Next we'll need to generate a hash to complete our Emacs 30 patch details:

sha256sum ./patches/emacs-30/dictation.patch

Now we add our patch details to ./Formula/[email protected]:

local_patch "dictation", sha: "cb102525bba7385d7d85c52d31101af3d2cbbf076468dacbf505039082ec521c"

With that, we're ready to build Emacs Plus, which comes with a handy build script. I'm a fan of Valeriy Savchenko's macOS icons, so I'll throw in the optional icon flag. I should also mention Emacs Plus offers a rich catalog of app icons. Now back to building…

HOMEBREW_DEVELOPER=1 ./build 30 --with-savchenkovaleriy-big-sur-curvy-3d-icon

The build output should look a little something like the following (look out for our applied patch)

./Formula/emacs-plus-local.rb --with-savchenkovaleriy-big-sur-curvy-3d-icon
==> Fetching downloads for: emacs-plus-local
==> Fetching emacs-plus-local
==> Downloading https://ftp.gnu.org/gnu/emacs/emacs-30.1.tar.xz
Already downloaded: /Users/alvaro/Library/Caches/Homebrew/downloads/b2b29daf5d872710063495e32b8b5234c2fbfffccec82222b65e7f2b4e7fb4da--emacs-30.1.tar.xz
==> Patching
==> Applying fix-window-role.patch
==> Applying system-appearance.patch
==> Applying round-undecorated-frame.patch
==> Applying dictation.patch     <---- Our patch 🎉
==> ./autogen.sh
==> ./configure --disable-silent-rules --enable-locallisppath=/opt/homebrew/share/emacs/site-lisp --infodir=/opt/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-plus-local/30.1/share/info/emacs --with-native-compilation=aot --with-xml2 --
==> gmake
==> gmake install
==> Injecting PATH value to Emacs.app/Contents/Info.plist
Patching plist at /opt/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-plus-local/30.1/Emacs.app/Contents/Info.plist with following PATH value:


...


==> Caveats
Emacs.app was installed to:
  /opt/homebrew/opt/emacs-plus-local

To link the application to default Homebrew App location:
  osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to make alias file to posix file "/opt/homebrew/opt/emacs-plus-local/Emacs.app" at posix file "/Applications" with properties {name:"Emacs.app"}'

Your PATH value was injected into Emacs.app/Contents/Info.plist

Report any issues to https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus

To start emacs-plus-local now and restart at login:
  brew services start emacs-plus-local
Or, if you don't want/need a background service you can just run:
  /opt/homebrew/opt/emacs-plus-local/bin/emacs --fg-daemon
==> Summary
🍺  /opt/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-plus-local/30.1: 7,470 files, 585.0MB, built in 8 minutes 59 seconds
==> Running `brew cleanup emacs-plus-local`...
Disable this behaviour by setting HOMEBREW_NO_INSTALL_CLEANUP.
Hide these hints with HOMEBREW_NO_ENV_HINTS (see `man brew`).
alvaro@MacBookPro homebrew-emacs-plus %  osascript -e 'tell application "Finder" to make alias file to posix file "/opt/homebrew/opt/emacs-plus-local/Emacs.app" at posix file "/Applications" with properties {name:"Emacs.app"}'

alias file Emacs.app of folder Applications of startup disk

At this point, your brand new patched Emacs Plus is ready for opening:

open /opt/homebrew/opt/emacs-plus-local/Emacs.app

Notice how Emacs.app is saved under emacs-plus-local, which is different from the default location: emacs-plus. In other words, your patched and regular builds can coexist.

I've pushed the changes to my Emacs Plus fork. If keen to take a closer look, check out the git commit. Should this change be sent to Emacs Plus in a pull request? Maybe not just yet. We'll try to get it admitted upstream first.

Now you know at least two ways of building and patching Emacs on macOS. There are more, but these are my favourite two.

Make it all sustainable

Learned something new? Enjoying this blog or my projects? Help make it sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨

Need a blog? I can help with that. Maybe buy my iOS apps too ;)

Emacs send-to (aka macOS sharing) merged upstream

Sun, 20 Jul 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Back in February, I asked folks on the Fediverse if I should try to contribute native macOS sharing to Emacs upstream. While folks were keen on the sharing feature, there were reservations about whether or not a macOS-only patch would be welcome upstream.

While my chances of success sounded fairly low, I figured I had to at least try before giving up… and I have to say, I'm glad I gave it a chance. Yesterday, my patch was finally merged upstream.

That's not to say the patch did not face its challenges. The proposal sparked quite the discussion (you may need an extra large coffee to get through all messages). Frankly, my hopes of landing the patch after initial feedback quickly shrank to almost non-existent. Having said that, I really have to give huge credit and thanks to both Eli Zaretskii and Stefan Kangas for their help here. Without their steering, navigating the more turbulent parts of the discussion, I really would have had no chance of getting anywhere and simply would have just given up.

If you're wondering what was controversial about the patch, GNU guidelines discourage adding features targeting non-free operating systems before it can be made available for GNU/Linux. While the patch could be easily reworked to expose the native capabilities available for each platform, there's plenty of room for interpretation as to whether a rework is considered enough to satisfy the guideline. Most of the discussion was centered around this topic. Once the thread was refocused around shaping the patch, I received super constructive feedback and the patch was indeed reworked to cater for different platforms. We also agreed to rename the feature from "share" to "send". To my surprise, even RMS also chimed in on the patch discussion. Achievement unlocked?!

While one may or may not agree with GNU's guideline, I'm particularly grateful to the Free Software Foundation, the GNU project, and the wider open source community for building honest software that respects freedom and privacy, especially in this day and age.

I'm a huge Emacs fan. I frequently write about it, share tips/tricks, and even build/publish my own packages. In a perfect world, I would also run GNU/Linux exclusively (I did for many years), but nuance requires that I live in a mixed environment (open source + proprietary software), running macOS. I'm thankful for the parts I can control/modify (including Emacs).

When proposing my patch upstream, my intention was to offer the best possible Emacs experience for this particular feature (via native macOS APIs). In most Emacs patches, native changes aren't necessary. But for the rare instances where I'm unable to carry out all the necessary work for different platforms, I'm hoping I can work with other Emacs enthusiasts with complementary skills and strive to find common ground where my contribution raises the tide in a way that helps lift all boats (even if just a little), so to speak. That is, if I'm allowed to ;)

Emacs send-to is now accessible on the master branch via M-x context-menu-mode (right click and select "Send to…"), directly via M-x send-to, and can be applied to dired files, current buffer (with associated file), and selected text region.

File handling is configurable per platform via send-to-handlers.

(defvar-local send-to-handlers '(((:supported . send-to--ns-supported-p)
                                  (:collect . send-to--collect-items)
                                  (:send . send-to--ns-send-items))
                                 ((:supported . send-to--open-externally-supported-p)
                                  (:collect . send-to--collect-items)
                                  (:send . send-to--open-externally)))
  "A list of handlers that may be able to send files to applications or services.

Sending is handled by the first supported handler from `send-to-handlers' whose
`:supported' function returns non-nil.

Handlers are of the form:

((:supported . `is-supported-p')
 (:collect . `collect-items')
 (:send . `send-items'))

(defun is-supported-p ()
  \"Return non-nil for platform supporting send capability.\"
  ...)

(defun collect-items ()
  \"Return a list of items to be sent.

Items are strings and will be sent as text unless they are local file
paths known to exist. In these instances, files will be sent instead.\"
  ...)

(defun send-to--send-items (items)
  \"Send ITEMS.\"
  ...)")

The merged patch currently ships with two handlers. A native macOS handler, powered by NSSharingServicePicker, and a more generic one driven by the new shell-command-do-open.

With send-to-handlers now configurable, it opens up the possibility to expose all sorts of neat integrations like Android intents, KDE Connect, GSConnect, and so on… If you write a send-to-handler, I'd love to hear about it.

If you're on macOS and happen to find the new send-to's native sharing useful, you now know that exposing that little dialog took a non-trivial amount of effort, a turbulent discussion, and 5 months to land in your beloved Emacs. I'll just leave this here ;)

Mochi Invaders now on the App Store

Mon, 30 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

As a beginner learner of Japanese, I still need regular practice reading Kana (Hiragana and Katakana). Rather than using one of the countless existing resources, I decided to build my own little Space-Invaders-style game. No doubt I was procrastinating, but learning SpriteKit and building the app involved a fair bit of app testing, so I ended up learning while erm procrastinating. That's a win, right? Right?

As of today Mochi Invaders is available on the App Store.

Markdown is coming to Journelly

Wed, 18 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

✨UPDATE✨ Journelly v1.3 launched with Markdown support.

When Journelly launched, I asked users to get in touch if they were interested in Markdown support.

Since then, Markdown has by far been the most requested feature.

Today, I’m excited to share that Journelly beta builds now include initial Markdown support! If you’ve been in touch, you likely already have access. If not, let me know you’re interested.

Journelly still defaults to Org as its preferred markup, but you can now switch to Markdown from the welcome screen or the menu.

While Org is my own markup of choice, it remains fairly niche. As I work to build a sustainable iOS app as a full-time indie developer, I need to reach a wider audience, without resorting to subscriptions. Luckily, I think we can have our cake and eat it too.

Here's how I see Journelly's audience breaking down:

For anyone who just wants to write (regardless of markup)

This has always been Journelly’s main goal. I've worked hard to keep the serialization format in the background, focusing instead on delivering a smooth, friction-free experience. The primary goal: just write.

I think this is working well. Ellane's post sums it up: Journelly is the iOS Org App You’ll Love (Even if You Don’t Do Org).

If you just want a quick way to take notes or journal privately, Journelly already offers that. Adding quick notes, ideas, recipes, checklists, music, links, etc. is really easy and fast even if you don't do org (Brandon says so too).

Org mode enthusiasts

I got this one pretty well-covered also. I'm an Emacs org mode enthusiast myself and regularly share my Journelly entries between my iPhone and Mac. You don't need to take my word for it though. jcs is a seasoned Emacs enthusiast. From Irreal, he's covered Journelly pretty well. While journelly.com quotes and links to posts from happy users, I've been collecting posts from different users. I should share a post with all of them too!

Markdown enthusiasts

Which brings me back to this post: there are a lot of Markdown users out there. While Journelly’s UX has caught the interest of some Markdown fans, many prefer to stick with their favorite format. Your interest was heard! I did say, the more requests I get, the sooner I'll get Markdown support out the door, and so here we are.

You can now try Markdown support via TestFlight. I look forward to your feedback.

New to Journelly and want to join the Markdown beta? Get in touch.

EverTime available via Homebrew

Sun, 15 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

I typically like my macOS desktop free from distractions, which includes hiding the status bar.

Having said that, I don't want to lose track of time, and for that, I built a tiny ever-present floating clock.

While it's been a while since I built this clock, it's only now that I decided to make it available via Homebrew.

EverTime lives in its own GitHub repository and can be installed with:

brew install --HEAD xenodium/evertime/evertime

In addition to using EverTime, I also like enabling "Announce the time" under macOS System Settings, which announces the time every hour.

Like EverTime? Consider ✨sponsoring me✨ or buying ✨my apps✨.

Journelly 1.2 released

Thu, 12 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

What's new?

Journelly v1.2 focuses exclusively on improving app accessibility.

In particular:

Improved VoiceOver navigation and general app experience.
Improved edit layout when "Settings > Accessibility > Display & Text Size > Button Shapes" is enabled.

Huge thanks to Yvonne Thompson for all her help shaping this release. VoiceOver support is in way better shape as a result.

Journelly 1.2 available on the App Store

What is Journelly?

Journelly feels like tweeting but for your eyes only.

A fresh take on frictionless note-taking for iOS, powered by Org plain text.

Save cooking recipes, movies, music, restaurants, coffee shops…
Jot down your thoughts.
Save your favorite quotes.
Use it as a journal, memo book, or notes.
Write your shopping lists.
Document your travels.
Lots more…

Check out journelly.com for details.

Ranking Officer now on the App Store

Mon, 02 Jun 2025 00:00:00 GMT

With a handful of apps on the App Store, I like to keep an eye on their rankings and user reviews from around the world. I don't need much. Just a quick glance.

A few of weeks ago, it just dawned on me that my Mac's status bar is likely the perfect place to keep this glanceable information handy. And with that, I built Ranking Officer. A little utility to do just that.

I wasn't too sure if this app would make it to the App Store. To my delight, Apple reviewed and accepted on its first submission.

As of today, you can install Ranking Officer from the App Store.

Ranking Officer

You can now stay up to date on your app’s rankings and user reviews from around the world, right from your Mac's status bar.

Get the latest ranking and review data, updated every hour.
Monitor as many apps as you like (there’s no limit).
No login or personal details required.
No subscription necessary.

Just add your apps using their App Store URLs and get tracking.

Good luck with your apps!

🍀🤞⭐🎋🧧🏮🪙🐞🎰🐘

Awesome Emacs on macOS

Tue, 27 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Update: Added macOS Trash integration.

While GNU/Linux had been my operating system of choice for many years, these days I'm primarily on macOS. Lucky for me, I spend most of my time in Emacs itself (or a web browser), making the switch between operating systems a relatively painless task.

I build iOS and macOS apps for a living, so naturally I've accumulated a handful of macOS-Emacs integrations and tweaks over time. Below are some of my favorites.

Emacs Plus

For starters, I should mention I run Emacs on macOS via the excellent Emacs Plus homebrew recipe. These are the options I use:

brew install emacs-plus@30 --with-no-frame-refocus --with-native-comp --with-savchenkovaleriy-big-sur-curvy-3d-icon

Valeriy Savchenko's icons

Valeriy Savchenko has created some wonderful macOS Emacs icons. These days, I use his curvy 3D rendered icon, which I get via Emacs Plus's --with-savchenkovaleriy-big-sur-curvy-3d-icon option.

Modifiers

It's been a long while since I've settled on using macOS's Command (⌘) as my Emacs Meta key. For that, you need:

(setq mac-command-modifier 'meta)

At the same time, I've disabled the ⌥ key to avoid inadvertent surprises.

(setq mac-option-modifier 'none)

Enabling Control-Meta(⌘)-D

After setting ⌘ as Meta key, I discovered C-M-d is not available to Emacs for binding keys. There's a little workaround:

defaults write com.apple.symbolichotkeys AppleSymbolicHotKeys -dict-add 70 'enabled'

Frames

You may have noticed the --with-no-frame-refocus Emacs Plus option. I didn't like Emacs refocusing other frames when closing one, so I sent a tiny patch over to Emacs Plus, which gave us that option.

I also prefer reusing existing frames whenever possible.

(setq ns-pop-up-frames nil)

Visual tweaks

Most of my visual tweaks have been documented in my Emacs eye candy post. For macOS-specific things, read on…

It's been a while since I've added this, though vaguely remember needing it to fix mode line rendering artifacts.

(setq ns-use-srgb-colorspace nil)

I like using a transparent title bar and these two settings gave me just that:

(add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-transparent-titlebar . t))
(add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-appearance . dark))

I want a menu bar like other macOS apps, so I enable with:

(use-package menu-bar
  :config
  (menu-bar-mode +1))

Emoji picker (a freebie!)

If you got a more recent Apple keyboard, you can press the 🌐 key to insert emojis from anywhere, including Emacs. If you haven't got this key, you can always M-x ns-do-show-character-palette, which launches the very same dialog.

Also check out Charles Choi's macOS Native Emoji Picking in Emacs from the Edit Menu.

Longing long press for accents?

If you prefer Apple's long-press approach to inserting accents or other special characters, I got an Emacs version of that.

Rotate macOS display

I wanted to rotate my monitor from the comfort of M-x, so I made Emacs do it.

Open with

While there are different flavors of "open with default macOS app" commands out there (ie. crux-open-with as part of Bozhidar Batsov's crux), I wanted one that let me choose a specific macOS app.

Open in Xcode (at line number)

Shifting from Emacs to Xcode via "Open with" is simple enough, but don't you want to also visit the very same line?

SF Symbols (for work)

Apple offers SF Symbols on all their platforms, so why not enable Emacs to insert and render them?

This is particulary handy if you do any sort of iOS/macOS development, enabling you to insert SF Symbols using your favorite completion framework. I happen to remain a faithful ivy user.

SF Symbols (for fun)

Speaking of enabling SF Symbol rendering, you can also use them to spiff your Emacs up. Check out Charles Choi's Calle 24 for a great-looking Emacs toolbar. Also, Christian Tietze shows how to use SF Symbols as Emacs tab numbers.

Quick kill

While macOS's Activity Monitor does a fine job killing processes, I wanted something a little speedier, so I went with a killing solution leveraging Emacs completions.

SwiftUI a la org babel

Having learned how simple it was to enable Objective-C babel support, I figured I could do something a little more creative with SwiftUI, so I published ob-swiftui on MELPA.

Changing macOS default apps

I found the nifty duti command-line tool to change default macOS applications super handy, but could never remember its name when I needed it. And so I decided to bring it into dwim-shell-command as part of my toolbox.

I got a bunch of handy helpers in dwim-shell-commands.el (specially all the image/video helpers via ffmpeg and imagemagick). Go check dwim-shell-commands.el. There's loads in there, but here are my macOS-specific commands:

dwim-shell-commands-macos-add-to-photos
dwim-shell-commands-macos-bin-plist-to-xml
dwim-shell-commands-macos-caffeinate
dwim-shell-commands-macos-convert-to-mp4
dwim-shell-commands-macos-empty-trash
dwim-shell-commands-macos-install-iphone-device-ipa
dwim-shell-commands-macos-make-finder-alias
dwim-shell-commands-macos-ocr-text-from-desktop-region
dwim-shell-commands-macos-ocr-text-from-image
dwim-shell-commands-macos-open-with
dwim-shell-commands-macos-open-with-firefox
dwim-shell-commands-macos-open-with-safari
dwim-shell-commands-macos-reveal-in-finder
dwim-shell-commands-macos-screenshot-window
dwim-shell-commands-macos-set-default-app
dwim-shell-commands-macos-share
dwim-shell-commands-macos-start-recording-window
dwim-shell-commands-macos-abort-recording-window
dwim-shell-commands-macos-end-recording-window
dwim-shell-commands-macos-toggle-bluetooth-device-connection
dwim-shell-commands-macos-toggle-dark-mode
dwim-shell-commands-macos-toggle-display-rotation
dwim-shell-commands-macos-toggle-menu-bar-autohide
dwim-shell-commands-macos-version-and-hardware-overview-info

Toggle dark mode

Continuing on the dwim-shell-commands family, I should also mention dwim-shell-commands-macos-toggle-dark-mode.

While I hardly ever change my Emacs theme, I do toggle macOS dark mode from time to time to test macOS or web development.

Menu bar auto hide

One last dwim-shell-command… One that showcases toggling the macOS menu bar (autohide).

Connect to your Bluetooth speaker

While this didn't quite stick for me, it was a fun experiment to add Emacs into the mix.

Eshell

This is just a little fun banner I see whenever I launch eshell.

This is all you need:

(use-package em-banner
  :custom
  (eshell-banner-message "
\x1b[32m                             'c.                    \x1b[0m
\x1b[32m                          ,xNMM.                    \x1b[0m
\x1b[32m                        .OMMMMo                     \x1b[0m
\x1b[32m                        OMMM0,                      \x1b[0m
\x1b[32m              .;loddo:' loolloddol;.                \x1b[0m
\x1b[32m            cKMMMMMMMMMMNWMMMMMMMMMM0:              \x1b[0m
\x1b[33m          .KMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMWd.              \x1b[0m
\x1b[33m          XMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMX.                \x1b[0m
\x1b[31m        ;MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM:                  \x1b[0m
\x1b[31m        :MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMM:                  \x1b[0m
\x1b[31m        .MMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMX.                 \x1b[0m
\x1b[31m         kMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMWd.               \x1b[0m
\x1b[35m          .XMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMk             \x1b[0m
\x1b[35m           .XMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMK.             \x1b[0m
\x1b[34m             kMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMMd               \x1b[0m
\x1b[34m              ;KMMMMMMMWXXWMMMMMMMk.                \x1b[0m
\x1b[34m                .cooc,.    .,coo:.                  \x1b[0m

\x1b[34m                        _/                  _/  _/  \x1b[0m
\x1b[34m     _/_/      _/_/_/  _/_/_/      _/_/    _/  _/   \x1b[0m
\x1b[34m  _/_/_/_/  _/_/      _/    _/  _/_/_/_/  _/  _/    \x1b[0m
\x1b[34m _/            _/_/  _/    _/  _/        _/  _/     \x1b[0m
\x1b[34m  _/_/_/  _/_/_/    _/    _/    _/_/_/  _/  _/      \x1b[0m


"))

Screencasts

I wanted a quick way to record or take screenshots of macOS windows, so I now have my lazy way, leveraging macosrec, a recording command line utility I built. Invoked via M-x of course.

Eglot (LSP) for iOS/macOS dev

If you want any sort of code completion for your macOS projects, you'd be happy to know that eglot works out of the box.

(use-package eglot
  :ensure t
  :hook (swift-mode . eglot-ensure)
  :config
  (message "warning: `jsonrpc--log-event' is ignored.")
  (fset #'jsonrpc--log-event #'ignore)
  (add-to-list 'eglot-server-programs '(swift-mode . ("/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Toolchains/XcodeDefault.xctoolchain/usr/bin/sourcekit-lsp"))))

Search and play (Music app)

This is another experiment that didn't quite stick, but I played with controlling the Music app's playback.

While I still purchase music via Apple's Music app, I now play directly from Emacs via Ready Player Mode. I'm fairly happy with this setup, having scratched that itch with my own package.

By the way, those buttons also leverage SF Symbols on macOS.

Reveal -> all <- in Finder

While there are plenty of solutions out there leveraging the open command line tool to reveal files in macOS's Finder, I wanted one that revealed multiple files in one go. For that, I leveraged the awesome emacs-swift-module, also by Valeriy Savchenko.

Use the macOS Trash

The macOS trash has saved my bacon in more than one occasion. Make Emacs aware of it. Also check out M-x dwim-shell-commands-macos-empty-trash.

Build your own macOS utils

While elisp wasn't in my top languages to learn back in the day, I sure am glad I finally bit the bullet and learned a thing or two. This opened many possibilities. I now see Emacs as a platform to build utilities and tools off of. A canvas of sorts, to be leveraged in and out of the editor.

For example, you could build your own bookmark launcher and invoke from anywhere on macOS.

Emacs as default email composer

Turns out you can also make Emacs your default email composer.

Emacs key bindings everywhere

While not exactly an Emacs tweak itself, I wanted to extend Emacs bindings into other macOS apps. In particular, I wanted more reliable Ctrl-n/p usage everywhere, which I achieved via Karabiner-Elements. I also mapped C-g to Esc, which really feels just great! I can now cancel things, dismiss menus, dialogs, etc. everywhere.

Org as lingua franca

With my Emacs usage growing over time, it was a matter of time until I discovered org mode. This blog is well over 11 years old now, yet still powered by the very same org file (beware, this file is big).

With my org usage growing, I felt like I was missing org support outside of Emacs. And so I started building iOS apps revolving around my Emacs usage.

Journelly (iOS)

Journelly is my latest iOS app, centered around note-taking and journaling. The app feels like tweeting, but for your eyes only of course. It's powered by org markup, which can be synced with Emacs via iCloud.

Flat Habits (iOS)

Org habits are handy for tracking daily habits. However, it wasn't super practical for me as I often wanted to check things off while on the go (away from Emacs). That led me to build Flat Habits.

Scratch (iOS)

Plain Org (iOS)

For more involved writing, nothing beats Emacs org mode. But what if I want quick access to my org files while on the go? Plain Org is my iOS solution for that.

Found this post useful?

I'll keep looking for other macOS-related tips and update this post in the future.

In the meantime, consider ✨sponsoring✨ this content, my Emacs packages, buying my apps, or just taking care of your eyes ;)

Journelly 1.1 released

Mon, 19 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Journelly 1.1 available on the App Store

What is Journelly?

Journelly feels like tweeting but for your eyes only.

A fresh take on frictionless note-taking for iOS, powered by Org plain text.

Save cooking recipes, movies, music, restaurants, coffee shops…
Jot down your thoughts.
Save your favorite quotes.
Use it as a journal, memo book, or notes.
Write your shopping lists.
Document your travels.
Lots more…

Check out journelly.com for details.

What's new?

Journelly v1.1 is the first release since launching. It adds support for 10 new languages and delivers the first round of feature requests and bug fixes.

New features

New languages:
- Danish
- Dutch
- Finnish
- French
- German
- Italian
- Japanese
- Norwegian
- Spanish
- Swedish
Easily add hashtags using the new picker (most requested feature).
Hashtags are now highlighted in the editor.
Automatically capture selected text in Safari.
Paste images directly from the clipboard.
Tap on email addresses to compose a new message.
New context menu options:
- Set location as Home.
- Open location in Maps.
- Copy text.
iPad keyboard shortcuts
- ⌘-N Create a new Entry
- ⌘-S Save the current Entry
- ↑/↓ Select entry in list
- ↵ Edit selected entry
Uses the full date format based on your locale.

Fixes

Prevents the Esc key from discarding unsaved changes.
Resolves incorrect link icon colors in Light Mode.
The About screen is now available on fresh installs.
Fixes issue where the navigation bar became inaccessible when viewing markup.
Locations are now only clickable when valid coordinates are available.

A happy Journelly user

Just as I'm getting ready to announce Journelly's 1.1 release, Ellane (from ellanew.com) shared a wonderful blog post on her experience using version 1.0:

Journelly is the Org App You’ll Love (Even if You Don’t Do Org).

I'm particulary excited to hear from Ellane given her Plain Text; Paper, Less philosophy.

"It’s the perfect mix of simplicity and low-tech plain text wizardry"

"It takes a very particular set of features for a new app to impress me enough to hit the purchase button as fast as I did with Journelly."

"Journelly is the first Org-powered app I’ve seen that lays out the welcome mat for people who don’t even know what Org is, never mind how to use it."

Ellane / ellanew.com

As an org mode enthusiast myself, I'm delighted to hear Journelly is paving a gentle road for org newcomers.

Ellane's post also has a great list of features requests. Lucky for me, I can report at least two of them are covered by today's release:

The new hashtag picker.
Pasting images from the clipboard.

Be sure to check out Ellane's post, as she covers many details I'm not mentioning here. But lemme share one last tip I learned from her post today…

Ellane's iCloud tip

Today I learned something new from Ellane’s post: you can Control-click the Journelly iCloud Drive folder on your Mac and select "Keep Downloaded" to ensure your notes are always available offline. Super handy, specially for those of us using Emacs on macOS.

Markdown enthusiast? Enquire within

Currently, Journelly stores entries in Org plain text format, but Markdown support is on the way. Interested in Markdown? Please reach out. Early support is already available on beta builds. Lemme know if you'd like to join the TestFlight group.

On the topic of Markdown: I also run lmno.lol, a Markdown-powered blogging service. Simple and focused, without the frustrating parts of the modern web. Custom domains are welcome too! My xenodium.com blog runs off lmno.lol.

LLM text chat is everywhere. Who’s optimizing its UX?

Sun, 18 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

When it comes to programming LLM tools, I've seen modes of interaction in the form of code completion, patch application, improvement suggestions, and text chat amongst others. Text chat is everywhere.

In the context of text chat UX, I haven't really come across huge differentiators across offerings. That's not to say they don't exist. The landscape moves fast and there are far too many products out there for me to check out, thus my question to you is…

Who's optimizing or innovating LLM text chat UX?

While there are plenty of new agents and model capabilities that are interesting in their own right, in the context of chat UX, I'm more interested in finding your favorite UX features. What are they? What do you love about them? Why? Do they feel like they reached or are close to reaching an optimal experience? On the other hand, what do you find that's rough about them? Tiny friction here and there? I'd love to know: Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Bluesky.

Chat as a shell, is it keyboard optimized?

Back in 2023, I released the first version of chatgpt-shell. To me, LLM chats felt like the perfect candidates to be implemented as shells. After all, aren't they just REPLs of sorts?

Reads user input
Evaluates the input
Prints the result
Loops back to read more input

While this mode of LLM interaction served me well for some time, I couldn't shake the feeling there were tiny improvements to be made to shed a little friction here and there.

TAB navigation

Not all LLM output is equal. I want to quickly jump to more interesting items like code blocks or links (via keyboard of course). Sure, I can search to navigate around, but don't we have better patterns already? Don't we often just TAB our way around apps and web pages?

With that, I added TAB and Shift-TAB navigation to chatgpt-shell.

Editable vs read-only (why not both?)

Most LLM text chat interfaces I've come across are made up of two components: the input text-box and the history of input requests along with their corresponding LLM outputs. While using the text-box, keyboard shortcuts are somewhat limited to modifier key shortcuts. I'd love to have a richer menu of options available or ways to quickly ask for things, without explicitly having to request a different interaction mode nor a menu of sorts. Circumstances aren't that different in a shell when you have to switch between character and line mode. In a way, the clunkiness intensifies when you'd like to input multi-line text through your shell. You better watch out for that muscle memory and avoid pressing enter prematurely while you intended to add a newline… Too late. Your incomplete request is already on its way.

With all this in mind, it's easy to dismiss shell foundations given their quirks. The thing is, we don't have to throw the baby out with the bathwater. What we need is a veneer of sorts, automatically switching between edit and view mode just when you need it.

Reducing history noise

While I want to have access to my LLM chat history (ie. the context), I'm hardly ever interested in seeing anything but the last LLM response. An always-present history feels like constant noise to me. If I want to see the history, I'd like to actively ask for it. Remember that veneer of sorts? Well, can't it act as viewport too? …showing me only the very last response. Want access to previous entries? Can it act as a pager also? One interaction per page (request + response). But if I really want to open the history floodgates, just give me access to the "raw" shell… and so I started experimenting with pagers of sorts.

One chat interface to rule them all

With my initial chatgpt-shell implementation, I envisioned multi-model chat support would be possible by isolating shell logic into a separate package (shell-maker) and let folks build whichever LLM chat they'd like (adding support for their favorite model).

While new shells started popping up here and there, I didn't foresee minor shell UX differences affecting general user experience. Learning the quirks of each new shell felt like unnecessary friction in developing muscle memory. I also became dependent on chatgpt-shell features, which I often missed when using some of the other shells. In the end, I bit the bullet and made chatgpt-shell go multi-model.

Tying it all together

TAB navigation, a smart veneer, a viewport, paging, optional access to chat history, a transient menu, a single interface driving different models, and a bunch of other tweaks currently make up chatgpt-shell's compose experience, available via Emacs's M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose command or my preferred key binding: C-c C-e.

Today, I bring another tweak. Compose buffers get a brand new header presenting all relevant shell details including model and paging information.

The new compose header is now available in the latest MELPA package version. Invoke M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose and off you go. It's pretty fresh, so please report issues.

Back to the original question…

What are some of the text chat UX features you love? Bonus points if they are keyboard driven. I'd love to hear: Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Bluesky.

A richer Journelly org capture template

Fri, 16 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

In addition to including user content, Journelly entries typically bundle a few extra details like timestamp, location, and weather information, which look a little something like this:

Behind the scenes, Journelly entries follow a fairly simple org structure:

* [2025-04-23 Wed 13:24] @ Waterside House
:PROPERTIES:
:LATITUDE: 51.518714352892665
:LONGITUDE: -0.17575820941499262
:WEATHER_TEMPERATURE: 11.4°C
:WEATHER_CONDITION: Mostly Cloudy
:WEATHER_SYMBOL: cloud
:END:
Try out Rice Guys #food #london on Wednesdays in Paddington

[[file:Journelly.org.assets/images/C5890C25-5575-4F52-80D9-CE0087E9986C.jpg]]

While out and capturing entries from my iPhone, I rely on Journelly to leverages iOS location and weather APIs to include relevant information. On the other hand, when capturing from my Macbook, I rely on a basic Emacs org capture template (very similar to Jack Baty's):

(setq org-capture-templates
      '(("j" "Journelly" entry (file "path/to/Journelly.org")
         "* %U @ Home\n%?" :prepend t)))

These templates yield straightforward entries like:

* [2025-05-16 Fri 12:42] @ Home
A simple entry from my Macbook.

I've been using this capture template for some time. It does a fine job, though you'd notice location and weather info aren't captured. No biggie, since the location of my laptop isn't typically relevant, but hey today seemed like a perfect day to get nerd snipped by @natharari.

And so, off I went, to look for a utility to capture location from the command line. I found CoreLocationCLI, which leverages the equivalent macOS location APIs. As a bonus, the project seemed active (modified only a few days ago).

Installing CoreLocationCLI via Homebrew was a breeze:

brew install corelocationcli

The first time you run corelocationcli, you'll get an message like:

"CoreLocationCLI" can't be opened because it is from an unidentified developer...

You'll need to follow CoreLocationCLI's instructions:

To approve the process and allow CoreLocationCLI to run, go to System Settings ➡️ Privacy & Security ➡️ General, and look in the bottom right corner for a button to click.

After approving the process, I ran into a snag:

$ CoreLocationCLI
CoreLocationCLI: ❌ The operation couldn’t be completed. (kCLErrorDomain error 0.)

Lucky for me, the README had the solution:

Note for Mac users: make sure Wi-Fi is turned on. Otherwise you will see kCLErrorDomain error 0.

Oddly, my WiFi was turned on, so I went ahead and toggled it. Success:

$ CoreLocationCLI
51.51871 -0.17575

We can start by wrapping this command-line utility to return coordinates along with reverse geolocation (ie. description):

(defun journelly-get-location ()
  "Get current location.

Return in the form:

`((lat . 51.51871)
  (lon . -0.17575)
  (description . \"Sunny House\"))

Signals an error if the location cannot be retrieved."
  (unless (executable-find "CoreLocationCLI")
    (error "Needs CoreLocationCLI (try brew install corelocationcli)"))
  (with-temp-buffer
    (if-let ((exit-code (call-process "CoreLocationCLI" nil t nil
                                      "--format" "%latitude\t%longitude\t%thoroughfare"))
             (success (eq exit-code 0))
             (parts (split-string (buffer-string) "\t")))
        `((lat . ,(string-to-number (nth 0 parts)))
          (lon . ,(string-to-number (nth 1 parts)))
          (description . ,(string-trim (nth 2 parts))))
      (error "No location available"))))

A quick check shows it's working as expected.

(journelly-get-location)

'((lat . 51.51871)
  (lon . -0.17575)
  (description . "Waterside House"))

Now that we're able to get the current location, we need a way to fetch weather info. I discarded using WeatherKit on macOS for its dependence on a developer account and obtaining an API key. No worries, I found the great MET Norway API which is freely available without the need for keys.

(defun journelly-fetch-weather (lat lon)
  "Fetch weather data from MET Norway API for LAT and LON.

Return the parsed JSON object."
  (let* ((url (format "https://api.met.no/weatherapi/locationforecast/2.0/compact?lat=%s&lon=%s" lat lon))
         (args (list "-s" url)))
    (with-temp-buffer
      (apply #'call-process "curl" nil t nil args)
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (json-parse-buffer :object-type 'alist))))

We can take it for a spin with:

(journelly-fetch-weather 51.51871 -0.17575)

We get a nice object with a chunky time series (cropped for readability):

((type . "Feature")
 (geometry (type . "Point") (coordinates . [-0.1758 51.5187 30]))
 (properties
  (meta (updated_at . "2025-05-16T11:17:44Z")
        (units (air_pressure_at_sea_level . "hPa")
               (air_temperature . "celsius")
               (cloud_area_fraction . "%")
               (precipitation_amount . "mm") (relative_humidity . "%")
               (wind_from_direction . "degrees") (wind_speed . "m/s")))
  (timeseries
   . [((time . "2025-05-16T12:00:00Z")
       (data
        (instant
         (details (air_pressure_at_sea_level . 1025.6)
                  (air_temperature . 18.0) (cloud_area_fraction . 4.7)
                  (relative_humidity . 44.2)
                  (wind_from_direction . 17.6) (wind_speed . 3.6)))
        (next_12_hours (summary (symbol_code . "fair_day")) (details))
        (next_1_hours (summary (symbol_code . "clearsky_day"))
                      (details (precipitation_amount . 0.0)))
        (next_6_hours (summary (symbol_code . "clearsky_day"))
                      (details (precipitation_amount . 0.0)))))

      ...


     ((time . "2025-05-26T00:00:00Z")
       (data
        (instant
         (details (air_pressure_at_sea_level . 1007.3)
                  (air_temperature . 12.6)
                  (cloud_area_fraction . 28.1)
                  (relative_humidity . 91.3)
                  (wind_from_direction . 258.7) (wind_speed . 3.5)))))])))

Journelly entries need only a tiny subset of the returned object, so let's add a helper to extract and format as preferred.

(defun journelly-fetch-weather-summary (lat lon)
  "Fetch weather data from MET Norway API for LAT and LON.

Return in the form:

 '((temperature . \"16.9°C\")
   (symbol . \"cloudy\"))."
  (let* ((data (journelly-fetch-weather lat lon))
         (now (current-time))
         (entry (seq-find
                 (lambda (entry)
                   (let-alist entry
                     (time-less-p now (date-to-time .time))))
                 (let-alist data
                   .properties.timeseries)))
         (unit (let-alist data
                 .properties.meta.units.air_temperature)))
    (unless entry
      (error "Couldn't fetch weather data"))
    (let-alist entry
      `((temperature . ,(format "%.1f%s"
                                .data.instant.details.air_temperature
                                (cond
                                 ((string= unit "celsius") "°C")
                                 ((string= unit "fahrenheit") "°F")
                                 (t (concat " " unit)))))
        (symbol . ,(alist-get 'symbol_code .data.next_1_hours.summary))))))

We can take it for a spin with:

(journelly-fetch-weather-summary 51.51871 -0.17575)

Nice! Look at that weather, it's a sign I should finish writing and go outside!

'((temperature . "19.0°C")
  (symbol . "clearsky_day"))

I really should go outside, but I'm just so close now… Or so I thought! That symbol (ie. "clearsky_day") isn't recognizable by Journelly, which relies on SF Symbols returned by WeatherKit. I need a mapping of sorts between these symbols. Gosh, I do need to go outside. Let's speed things along. This is a perfect task for a robot! Whipped chatgpt-shell out and asked the LLM robots to take on this grunt work, who gave me:

{
  "clearsky_day": "sun.max",
  "clearsky_night": "moon.stars",
  "clearsky_polartwilight": "sun.horizon",
  ...
  "snowshowers_and_thunder_day": "cloud.sun.bolt.snow",
  "snowshowers_and_thunder_night": "cloud.moon.bolt.snow",
  "thunderstorm": "cloud.bolt"
}

We're in elisp land so who wants json? Hey robot, I need an alist:

Won't the LLM make mapping errors? Most certainly! But for now, I'm just getting a rough prototype and I need to get moving if I want to go outside!

We plug our mapping into an elisp function

(defun journelly-resolve-metno-to-sf-symbol (symbol)
  "Resolve Met.no weather SYMBOL strings to a corresponding SF Symbols."
  (let ((symbols '(("clearsky_day" . "sun.max")
                   ("clearsky_night" . "moon.stars")
                   ("clearsky_polartwilight" . "sun.horizon")
                   ...
                   ("snowshowers_and_thunder_day" . "cloud.sun.bolt.snow")
                   ("snowshowers_and_thunder_night" . "cloud.moon.bolt.snow")
                   ("thunderstorm" . "cloud.bolt"))))
    (map-elt symbols symbol)))

Does it work? Kinda seems like it.

(journelly-resolve-metno-to-sf-symbol
 (map-elt (journelly-fetch-weather-summary 51.51871 -0.17575) 'symbol))

"sun.max"

We got everything we need now, let's put the bits together:

(defun journelly-generate-metadata ()
  (let* ((location (journelly-get-location))
         (weather (journelly-fetch-weather-summary
                   (map-elt location 'lat)
                   (map-elt location 'lon))))
    (format "%s
:PROPERTIES:
:LATITUDE: %s
:LONGITUDE: %s
:WEATHER_TEMPERATURE: %s
:WEATHER_SYMBOL: %s
:END:"
            (or (map-elt location 'description) "-")
            (map-elt location 'lat)
            (map-elt location 'lon)
            (alist-get 'temperature weather)
            (journelly-resolve-metno-to-sf-symbol
             (alist-get 'symbol weather)))))

Lovely, we now get the metadata we need in the expected format.

Waterside House
:PROPERTIES:
:LATITUDE: 51.51871
:LONGITUDE: -0.17575
:WEATHER_TEMPERATURE: 18.5°C
:WEATHER_SYMBOL: sun.max
:END:

Damn, the temperature is dropping. I really do need to go outside. So close now!

All we have to do is plug our journelly-generate-metadata function into our org template and… Bob's your uncle!

(setq org-capture-templates
      '(("j" "Journelly" entry (file "path/to/Journelly.org")
         "* %U @ %(journelly-generate-metadata)\n%?" :prepend t)))

We can now invoke our trusty M-x org-capture and off we go…

While the code currently lives in my Emacs config, it's available on GitHub. If you do take it for a spin, it may crash and burn. I blame the weather. In the UK, when sunny, you rush to go outside! 🌞🏃‍♂️💨

Journelly: like tweeting but for your eyes only (in plain text)

Thu, 01 May 2025 00:00:00 GMT

On iOS, we're spoiled for choice when it comes to note-taking, journaling, or social media apps. In note-taking alone, I've flip-flopped back and forth between different note-taking and journaling apps. For one reason or another, none would stick. My initial attempt at building such an app faded just the same. That is, until I realized what I really wanted was a cocktail of sorts, combining user experiences from all three kinds. Only then, I finally gained some traction and Journelly was truly born.

I'm happy to share that, as of today, Journelly is generally available on the App Store. Check out journelly.com for all app details or just read on…

Like tweeting, but for your eyes only

While bringing social to note-taking was categorically never a goal, we got a thing or two we can draw from social media apps. They make it remarkably easy to browse and just share stuff.

All my previous mobile note-taking attempts failed to stick around almost exclusively because of friction. By bringing a social-media-like feed to my notes and making it remarkably easy to just add and search for things, app stickiness quickly took off.

Of course, these being my personal notes, privacy is non-negotiable. With Journelly being offline by default, combining elements from note-taking, journaling, and social media apps, I came to think of Journelly's experience as "tweeting but for your eyes only".

Is it a notes app? Journaling app? It's whatever you want it to be…

I like how journaling apps automatically bundle timestamps with your entries and maybe additional information like location or even weather details. At the same time, splitting my writing between two apps (quick notes vs. journaling) always felt like unnecessary friction. Even having to decide which app to launch felt like a deterrent.

While my typical Journelly use-case hops between taking notes, journaling, today's grocery shopping list, saving a few links from the web, music, movies, the list goes on… jcs from Irreal puts it best: "Journelly is a bit of a shape shifter." With just enough structure (but not too much), Journelly can serve all sorts of use-cases.

No lock-in (powered by org plain text)

While I want a smooth mobile note-taking experience, I also don't want my notes to live in a data island of sorts. I'm a fan of plain text. I've been writing my notes and blog posts at xenodium.com using Org plain text for well over a decade now, so my solution naturally had to have some plain text thrown at it.

Journelly stores entries using Org markup for now, but Markdown is coming too (UPDATE: launched). Interested in Markdown support? Please reach out. The more requests I receive, the sooner I'll get it out the door. Oh, and since we're talking Markdown, I also launched lmno.lol, a Markdown-powered blogging service (minus the yucky bits of the modern web). Custom domains are welcome too. My xenodium.com blog runs off lmno.lol.

Is it really powered by Org markup? Go ahead and fire up your beloved Emacs, Vim, Neovim, VS Code, Sublime Text, Zed… and take a peek. It's just text.

Having shown you all of that, this is all just cherry on the implementation cake. You need not know anything about markups to use Journelly. Just open the app and start writing.

iCloud syncing (optional)

While Journelly is offline by default, you may optionally sync with other devices via iCloud.

Folks have reported using Working Copy, Sushitrain, or Möbius Sync for syncing, though your mileage may vary. As of v1, I can only offer iCloud as the officially supported provider.

Searching + hashtags

There's little structure enforced on Journelly entries. Write whatever you want. If you want some categorization, sprinkle entries with your favorite hashtags. They're automatically actionable on tap, enabling quick searches in the future.

Thank you beta testers!

Nearly 300 folks signed up to Journelly's TestFlight. Thank you for testing, reporting issues, and all the great suggestions. While many of your feature requests made it to the launch, I've had to defer quite few to enable the v1 release. The good news is I now have a healthy backlog I can work on to bring features over time.

Support indie development

The App Store is a crowded place. Building ✨sustainable✨ iOS apps is quite the challenge, especially when doing right by the user. Journelly steers clear of ads, tracking, distractions, bloat, lock-in, and overreaching permissions. It embraces open formats like Org markup, safeguarding the longevity of your data.

Support independent development.

Journelly vs Emacs: Why Not Both?

Wed, 02 Apr 2025 00:00:00 GMT

JTR recently posted an interesting question in response to Irreal's post wondering why he feels the need to use something that is not Emacs for quick notes? While I'm in no position to speak on behalf of Irreal, I am the Ramírez building this Journelly app JTR speaks of ;-)

From my perspective as the author, I'm building this app to fill a void I have, complementing my org-mode usage. In my opinion, it's not a question of whether to use Journelly over Emacs. I freakin' love Emacs org. I don't want to give it up. If the apps speak to each other, the question I'd rather ask is: why not use both?

When I’m on my computer, nearly all my writing goes through org-mode. I’ve been an org fan for well over a decade. My blog is powered by a single org file (be warned, it's a chunky file).

It's no secret I'm also an Emacs fan. I love how this platform moulds to my needs. But when I’m on the go and on my iPhone, I want a different experience — quick mobile access, minimal ceremony, optimized for smaller touch screens. I want to capture quick notes on the go, with as little friction as possible. Optionally, I want to include photos, lists, checklists, location, weather, timestamps… I also want this experience to feel like other well-integrated iOS apps. The way I like to put it is: Journelly sorta feels like tweeting, but for your eyes only.

At the same time, I don’t want my mobile note-taking experience to live in a data island. After all, I'm still an org fan. So… why not use both apps? My goal for Journelly is to provide a mobile-optimized experience that happens to speak org and thus complement my existing org usage.

While Journelly is offline by default, you may choose a different location for your data, enabling you to access it from your beloved editor.

Back to the original question: why use another tool for quick notes other than Emacs? Journelly isn't meant to replace Emacs, but rather complement it. In a way, Journelly isn't that different from Beorg, which was mentioned in JTR's post. Both apps speak org on iOS. It just so happens the apps offer slightly different targeted experiences. While Beorg is perhaps more geared toward task lists and calendars, Journelly focuses on short and quick notes.

Journelly is still in beta, though lucky for me, Mac Observer showcased a thorough review. If keen to join the beta group, reach out at journelly/./invite/@/xenodium.com or Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Bluesky.

P.S. Emacs org continues to be, and likely always will be, my writing epicentre. I now have three revolving org-based apps on the App Store, with Journelly soon to become the fourth one. if interested, check out my org bundle.

The Mac Observer showcases Journelly

Tue, 25 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

The Mac Observer is showcasing Monday App Finder: Journelly, a Twitter-Like Journal for iOS.

#+ATTR_HTML: :width 70%

Bemfica de Oliva does a wonderful rundown of Journelly's features and capabilities, much better than anything else I've posted before. They even mentioned Org markup and Emacs text editor, for those who want to drop down to its plain text storage. A nice treat, as these aren't typically showcased in the space.

If you're curious about what Journelly can do, check out Bemfica's post. Alternatively, if you just want to play with it, join the TestFlight beta group.

Journelly open for beta

Fri, 14 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: Journelly is now on the App Store.

I've reignited Journelly, my note-taking/journaling project. The iOS app is coming along nicely.

I've been using Journelly daily. The best I can describe the experience is: "kinda like tweeting but for my eyes only".

Journelly automatically includes date and time in your entries. Optionally, it'll also include location and weather details.

For now, your entries can include text, images, checkboxes, bullets, and links.

While entering items orally isn't yet possible as per Irreal's post, you can use the standard keyboard button to dictate text.

Powered by plain text (org markup)

If you're an Emacs org mode fan, you'll be happy to know that Journelly stores data as plain text, using org to structure its entries.

If you're unfamiliar with these things, you don't need to learn any of it to use the app. It's just what's under the hood.

* [2025-02-26 Wed 13:55] @ Distillery Lane
:PROPERTIES:
:LATITUDE: 51.488644146827866
:LONGITUDE: -0.22292387343051026
:WEATHER_TEMPERATURE: 8.69°C
:WEATHER_CONDITION: Rain
:WEATHER_SYMBOL: cloud.rain
:END:
- [X] Try out Pad Thai Story in Hammersmith

[[file:Journelly.org.assets/images/4F0F3923-675A-461E-9B02-63CEDE76C765.jpg]]

Join the beta group

Want to give Journelly a try? Join the TestFlight beta group. Send me an email address (any would do) for the TestFlight invite.

You can reach out at journelly/./invite/@/xenodium.com or Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Bluesky.

DeepSeek, Open Router, Kagi, and Perplexity join the chat

Thu, 06 Mar 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Back in November, I announced the chatgpt-shell Emacs package going offline. In real terms, it meant adding Ollama support after chatgpt-shell went multi-model. Since then, support for a handful of providers and models has been added.

While DeepSeek is the latest joinee, Open Router (thank you djr7C4), Kagi summarizer, and Perplexity are also a model-swap away.

chatgpt-shell is nearing 30K MELPA downloads. Are you a happy user? Consider making this project sustainable by ✨sponsoring✨.

Keychron K3 Pro: F1-F12 as default macOS keys

Thu, 20 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

After resetting my Keychron K3 Pro, my F1 to F12 keys were no longer my default macOS keys. The entire row was defaulting to macOS's special keys (i.e. Mission Control, Launch Pad, Volume, etc). At first, I thought I may just need to revisit the macOS setting "Use F1, F2, etc keys as standard function keys", yet toggling the setting made no difference.

Turns out, I had remapped those keys long ago and simply forgot about it. Factory resetting my keyboard got rid of this customization. This post is a reminder for my future self, and anyone else looking to remap their F1-F12 keys.

Save your current layout

Via https://usevia.app, I saved my current keyboard layout (the out-of-box layout) and named it k3_pro_ansi_white(before).json.

Apply your changes

I made a second copy of the layout and named it k3_pro_ansi_white(after).json. In this new file, I located the two layers (first and second) and simply swapped the two row chunks using a text editor.

The diff looks a little something like this:

--- k3_pro_ansi_white(before).json    2025-02-20 09:44:03
+++ k3_pro_ansi_white(after).json 2025-02-20 09:43:59
@@ -5,18 +5,18 @@
   "layers": [
     [
       "KC_ESC",
-      "KC_BRID",
-      "KC_BRIU",
-      "CUSTOM(4)",
-      "CUSTOM(5)",
-      "BL_DEC",
-      "BL_INC",
-      "KC_MPRV",
-      "KC_MPLY",
-      "KC_MNXT",
-      "KC_MUTE",
-      "KC_VOLD",
-      "KC_VOLU",
+      "KC_F1",
+      "KC_F2",
+      "KC_F3",
+      "KC_F4",
+      "KC_F5",
+      "KC_F6",
+      "KC_F7",
+      "KC_F8",
+      "KC_F9",
+      "KC_F10",
+      "KC_F11",
+      "KC_F12",
       "CUSTOM(8)",
       "KC_DEL",
       "BL_STEP",
@@ -103,18 +103,18 @@
     ],
     [
       "KC_TRNS",
-      "KC_F1",
-      "KC_F2",
-      "KC_F3",
-      "KC_F4",
-      "KC_F5",
-      "KC_F6",
-      "KC_F7",
-      "KC_F8",
-      "KC_F9",
-      "KC_F10",
-      "KC_F11",
-      "KC_F12",
+      "KC_BRID",
+      "KC_BRIU",
+      "CUSTOM(4)",
+      "CUSTOM(5)",
+      "BL_DEC",
+      "BL_INC",
+      "KC_MPRV",
+      "KC_MPLY",
+      "KC_MNXT",
+      "KC_MUTE",
+      "KC_VOLD",
+      "KC_VOLU",
       "KC_TRNS",
       "KC_TRNS",
       "BL_TOGG",

Similarly, here's side-by-side look via Emacs ediff:

Load your modified layout

Now that we have k3_pro_ansi_white(after).json with our changes, all that's left is loading through https://usevia.app. You are now done.

While F1-F12 keys should now be available by default. To access your macOS special keys use the fn key.

Enjoy your F1-F12 default keys!

Final `k3_pro_ansi_white(after).json`

In case you'd like to see the entire content of k3_pro_ansi_white(after).json, here it is:

{
  "name": "Keychron K3 Pro ANSI White",
  "vendorProductId": 875823667,
  "macros": ["", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", "", ""],
  "layers": [
    [
      "KC_ESC",
      "KC_F1",
      "KC_F2",
      "KC_F3",
      "KC_F4",
      "KC_F5",
      "KC_F6",
      "KC_F7",
      "KC_F8",
      "KC_F9",
      "KC_F10",
      "KC_F11",
      "KC_F12",
      "CUSTOM(8)",
      "KC_DEL",
      "BL_STEP",
      "KC_GRV",
      "KC_1",
      "KC_2",
      "KC_3",
      "KC_4",
      "KC_5",
      "KC_6",
      "KC_7",
      "KC_8",
      "KC_9",
      "KC_0",
      "KC_MINS",
      "KC_EQL",
      "KC_BSPC",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_PGUP",
      "KC_TAB",
      "KC_Q",
      "KC_W",
      "KC_E",
      "KC_R",
      "KC_T",
      "KC_Y",
      "KC_U",
      "KC_I",
      "KC_O",
      "KC_P",
      "KC_LBRC",
      "KC_RBRC",
      "KC_BSLS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_PGDN",
      "KC_CAPS",
      "KC_A",
      "KC_S",
      "KC_D",
      "KC_F",
      "KC_G",
      "KC_H",
      "KC_J",
      "KC_K",
      "KC_L",
      "KC_SCLN",
      "KC_QUOT",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_ENT",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_HOME",
      "KC_LSFT",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_Z",
      "KC_X",
      "KC_C",
      "KC_V",
      "KC_B",
      "KC_N",
      "KC_M",
      "KC_COMM",
      "KC_DOT",
      "KC_SLSH",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_RSFT",
      "KC_UP",
      "KC_END",
      "KC_LCTL",
      "CUSTOM(0)",
      "CUSTOM(2)",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_SPC",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "CUSTOM(3)",
      "MO(1)",
      "KC_RCTL",
      "KC_LEFT",
      "KC_DOWN",
      "KC_RGHT"
    ],
    [
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_BRID",
      "KC_BRIU",
      "CUSTOM(4)",
      "CUSTOM(5)",
      "BL_DEC",
      "BL_INC",
      "KC_MPRV",
      "KC_MPLY",
      "KC_MNXT",
      "KC_MUTE",
      "KC_VOLD",
      "KC_VOLU",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "BL_TOGG",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "CUSTOM(11)",
      "CUSTOM(12)",
      "CUSTOM(13)",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "BL_TOGG",
      "BL_STEP",
      "BL_INC",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "BL_DEC",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "CUSTOM(14)",
      "MAGIC_TOGGLE_NKRO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS"
    ],
    [
      "KC_ESC",
      "KC_F1",
      "KC_F2",
      "KC_F3",
      "KC_F4",
      "KC_F5",
      "KC_F6",
      "KC_F7",
      "KC_F8",
      "KC_F9",
      "KC_F10",
      "KC_F11",
      "KC_F12",
      "KC_PSCR",
      "KC_DEL",
      "BL_STEP",
      "KC_GRV",
      "KC_1",
      "KC_2",
      "KC_3",
      "KC_4",
      "KC_5",
      "KC_6",
      "KC_7",
      "KC_8",
      "KC_9",
      "KC_0",
      "KC_MINS",
      "KC_EQL",
      "KC_BSPC",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_PGUP",
      "KC_TAB",
      "KC_Q",
      "KC_W",
      "KC_E",
      "KC_R",
      "KC_T",
      "KC_Y",
      "KC_U",
      "KC_I",
      "KC_O",
      "KC_P",
      "KC_LBRC",
      "KC_RBRC",
      "KC_BSLS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_PGDN",
      "KC_CAPS",
      "KC_A",
      "KC_S",
      "KC_D",
      "KC_F",
      "KC_G",
      "KC_H",
      "KC_J",
      "KC_K",
      "KC_L",
      "KC_SCLN",
      "KC_QUOT",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_ENT",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_HOME",
      "KC_LSFT",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_Z",
      "KC_X",
      "KC_C",
      "KC_V",
      "KC_B",
      "KC_N",
      "KC_M",
      "KC_COMM",
      "KC_DOT",
      "KC_SLSH",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_RSFT",
      "KC_UP",
      "KC_END",
      "KC_LCTL",
      "KC_LGUI",
      "KC_LALT",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_SPC",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_RALT",
      "MO(3)",
      "KC_RCTL",
      "KC_LEFT",
      "KC_DOWN",
      "KC_RGHT"
    ],
    [
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_BRID",
      "KC_BRIU",
      "CUSTOM(6)",
      "CUSTOM(7)",
      "BL_DEC",
      "BL_INC",
      "KC_MPRV",
      "KC_MPLY",
      "KC_MNXT",
      "KC_MUTE",
      "KC_VOLD",
      "KC_VOLU",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "BL_TOGG",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "CUSTOM(11)",
      "CUSTOM(12)",
      "CUSTOM(13)",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "BL_TOGG",
      "BL_STEP",
      "BL_INC",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "BL_DEC",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "CUSTOM(14)",
      "MAGIC_TOGGLE_NKRO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_NO",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS",
      "KC_TRNS"
    ]
  ],
  "encoders": []
}

E-ink bookmarks

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Sourdough bookmarks

Mon, 03 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Cardamom Buns recipe

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Buns

150 ml milk
2 tsp instant yeast (2.25 tsp active-dry yeast, 17.5g fresh yeast)
1 large egg
1 egg yolk
50 grams sugar
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1/2 tsp ground cardamom
1/2 tsp salt
375 grams all-purpose or bread flour
57 grams unsalted butter, softened

Filling

71 grams unsalted butter, softened
65 grams brown sugar
1.5 tsp ground cardamom
Pinch of salt

A tour of Ready Player Mode

Thu, 30 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Ready Player Mode, which began as a tiny media-viewing experiment, has now become my daily music player.

Along the way, I moved from regular daily streaming to buying and playing music offline, relying on the odd streaming service exclusively for discovery. This setup's been working great so far. I get unrestricted playback (for life) with the occasional discovery session whenever I see fit.

Setup

Ready Player Mode runs in Emacs. You install it, enable its minor mode (for media recognition), and you're ready to go.

(use-package ready-player
  :ensure t
  :config
  (ready-player-mode +1))

Ready Player Mode will try to use either mpv, vlc, ffplay, or mplayer (in that order) to play media, but mpv works best.

Ready to go

Post setup, you can open media files like any other text file and Emacs will just play it for you. Say, open a dired buffer, navigate to a file, and open as usual.

Buttons vs key bindings

If buttons are your cup of tea, use tab or backtab to navigate around.

Alternatively, single-key bindings are available. You can find them all in the transient help menu, via the ? binding.

Global key bindings

Global key bindings are available, so you can interact with the player without switching buffers.

Global bindings are under the C-c m prefix.

C-c m SPC Toggle play/stop of media. C-c m r Cycle through repeat settings: file, directory, off. C-c m m Toggle switching between player buffer and previous buffer. C-c m s Toggle shuffle setting. C-c m a Toggle autoplay setting. C-c m n Open the next media file in the same directory. C-c m c Open my media collection. C-c m i Show playback info in the echo area. C-c m p Open the previous media file in the same directory. C-c m / Search the `dired' playlist for playback (experimental).

If you prefer to use other bindings, disable default ones with:

(setq ready-player-set-global-bindings nil)

Open externally

You can always open the currently played file externally, using your system default player. This is bound to the e key.

Repeat, shuffle, and autoplay

Repeat, shuffle, and autoplay should do what you'd expect and can be toggled via r s and a keys.

Play current directory

By default, Ready Player will continue playing other media found in the current directory. Use n and p bindings to move through different tracks.

Seek

Ready Player works best with mpv player. If you have it installed, you can seek through tracks.

Play your collection

Ready Player can remember your music collection, but needs a tiny addition to the existing setup via the ready-player-my-media-collection-location variable.

(use-package ready-player
  :custom
  (ready-player-my-media-collection-location "~/path/to/your/music/collection")
  :config
  (ready-player-mode +1))

Your music collection is now available via the home button.

Index + search

Your music collection is automatically indexed. Same for the currently played directory, so you can search for tracks.

Bookmarking

This is a new feature inspired by tristanC's use of Emacs bookmarks with Ready Player. Bookmarks are now displayed and toggled from the player interface.

Bookmarks are searchable too.

Download album cover

Missing album cover? Download it via M-x ready-player-download-album-artwork.

Embracing `dired`

I mentioned playing media from current directory or your music collection, but Ready Player is really just playing media from a dired buffer. If you can craft a dired buffer, Ready Player should be able to play it. Think find-dired.

Advanced features

Ready Player should be umm… ready to play with little configuration. If you want further customizations, check out its documentation.

Enjoy your unrestricted music offline, now and forever!

✨sponsor✨ this project.

A platform that moulds to your needs

Tue, 21 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs users may be known for bringing in all sorts of diverse workflows into their beloved text editor. From the outside, I get how odd this may seem. We often treat our text editor as a platform of sorts to do our email, web browsing, calendars, project management, chat… the list goes on.

Take email, as an example. Back in 2018 I thought "managing email from Emacs… surely that's crazy-talk", yet I gave it a try just in case. 7 years later and I never looked back. I still use the excellent mu4e client.

As you become more accustomed to Emacs, you may find yourself wishing you could navigate other tasks just as efficiently. But this doesn't happen right away. The editor starts moulding to your needs, initially as you copy others's code/configurations, but this can only take you so far. Emacs truly does mould to your own needs, once you start learning a little elisp.

When comparing elisp to modern languages, one may be tempted to dismiss it as a niche language from another era. While both of those things may be true, its moulding and glueing capabilities remain just as relevant and powerful today, even in the LLM era.

Take a random workflow like extracting vocabulary from a Japanese class paper handout. While it may seem far-fetched for Emacs to handle this, it's actually fairly straightforward with a little elisp glue. Often, this consists of finding some crucial utilities and glueing them up.

Take a screenshot

I'm mostly on macOS, so I can use the built-in screencapture utility to capture the screen and save to a file.

(call-process "/usr/sbin/screencapture" nil nil nil "-i" "path/to/screenshot.png")

Get an LLM to OCR things for ya

These days, there are no shortages of neither large language models nor Emacs clients. I built one: chatgpt-shell, so I feed the screenshot to chatgpt-shell-lookup, giving it a prompt like:

1. Fill out an org mode table using this format as an example:

|----------+----------+-------+--------+---------+------|
| Hiragana | Katakana | Kanji | Romaji | English | Tags |
|----------+----------+-------+--------+---------+------|
|          |          |       |        |         |      |
|----------+----------+-------+--------+---------+------|

2. Fill out Hiragana or Katakana when appropriate. Never both.
3. Fill out Kanji when appropriate.
4. Show long romaji vowels (i.e. ō).
5. DO NOT use Markdown source blocks.
6. DO NOT add any text or explanations outside the org table.

Be sure to always check LLM output ;)

Let org do its thing

Since I requested org markup from the LLM, I can use org-mode to navigate cells and tweak data as needed. The output I get looks a little something like this:

| Hiragana               | Katakana   | Kanji                | Romaji               | English               | #Tags              |
|------------------------+------------+----------------------+----------------------+-----------------------+--------------------|
| べんきょう を します   |            | 勉強 を します       | benkyō o shimasu     | study                 | #study             |
...
| かいもの を します     |            | 買い物 を します     | kaimono o shimasu    | shop                  | #shopping          |
...

Sarasa Gothic (detour)

More of a side-note than anything… As a beginner Japanese learner, I quickly discovered I needed a font supporting my new rendering needs. I found Sarasa Gothic Mono, a lovely font (thanks to this Reddit post).

More elisp glue

Now that I got my Japanese vocabulary in org format, I can continue leveraging elisp to glue other things from my target workflow, like iterating over the table and generating a tsv with my new vocabulary:

(while (org-at-table-p)
  (let* ((front ...)
         (hiragana (org-table-get-field 1))
         (katakana (org-table-get-field 2))
         (kanji (org-table-get-field 3))
         (romaji (org-table-get-field 4))
         (meaning (org-table-get-field 5))
         (tags (org-table-get-field 6)))
    (with-current-buffer output-buffer
      (insert (format "%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\t%s\n"
                      front
                      hiragana
                      katakana
                      kanji
                      romaji
                      meaning
                      (replace-regexp-in-string "#" "" tags)))))
  (forward-line 1))

べんきょう を します   べんきょう を します     勉強 を します    benkyō o shimasu    study   study
...
かいもの を します    かいもの を します      買い物 を します   kaimono o shimasu   shop    shopping
...

Anki

So where is all this elisp glueing going? Now that I have my new vocabulary in a .tsv table, I can feed it to Anki, the popular spaced repetition app. While there are a handful of existing Anki Emacs packages, converting with an elisp loop was simple enough and gave me lots of freedom on how to structure my cards.

iPhone

Once I got the new vocabulary imported into Anki, I can subsequently sync it over to the iPhone. In some way, you can say that a bit of elisp glue here and there facilitated the entire workflow.

By the way, now you know why there's a random chatgpt-shell-japanese-lookup function included in chatgpt-shell.

Learn elisp

While Emacs and elisp may not be the most fashionable pair, they sure fill a huge void for me. They provide a platform that can easily mould to my specific needs.

If you're an Emacser and have been shying away from learning elisp, do yourself a favour and get your toes dipped. You'll be glad to.

Soon enough, you'll enable workflows that mould exactly to the way you like things to work. In other words, they simply do what ✨you✨ mean ;)

Blogging minus the yucky bits of the modern web

Wed, 01 Jan 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Happy New Year! If you follow my blog, you may have noticed that I've been hosting it on lmno.lol for a while now, a blogging service I built (invitation-only until now).

#+ATTR_HTML: :width 90%

Why build a blogging platform

There's been a resurgence in blogging of sorts. Wonderful in itself, but the popular platforms are fairly erm unfriendly to their readers.

These days, search results might lead you to an interesting blog post, but you're greeted with messages like:

“The author made this story available to ^^^^^^ members only. If you’re new to ^^^^^^, create a new account to read this story on us.”

Kinda strange for a platform to offload blame onto its users.

In one instance, I bit the bullet. Created an account, logged in, only to find out the specific post was reserved to paying members. “Alright,” I thought, “let’s do this.” Sadly, when I finally arrived, the content was a bit of a letdown. After all those hoops…

Meanwhile, both Privacy Badger and uBlock Origin were going haywire. Great, this thing is tracking me too. At least the site is lean… I kid, of course not.

So that's that. Off I went to build a blogging platform to exclude the yucky bits the modern web has brought to our blogs.

My blogging journey

I'm what you may call an accidental blogger. Sometime ago, I started jotting notes using plain text file sprinkled with org markup. I'd use my text editor for both writing and recall. It worked well when in front of my computer, not so much when on the move or sharing things with anyone. By that point, I decided to export my notes to HTML and post online. Over time, folks started reaching out about something read in my notes, errrm blog posts, and so by then I suppose I had become a blogger.

In 11 years of blogging, my approach hasn't changed much. I still write to the very same plain text file I used to write my notes to. I found this approach fairly accessible, with little ceremony. When I want to write, I open the usual text file and just write. HTML exporting consisted of hacky elisp cobbled together over time. While the code was nothing to rave about, it did the job just fine over the years. Having said that, it was more of a "it works on my machine" sorta thing.

Enter lmno.lol

lmno.lol is heavily inspired by the same workflow. You write your notes or blog posts to a single plain text file, sprinkling Markdown this time around, and just drag and drop it to the web.

lmno.lol takes care of the rest.

A Little blast from the past

Remember ASCII art? Figlet? You can bring back some of that nostalgic web by adding a banner to your blog.

lmno.lol enables that via text art banners. What would you add?

# blog-text-art-banner

 /$$$$$$$                            /$$
| $$__  $$                          | $$
| $$  \ $$  /$$$$$$  /$$$$$$$   /$$$$$$$  /$$$$$$   /$$$$$$
| $$$$$$$/ /$$__  $$| $$__  $$ /$$__  $$ /$$__  $$ /$$__  $$
| $$__  $$| $$$$$$$$| $$  \ $$| $$  | $$| $$$$$$$$| $$  \__/
| $$  \ $$| $$_____/| $$  | $$| $$  | $$| $$_____/| $$
| $$  | $$|  $$$$$$$| $$  | $$|  $$$$$$$|  $$$$$$$| $$
|__/  |__/ \_______/|__/  |__/ \_______/ \_______/|__/

Read anywhere

Needless to say, this platform has no tracking, ads, or paywalls. It also tries to stay away from bloat and uses JavaScript for optional features only. If you're wondering, all blogs include RSS FEEDS with full content.

Blogs render wonderfully pretty much anywhere.

Help sustain a better web

We have plenty of features we’d like to add. We host blogs for a small fee ($1.50 per month). This fee helps us cover hosting expenses, maintain and develop features, and keep the platform running smoothly. That’s the entirety of our transaction—no ads, no tracking, no selling of user data.

There are no paywalls here. You can read fully and freely. However, please consider becoming a paying customer, even if you don’t plan to blog yourself. Your support ensures the platform remains sustainable and independent.

As a paying customer, you’ll also get to reserve your own blog handle. By doing so, you not only support the platform but also promote an inclusive internet experience that is fast, smooth, and free of constant tracking, intrusive advertising, paywalls, and data collection.

By supporting services like lmno.lol, you prove like-minded services are not only possible but fully sustainable without deceitful tech.

I hope you like lmno.lol. Happy blogging!

symbol-overlay-mc now on MELPA

Sat, 28 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Some time ago, I wrote about adding multiple cursor support to symbol-overlay by gluing the two packages together. If you're keen to learn how to bend Emacs to your way, have a look at that post.

Later on, in a "Multiple cursors - how and why?" Reddit post, I showcased the overlay usage. Peter Oliver asked if the package could be submitted to MELPA. To my delight, he also volunteered to take on the submission.

Unfortunately, I had failed to check back on the MELPA submission until today. I'm happy to report that, thanks to Peter, symbol-overlay-mc is now on MELPA.

Happy symbol-overlay-multiple-cursors editing! ;)

Hello emacs.tv

Mon, 23 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

A few days ago, Sacha Chua mentioned how cool it would be to have an Emacs video index like Ruby Video. I mentioned how I had similarly considered a low-tech solution, maybe powered by plain text (bonus points for org mode of course).

A little later, Sacha shared a preliminary video feed dump, in org! With that, I wrote the first experiment to render the org feed and emacs.tv was born.

emacs.tv is merely a few days old. Powered by an org feed (rendered client-side), but we can fetch and render in all sorts of ways. emacs.tv brings it to the web, though I'm sure we can come up with all sorts of Emacs integrations. A new major mode? Or maybe convert the org feed to rss and plug into elfeed?

This is what a feed entry looks like:

* EmacsConf.org: How we use Org Mode and TRAMP to organize and run a multi-track conference :emacsconf:emacsconf2023:org:tramp:
:PROPERTIES:
:DATE: 2023-12-03
:URL: https://emacsconf.org/2023/talks/emacsconf
:MEDIA_URL: https://media.emacsconf.org/2023/emacsconf-2023-emacsconf--emacsconforg-how-we-use-org-mode-and-tramp-to-organize-and-run-a-multitrack-conference--sacha-chua--main.webm
:YOUTUBE_URL: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uTregv3rNl0
:TOOBNIX_URL: https://toobnix.org/w/eX2dXG3xMtUHuuBz4fssGT
:TRANSCRIPT_URL: https://media.emacsconf.org/2023/emacsconf-2023-emacsconf--emacsconforg-how-we-use-org-mode-and-tramp-to-organize-and-run-a-multitrack-conference--sacha-chua--main.vtt
:SPEAKERS: Sacha Chua
:SERIES: EmacsConf 2023
:END:

We need your help

As mentioned, this is a new project. It's a good start, but it can only get better with your help.

Submit more content

Sacha kickstarted a wonderful video feed, a collection of 1715 videos as of today. We need more. Are your published videos missing? Reckon other videos should be listed? Please help by submitting new entries.

Improve our tagging

Many of the listed videos could use more tags. Please help us by tagging content in video.org and submit a pull request.

Take it for a spin

Or maybe just take emacs.tv for a spin and give us some feedback.

Happy holidays! 🎄☃️

An experimental (e)shell pager

Mon, 09 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

These days, my LLM interactions primarily take place via chatgpt-shell's compose UX. I've grown fond of this hybrid style of interaction. On sharing the latest incarnation, jllw asked about the possibility to port to comint shells.

With jllw's great idea in mind, I set out to prototype an eshell pager, my preferred shell.

The initial results ain't too shabby:

While you can easily flip through all eshell commands and outputs (via single-character n/p bindings), you can also compose and fire off new commands using a magit-style approach. That is, craft your desired command and C-c C-c to send it off.

The prototype is currently focused on eshell, but it can be easily ported to comint and other shells by writing new shell-maker configs:

(shell-pager--make-config
 :shell-buffer buffer
 :page-buffer (shell-pager--buffer)
 :next #'shell-pager--eshell-next
 :previous #'shell-pager--eshell-previous
 :current #'shell-pager--eshell-current-item
 :subscribe #'shell-pager--eshell-subscribe
 :unsubscribe #'shell-pager--eshell-unsubscribe
 :submit #'shell-pager--eshell-submit
 :interrupt #'shell-pager--eshell-interrupt)

shell-pager's super rough/experimental code is now on GitHub.

It's been a fun experiment so far. Time will tell, whether or not shell-pager can replace most of my eshell interactions. The good news is that this isn't an all or nothing sorta thing. shell-pager complements eshell, so I can always jump back to eshell itself and continue with the very same shell history.

LLM chat navigation

Thu, 05 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

LLM chats are often handy for refining answers to a question or task, part of a bigger goal. Navigating the chat transcript, copying and pasting, can be a frequent operation in the bigger goal. If we can do it more efficiently, the better.

While chatgpt-shell offered chatgpt-shell-next-item and chatgpt-shell-previous-item commands, it had a few rough edges which prevented me from fully adopting. The default bindings C-c C-n and C-c C-p didn't exactly help either, making repeated navigation fairly clunky. repeat-mode would have helped a little, yet I was yearning for a familiar experience… more like tab and Shift-tab in web browsers.

While shells often tab-complete commands and/or arguments, I'm not super convinced tab completion is a good candidate for an LLM Emacs shell. Having said that, searching for previous prompts a la Ctr-r is indeed a handy feature and already supported in chatgpt-shell (via M-r).

This is all to say that the with the latest chatgpt-shell navigation changes (using and bindings), the chatgpt-shell experience feels way more natural. You can see it in action…

Tab navigation jumps between prompts, links, and code blocks. You may have noticed code blocks are automatically selected, in case you want to quickly copy and paste elsewhere.

This mode of navigation is also present in the compose UX (via M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose). In addition to and , you can use n and p bindings (post prompt submission).

Give the new navigation a try. See how it feels. Some of it is fairly fresh, so please file bugs if needed.

Awesome elisp

Wed, 04 Dec 2024 00:00:00 GMT

A few days ago, redditor gollyned asked about best practices: developing on top of modern elisp packages. It reminded of my modern Emacs lisp libraries post, which I shared with them.

While my post is roughly 4.5 years old, these days I continue to reach out to the likes of seq.el, map.el, subr-x.el and let-alist.el on a regular basis. My post also shared some great third party options. Maybe my post could use an update? Happy to take suggestions.

A few days later, I ran into awesome-elisp, which aggregates a ton of resources to check out. Funnily enough, I had bookmarked it a long while ago and simply forgot about it. On a somewhat related note, when I reviewed my old list of bookmarks, I didn't have Yoo Box's it is not hard to read Lisp code bookmarked, which changed the way I viewed and read elisp code (spoiler alert, as a tree). I remember how well this approach also translated to languages like Objective-C, enabling me to inline more things without worrying too much.

In any case, the reddit post was another reminder for me to go and check out some of those bookmarks I never got to read, including the awesome-elisp one.

ob-chatgpt-shell goes multi-model too

Wed, 27 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

A week ago, I announced chatgpt-shell going multi-model. What I failed to mention is that because ob-chatgpt-shell (its org babel Emacs cousin) relies on chatgpt-shell, this babel package has now gone multi-model also.

ob-chatgpt-shell follows the familiar babel form. To swap models, use the existing :version param as follows.

#+begin_src chatgpt-shell :results output :version gpt-4o
  Who built you?
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: I was developed by OpenAI, a research organization focused on creating and promoting friendly AI for the benefit of all humanity.

#+begin_src chatgpt-shell :results output :version claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620
  Who built you?
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: I was created by Anthropic.

#+begin_src chatgpt-shell :results output :version qwen2.5-coder
  Who built you?
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: I was built by Alibaba Cloud. How can I assist you today?

#+begin_src chatgpt-shell :results output :version gemini-1.5-pro-latest
  Who built you?
#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: I was built by Google.  More specifically, I'm a large language model, trained by Google.

Keep in mind that :version depends on chatgpt-shell-models to resolve its models. You may need to add other models. If you add new ones, consider contributing a pull request, so we all benefit from the addition.

Should ob-chatgpt-shell rename?

See this.

Please report issues

In addition to being a fairly new feature, chatgpt-shell multi-model support required quite a few structural changes. We may still need additional polishing follow-ups. If you encounter any issues please report them.

Make this project sustainable

Maintaining, experimenting, implementing feature requests, and supporting open-source packages takes work. Today, chatgpt-shell has roughly 21.5K downloads on MELPA and many untracked elsewhere. If you're one of the happy users, consider sponsoring the project. If you see potential, help fuel development by sponsoring too.

Perhaps you enjoy some of the content I write about? Find my Emacs posts/tips useful?

Blog (xenodium.com) (Web)
Blog (lmno.lol/alvaro) (Web)

Alternatively, you want a blogging platform that skips the yucky side effects of the modern web?

I'm building lmno.lol (my blog is there).

Maybe you enjoy one of my other projects?

Plain Org (org mode / iOS)
Flat Habits (org mode / iOS)
Scratch (org mode / iOS)
macosrec (macOS)
Fresh Eyes (macOS)
dwim-shell-command (Emacs)
company-org-block (Emacs)
org-block-capf (Emacs)
ob-swiftui (Emacs)
chatgpt-shell (Emacs)
ready-player (Emacs)
sqlite-mode-extras
ob-chatgpt-shell (Emacs)
dall-e-shell (Emacs)
ob-dall-e-shell (Emacs)
shell-maker (Emacs)

So, umm… I'll just leave my GitHub sponsor page here.

LLM iterate and insert

Mon, 25 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

chatgpt-shell includes a couple of mechanisms to operate on an Emacs buffer region. That is, select a region and ask the LLM robots to modify it for us. Until now, both of these mechanisms didn't quite close the loop. They could either modify current region or iterate on a separate solution, but never both.

M-x chatgpt-shell-quick-insert

While chatgpt-shell's quick insert mechanism already enabled selecting a region and requesting changes, it was more of a "I'm feeling lucky" situation. If the changes didn't pan out, you'd have to discard the suggestion and start over.

With the latest changes, in addition to accepting or discarding (y/n bindings) suggestions, we can now iterate using the i binding.

M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose

While quick insertions rely on minibuffer input, chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose opens a dedicated buffer for a more thorough interactions. Select a region, invoke chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose (my preferred binding being C-c C-e), and a new compose buffer is created with the region text. Add your instructions and submit with C-c C-c. Post submission, the compose buffer becomes read-only and single-character key-bindings take over. For example: r replies (for further iteration) and n/p (or TAB/shift-TAB) navigation. There are more bindings.

Until now, we could easily craft more involved queries and continue iterating from the compose buffer, but integrating suggested changes was a manual process. That is, navigate to a code block, select, copy it and then paste it elsewhere.

With the latest changes, pressing i (insert) while on a code block will attempt to insert it wherever the initial interaction took place.

Both of these changes show now be available on MELPA. While I demoed ChatGPT, the two mechanism should now work with any of the supported models (ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, and Ollama).

Toggle macOS menu bar from you know where

Fri, 22 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I'm a fan of macOS's auto-hide menu bar setting. Unless I'm reaching out to a menu item, I don't typically need to have a visible menu bar, so I set auto-hide to "Always".

On rare occasions, I turn this setting off (say for a screen grab). While reaching out to macOS Control Center is OK, I wanted to quickly toggle it from the comfort of Emacs via M-x fuzzy search.

We can leverage AppleScript to toggle the setting on and off. In the past, I would write shell scripts for this kinda thing and invoke from the command line. These days, I dump them into a dwim-shell-command and quickly forget about its implementation. From then on, I just M-x and fuzzy search for some magical incantation (I'm looking at you ffmpeg). I got a bunch of these things…

(defun dwim-shell-commands-macos-toggle-menu-bar-autohide ()
  "Toggle macOS menu bar auto-hide."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Toggle menu bar auto-hide."
   "current_status=$(osascript -e 'tell application \"System Events\" to get autohide menu bar of dock preferences')

if [ \"$current_status\" = \"true\" ]; then
    osascript -e 'tell application \"System Events\" to set autohide menu bar of dock preferences to false'
    echo \"Auto-hide disabled.\"
else
    osascript -e 'tell application \"System Events\" to set autohide menu bar of dock preferences to true'
    echo \"Auto-hide enabled.\"
fi"
   :utils "osascript"
   :silent-success t))

…and that's all there is to it.

chatgpt-shell goes offline

Thu, 21 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Since chatgpt-shell going multi-model, it was only a matter of time until we added support for local/offline models. As of version 2.0.6, chatgpt-shell has a basic Ollama implementation (llama3.2 for now).

chatgpt-shell is more than a shell. Check out the demos in the previous post.

For anyone keen on keeping all their LLM interactions offline, Ollama seems like a great option. I'm an Ollama noobie myself and already looking forward to getting acquainted. Having an offline LLM available at my Emacs fingertips will be super convenient.

For the more familiar with Ollama, please give the chatgpt-shell integration a try (it's on MELPA).

v2.0.6 has a basic/inital Ollama implementation. Please give it a good run and report bugs.

You can swap models via:

M-x chatgpt-shell-swap-model

Help make this project sustainable. Sponsor the work.

chatgpt-shell goes multi-model

Wed, 20 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Over the last few months, I've been chipping at implementing chatgpt-shell's most requested and biggest feature: multi-model support. Today, I get to unveil the first two implementations: Anthropic's Claude and Google's Gemini.

Changing course

In the past, I envisioned a different path for multi-model support. By isolating shell logic into a new package (shell-maker), folks could use it as a building block to create new shells (adding support for their favourite LLM).

While each shell-maker-based shell currently shares a basic common experience, I did not foresee the minor differences affecting the general Emacs user experience. Learning the quirks of each new shell felt like unnecessary friction in developing muscle memory. I also became dependent on chatgpt-shell features, which I often missed when using other shells.

Along with slightly different shell experiences, we currently require multiple package installations (and setups). Depending on which camp you're on (batteries included vs fine-grained control) this may or may not be a downside.

With every new chatgpt-shell feature I showcased, I was often asked if they could be used with other LLM providers. I typically answered with "I've been meaning to work on this…" or "I heard you can do multi-model chatgpt-shell using a bridge like liteLLM". Neither of these where great answers, resulting in me just postponing the chunky work.

Eventually, I bit the bullet, changed course, and got to work on multi-model support. With my initial plan to spin multiple shells via shell-maker, chatgpt-shell's implementation didn't exactly lend itself to support multiple clients. Long story short, chatgpt-shell multi-model support required quite a bit of work. This where I divert to ask you to help make this project sustainable by sponsoring the work.

Make this project sustainable

Maintaining, experimenting, implementing feature requests, and supporting open-source packages takes work. Today, chatgpt-shell has over 20.5K downloads on MELPA and many untracked others elsewhere. If you're one of the happy users, consider sponsoring the project. If you see potential, help fuel development by sponsoring too.

Perhaps you enjoy some of the content I write about? Find my Emacs posts/tips useful?

Blog (xenodium.com) (Web)
Blog (lmno.lol/alvaro) (Web)

Alternatively, you want a blogging platform that skips the yucky side effects of the modern web?

I'm building lmno.lol (my blog is there).

Maybe you enjoy one of my other projects?

Plain Org (org mode / iOS)
Flat Habits (org mode / iOS)
Scratch (org mode / iOS)
macosrec (macOS)
Fresh Eyes (macOS)
dwim-shell-command (Emacs)
company-org-block (Emacs)
org-block-capf (Emacs)
ob-swiftui (Emacs)
chatgpt-shell (Emacs)
ready-player (Emacs)
sqlite-mode-extras
ob-chatgpt-shell (Emacs)
dall-e-shell (Emacs)
ob-dall-e-shell (Emacs)
shell-maker (Emacs)

So, umm… I'll just leave my GitHub sponsor page here.

chatgpt-shell, more than a shell

With chatgpt-shell being a comint shell, you can bring your favourite Emacs flows along.

As I used chatgpt-shell myself, I kept experimenting with different integrations and improvements. Read on for some of my favourites…

A shell hybrid

chatgpt-shell includes a compose buffer experience. This is my favourite and most frequently used mechanism to interact with LLMs.

For example, select a region and invoke M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose (C-c C-e is my preferred binding), and an editable buffer automatically copies the region and enables crafting a more thorough query. When ready, submit with the familiar C-c C-c binding. The buffer automatically becomes read-only and enables single-character bindings.

Navigation: n/p (or TAB/shift-TAB)

Navigate through source blocks (including previous submissions in history). Source blocks are automatically selected.

Reply: r

Reply with with follow-up requests using the r binding.

Give me more: m

Want to ask for more of the same data? Press m to request more of it. This is handy to follow up on any kind of list (suggestion, candidates, results, etc).

Request entire snippets: e

LLM being lazy and returning partial code? Press e to request entire snippet.

Quick quick: q

I'm a big fan of quickly disposing of Emacs buffers with the q binding. chatgpt-shell compose buffers are no exception.

Confirm inline mods (via diffs)

Request inline modifications, with explicit confirmation before accepting.

Execute snippets (a la org babel)

Both the shell and the compose buffers enable users to execute source blocks via C-c C-c, leveraging org babel.

Vision experiments

I've been experimenting with image queries (currently ChatGPT only, please sponsor to help bring support for others).

Below is a handy integration to extract Japanese vocabulary. There's also a generic image descriptor available via M-x chatgpt-shell-describe-image that works on any Emacs image (via dired, image buffer, point on image, or selecting a desktop region).

Supporting new models

Your favourite model not yet supported? File a feature request. You also know how to fuel the project. Want to contribute new models? Reach out.

Local models

While the two new implementations rely on cloud APIs, local services are now possible. I've yet to use a local LLM, but please reach out, so we can make these happen too. Want to contribute?

Should chatgpt-shell rename?

With chatgpt-shell going multi-model, it's not unreasonable to ask if this package should be renamed. Maybe it should. But that's additional work we can likely postpone for the time being (and avoid pushing users to migrate). For now, I'd prefer focusing on polishing the multi-model experience and work on ironing out any issues. For that, I'll need your help.

Take Gemini and Claude for a spin

Multi-model support required chunky structural changes. While I've been using it myself, I'll need wider usage to uncover issues. Please take it for a spin and file bugs or give feedback. Or if you just want to ping me, I'd love to hear about your experience (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

Be sure to update to chatgpt-shell v2.0.1 and shell-maker v0.68.1 as a minimum.
Set chatgpt-shell-anthropic-key or chatgpt-shell-google-key.
Swap models with existing M-x chatgpt-shell-swap-model-version or set a default with (setq chatgpt-shell-model-version "claude-3-5-sonnet-20240620") or (setq chatgpt-shell-model-version "claude-gemini-1.5-pro-latest").
Everything else should just work 🤞😅

Happy Emacsing!

chatgpt-shell splits up

Wed, 13 Nov 2024 00:00:00 GMT

The chatgpt-shell package started as an experiment glueing the ChatGPT API to an Emacs comint buffer. Over time, it grew into several packages within the same repository: shell-maker, ob-chatgpt-shell, dall-e-shell, ob-dall-e-shell, and of course chatgpt-shell itself.

I'm splitting the repository as a first step in reworking chatgpt-shell to enable multi-model support (i.e. Gemini, Claude, and others), a popular feature request.

Want multi-model support?

Go 👍 the feature request and ✨sponsor✨ the work.

If keen on having a multi-modal chatgpt-shell at your fingertips, please consider sponsoring to make the project sustainable. Improvements like this, integrations, and keeping up with the AI space takes quite a bit of work and effort.

New package repositories

chatgpt-shell

No repo location changes. Remains at https://github.com/xenodium/chatgpt-shell

chatgpt-shell carries the ChatGPT shell itself, but also convenience integrations.

My hope is to make this a multi-model package.

ob-chatgpt-shell

Moves to https://github.com/xenodium/ob-chatgpts-shell

An extension of chatgpt-shell to execute org babel blocks as ChatGPT prompts.

dall-e-shell

Moves to https://github.com/xenodium/dall-e-shell

A dedicated shell for DALL-E image generation.

ob-dall-e-shell

Moves to https://github.com/xenodium/ob-dall-e-shell

An extension of dall-e-shell to execute org babel blocks as ChatGPT prompts.

shell-maker

Moves to https://github.com/xenodium/shell-maker

shell-maker a convenience wrapper around comint mode to build shells. Both chatgpt-shell and dall-e-shell are built on top of shell-maker.

Enjoying this content? Using one of my Emacs packages?

Help make the work sustainable. Consider sponsoring. I'm also building lmno.lol. A platform to drag and drop your blog to the web.

Hide another detail

Mon, 21 Oct 2024 00:00:00 GMT

It's been 5 years since I talked about showing/hiding Emacs dired details in style, a short post showcasing hide-details-mode (built-in) and diredfl (third-party).

While my dired usage increased over the years, my dired config remained largely unchanged. Today, I'll show a new dired tweak.

As you likely suspect by now, I'm a big fan of hide-details-mode. It gives me super clean and minimalistic view of my files.

If I need more details, it's one toggle away using my trusty C-( binding.

Now this is a super minor thing, but for a little while, I wished I could also hide the current directory's absolute path as part of hide-details-mode's toggling. In the same spirit as other hidden dired details, I rarely need to see the absolute path. And if I did, it'd only be a toggle away.

With that in mind, I set out to bend dired my way. I looked at the dired-hide-details-mode built-in code (dired.el) and came across invisibility specs, which I hadn't used before. Dired uses add-to-invisibility-spec and remove-from-invisibility-spec to show and hide details using the invisible property set to dired-hide-details-information.

Now that we know what property to set, we need to find the text to apply it to. Dired offers that via dired-subdir-regexp. All we need to do is match the regular expression and apply our invisible property to the relevant bounds.

(defun hide-dired-details-include-all-subdir-paths ()
  (save-excursion
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (while (re-search-forward dired-subdir-regexp nil t)
      (let* ((match-bounds (cons (match-beginning 1) (match-end 1)))
             (path (file-name-directory (buffer-substring (car match-bounds)
                                                          (cdr match-bounds))))
             (path-start (car match-bounds))
             (path-end (+ (car match-bounds) (length path)))
             (inhibit-read-only t))
        (put-text-property path-start path-end
                           'invisible 'dired-hide-details-information)))))

All that's left is for us to add our new function to a hook, and we're good to go.

(use-package dired
  :hook ((dired-mode . dired-hide-details-mode)
         (dired-after-readin . hide-dired-details-include-all-subdir-paths)))

My Dired window is even cleaner now. The current directory's absolute path is now hidden.

There may be times we need to peek at the absolute path. We can now toggle hiding this detail just like the others.

My first Emacs patch

While this is a rather small change, I figured I could use it to get my toes dipped as a first Emacs contribution. I've since reworked the patch to fit into dired.el's code and submitted for review.

I'm happy to report the tiny feature's now merged to master as of a couple of days ago. Yay! 🎉

It'll be sometime until the feature makes it to a release, but if you're living on the Emacs master edge, it should be available there. While the feature is disabled by default, it can enabled with:

(setq dired-hide-details-hide-absolute-location t)

Happy hiding!

Enjoying this content? Using one of my Emacs packages?

Help make the work sustainable. Consider sponsoring. I'm also building lmno.lol. A platform to drag and drop your blog to the web.

How I batch apply and save one-liners

Sat, 21 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

My significant other needed to share proof of address by providing a number of bank statements for a period of time. That's easy enough to download as pdfs from the bank, but statements typically provide more personal information than the recipient requires. For a proof of address, the first page is more than enough.

macOS's Preview app can easily delete pages from a pdf by selecting undesired pages and hitting the delete key. This is fine for one pdf but for a handful of them, I figured there's a command line incantation I could use out there, and indeed there is:

qpdf my.pdf --pages . 1 -- my-one-page.pdf

With command in mind, I resorted to my now my typical approach of:

Convert to a generic dwim-shell-command.
Batch apply.

I could be done at this point, but since I now have the command fresh in mind…

Save command for future usage.

So let's get on with it.

Converting to dwim-shell-command

qpdf '<>' --pages . 1 -- '<>_1.<>'

Batch apply

Other than show it in action, it may be worth mentioning dwim-shell-command recognizes files in region (in addition to dired's mark of course), so you can just select and apply.

Save for future usage

Saving these commands for future usage typically consists of merely wrapping in an Emacs command so we can invoke via M-x (and your favorite narrowing framework for that fuzzy quick magic).

(defun dwim-shell-commands-keep-pdf-page ()
  "Keep a page from pdf."
  (interactive)
  (let ((page-num (read-number "Keep page number: " 1)))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Keep pdf page"
     (format "qpdf '<>' --pages . %d -- '<>_%d.<>'" page-num page-num)
     :utils "qpdf")))

For this instance, there's a tiny bit of additional logic to ask the user which page they'd like to keep.

While there's no way I'll remember qpdf my.pdf --pages . 1 -- my-one-page.pdf, I can easily find it in the future by searching with something like M-x keep page.

My toolbox

I've saved a bunch of these commands and use many of them regularly. You can find in the optional component of dwim-shell-command.

Enjoying this content? Using one of my Emacs packages?

Help make the work sustainable. Consider sponsoring. I'm also building lmno.lol. A platform to drag and drop your blog to the web.

Emacs bubble mode

Thu, 19 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

From time to time, I want to grab a source code viewport of sorts and feed to an LLM for questioning. From Emacs, I normally use chatgpt-shell's chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose, which automatically grabs the active region. This led me to explore a few options to select a region, or maybe even roll my own. I should also mention, these regions don't typically require compilable/complete structures.

In most of these instances, I just reach out to one of my region favourites like expand-region, mark-defun, or mark-whole-buffer. Alternatively, I navigate to different points using sexp commands like backward-sexp and forward-sexp (or maybe something like sp-backward-up-sexp from smartparens), using set-mark-command in-between to activate the region.

While these commands typically yield balanced expressions, it's often unnecessary for my LLM queries. This led me to ask folks for different ways of selecting regions, which highlighted great package suggestions like avy, meow, and easy-kill.

While I've been intrigued by meow's modal editing for some time, I'm not ready for that fair trial jump. Will have to postpone it for a little longer.

Easy-kill offers easy-mark, in some ways similar to the built-in mark-sexp, but with additional marking heuristics and possibly other goodies I missed. At present, I get similar benefits from the likes of expand-region and the other sexp helpers.

Avy's avy-kill-ring-save-region could work for my purpose, though I wish it left the region active. Maybe that's already possible? I could look into extending avy, though Christian's suggestions led me to lean more on visual feedback in my own region-expanding experiments.

The goal was to enable extending regions in both vertical directions by simultaneously adding lines at both ends. Sure, this doesn't guarantee structural completeness, but it may just be enough for my LLM-feeding purpose. Maybe this already exists in the Emacs universe, but hey, it's an excuse to throw some elisp lines together…

Assuming there's an existing active region, expanding in both directions is pretty straightforward.

(defun bubble-expand()
  "Expand region."
  (interactive)
  (when (> (point) (mark))
    (exchange-point-and-mark))
  (forward-line -1)
  (exchange-point-and-mark)
  (forward-line 1)
  (exchange-point-and-mark))

(defun bubble-shrink ()
  "Shrink region."
  (interactive)
  (when (< (point) (mark))
    (exchange-point-and-mark))
  (forward-line -1)
  (exchange-point-and-mark)
  (forward-line 1))

While I've yet to use this region-expanding approach long enough to validate its usefulness, it sure is fun to play with it.

This got me thinking, what other funky things I could do with the region? Could I shift the region selection like a viewport of sorts? As you now expect, the answer in Emacs is almost always of course we can…

(defun bubble-shift-up ()
  "Shift the region up by one line."
  (interactive)
  (when (> (point) (mark))
    (exchange-point-and-mark))
  (forward-line -1)
  (forward-line 0)
  (exchange-point-and-mark)
  (forward-line -1)
  (end-of-line)
  (activate-mark)
  (exchange-point-and-mark))

(defun bubble-shift-down ()
  "Shift the region down by one line."
  (interactive)
  (when (> (point) (mark))
    (exchange-point-and-mark))
  (forward-line)
  (forward-line 0)
  (exchange-point-and-mark)
  (forward-line)
  (end-of-line)
  (activate-mark)
  (exchange-point-and-mark))

My friend Vaarnan also suggested looking into UX around providing line count, which is possible by providing a prefix into bubble-expand-region.

C-5 M-x bubble-expand-region

These commands alone aren't as effective unless we have some key-bindings around them. I've tied things up into a minor mode, called… you guessed it: bubble-mode. Oooh, a mode, you may say it's now official ;) Well, no. It's still an experiment of sorts and currently lives in my Emacs config repo.

The key bindings I've chosen are:

C-c C-w: Enter bubble-mode.
C-p: bubble-expand.
C-n: bubble-shrink.
S-C-p: bubble-move-up.
S-C-n: bubble-move-down.
Numbers 1-0: Expand 1 to 10 lines.
RET: Exit bubble-mode.

Note: Inspired by expand-region, any other key binding/command automatically exits bubble-mode.

C-c C-w kinda works for me as C-c w is already bound to expand-region. Let's see if that sticks, though I may have to give up the org-refile binding.

So does it work for my original LLM intent? We shall see, but it seems to so far. You can play with it if you'd like (it's on github). Here's what that flow now looks like:

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Help make the work sustainable. Consider sponsoring. I'm also building lmno.lol. A platform to drag and drop your blog to the web.

Spiffing up those echo messages

Wed, 11 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Well-ingrained into every Emacs user is the echo area, a one-stop shop to receive any kind of message from the editor, located at the bottom of the frame. Posting messages to this area from elisp couldn't be simpler:

(message "Hello world")

If we want to get a little fancier, we can propertize the text to add some styling.

(message (propertize "hello " 'face '(:foreground "#C3E88D"))
         (propertize "world" 'face '(:foreground "#FF5370")))

With this in mind, I set out to add a tiny command to ready-player.

I wanted the ability to ask what's on without switching to another buffer. The echo area is perfect for that. It should display track title, artist, and album.

(message (concat "Ahead " ;; title
                 (propertize "Wire " 'face '(:foreground "#C3E88D")) ;; artist
                 (propertize "The Ideal Copy" 'face '(:foreground "#FF5370")))) ;; album

This kinda works, but I wasn't convinced with the styling. Maybe I need multi-line?

(message (concat "Ahead\n" ;; title
                 (propertize "Wire\n" 'face '(:foreground "#C3E88D")) ;; artist
                 (propertize "The Ideal Copy" 'face '(:foreground "#FF5370")))) ;; album

I felt something was missing. If I could just add the album artwork as a thumbnail… The ideal layout would maybe look something like:

+-------+
|       | Ahead
| image | Wire
|       | The Ideal Copy
+-------+

While the text-everywhere nature of Emacs buffers has many advantages, building more involved layouts can have its challenges. But hey, for that simple read-only message we're aiming at, we can certainly get creative without too much trouble. You see, Emacs has native svg support, so we can craft our fancy layout in elisp and tell Emacs to render it for us.

While I'm a noob at doing anything in svg from Emacs, adding an image and three labels, really isn't that difficult.

(message
 (let* ((image-width 90)
        (image-height 90)
        (text-height 25)
        (svg (svg-create (frame-pixel-width) image-height)))
   (svg-embed svg "path/to/thumbnail.png"
              "image/png" nil
              :x 0 :y 0 :width image-width :height image-height)
   (svg-text svg "Ahead"
             :x (+ image-width 10) :y text-height
             :fill (face-attribute 'default :foreground))
   (svg-text svg "Wire"
             :x (+ image-width 10) :y (* 2 text-height)
             :fill "#C3E88D")
   (svg-text svg "The Ideal Copy" :x (+ image-width 10) :y (* 3 text-height)
             :fill "#FF5370")
   (with-temp-buffer
     (svg-insert-image svg)
     (buffer-string))))

The code is fairly self-explanatory. While there may be an even simpler way (please lemme know), I used a temporary buffer to embed the svg in the propertized text prior to feeding to the handy message function.

…and with that, we get a richer display of the current track.

While I haven't experimented with other ways of creating multi-column layouts in Emacs (including images), I'd love to know if there's anything else available besides svg.

Enjoying these tips? Using one of my Emacs packages?

Help make them sustainable. Consider supporting this work.

Seek and you shall find

Sat, 07 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

A couple of months ago, I introduced Ready Player Mode, an Emacs major mode used to peek at media files from my beloved text editor. The goal was simple. Treat opening media files like any other file, that is, open and go.

The initial implementation served me well while reviewing lots of tiny audio files I used to practice learning a new language. At this point, I started thinking, could I use ready-player for regular music consumption? The thing is, long ago I had stopped buying music and relied on streamed music from online services. Could I go back to offline?

Dusting off my old media collection brought lots of memories as I rediscovered tunes. Having said that, the ready-player experience wasn't quite cutting it for an extended listening experience. I no longer wanted to occasionally peek at media to learn a language. I wanted to load a full music collection. I wanted random access to everything. I wanted Emacs to remember what I was listening to across sessions… While I did add some pluggable flows, I still needed additional changes to make the experience more pleasant.

While plugging away at my own ready-player's pet peeves, I also collected a handful of feature requests. Let's go over the latest features.

Seek (f/b binding) - feature request

While not a feature I initially thought ranked highly in priority, I now find myself seeking audio files from time to time. Ready Player delegates all playback to the likes of mpv, vlc, mplayer, and so on… Up until now, interacting with these utilities merely consisted of feeding a media file path on to the respective process.

Command line utilities like mpv offer socket communication via --input-ipc-server to enable further requests like seeking forward and back. Ready player now supports seeking via mpv. Maybe support for other utilities can be added in the future.

If you're on a recent version of ready-player, seeking is automatically enabled if you've got mpv installed and aren't explicitly customizing ready-player-open-playback-commands. The default value takes care of things:

(defcustom ready-player-open-playback-commands
  '(("mpv" "--audio-display=no" "--input-ipc-server=<>")
    ("vlc")
    ("ffplay")
    ("mplayer"))
  "..."
  :type '(repeat (list string))
  :group 'ready-player)

Pause/resume (SPC binding) - feature request

Until now, ready-player could only play and stop, so you always had to start playing tracks from the beginning. With mpv ipc support now in place, adding pause/resume was a breeze. Like seek, it should just work for ya if mpv is on your system and no explicit customization of ready-player-open-playback-commands.

Repeat current file (r binding) - feature request

While repeating current playlist (or directory) was already supported, there was a feature request to enable repeating files. Toggling repeat now cycles through available modes.

Selective players - feature request

With ready-player delegating to a single utility for either audio or video playback, folks may have a need to specify different utilities for either of these two. While I'm happy for mpv to handle both audio and video, we now have a couple of prepending options.

Use a predicate function

Prepend each utility with either the built-in ready-player-is-audio-p or ready-player-is-video-p functions, or maybe create your own predicate helper.

(setq ready-player-open-playback-commands
      '((ready-player-is-audio-p "ffplay")
        (ready-player-is-video-p "mpv")))

Use an extension list

In this example, we delegate mp3 and ogg playback to ffplay and everything else to mpv.

(setq ready-player-open-playback-commands
      '((("mp3" "ogg") "ffplay")
        ("mpv")))

Autoplay (a binding) - feature request

Automatically start playing once file opens. No need for user to explicitly request playback.

Mark in dired (m binding) - feature request

Open a dired buffer and mark the currently played file.

M3u playlists - feature request

While I talked about how the dired abstraction made basic m3u playlist support possible, it wasn't until recently that I included this experiment in the package itself. In addition, .m3u are now recognized by Emacs and automatically open like any other file: find-file, dired, projectile…

Load recursive directory

With the dired abstraction at its core, ready player can load any dired buffer. You could do something like:

M-x find-dired RET.
Pick a directory. RET.
Type "-iname \*.mp3 -o -iname \*.ogg -o -iname \*.m4a" RET.
M-x ready-player-load-dired-buffer RET.

While uber flexible, there's no need to regularly do that, so you can now invoke M-x ready-player-load-directory and it will recursively find all media files in it.

Toggle player view (C-c m m binding)

While we can always get back to the player buffer via our favourite buffer-switching mechanism (I like ivy's ivy-switch-buffer), we now have M-x ready-player-view-player available for quicker toggle.

Remember session

Playback is now remembered across Emacs sessions. Toggling player view (C-c m m binding) or playback (C-c m SPC binding) starts the last song you were playing on your previous Emacs session.

Index + searching (/ or C-c m /)

We now have automatic indexing, which enables richer searching across your collection, not to mention that random access I was craving.

Global bindings

Last but not least, you may have noticed a handful of key bindings throughout the post. Single-character bindings all work within a ready-player buffer. Bindings prefixed C-c m are now globally available when ready-player-mode is turned on. This can be customized via ready-player-set-global-bindings.

Please help make it all self-sustainable

If you find this package useful or got the features you wanted, please consider sponsoring the work. I've left my tech job (maybe a post for another time) and looking to make projects like ready-player self-sustainable.

If you're an iOS/macOS user, you can also buy my apps. Here's another freebie (macosrec) I've put out there, which I regularly use to capture Emacs demos for this blog.

You may also enjoy this blog and all the tips I share. Blog posts take time. Consider sponsoring my blog.

I've built other Emacs packages you may already use or would like to. Maybe I already built a feature request? Consider sponsoring:

I'm also building lmno.lol, a new blogging platform, with drag and drop to the web. Maybe you want to try that too? Get in touch.

Thank you!

Álvaro

Anki bookmarks

Wed, 04 Sep 2024 00:00:00 GMT

`scratch` v1.3 released

Fri, 23 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

It's been some time since the last release of *scratch* for iOS. If you haven't heard about *scratch*, it's a tiny app I built (part of the org bundle).

*scratch* enables writing things on the go as quickly as possible.

No need to create a new note.
No need to bring keyboard up.
Just open and write.
Bonus: Basic Emacs org markup ;-)

v1.3 (and yesterday's v1.2) are now available on the App Store. They are minor releases bringing:

A monospaced font.
A layout fix for "Settings > Display & Brightness > Display Zoom > Larger Text (often affecting iPhones with smaller screens).
A menu fix.

Are you a fan of this app? Want to rate on the App Store? Please help me spread the word. Tell your friends.

The dired abstraction

Fri, 16 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I recently wrote about image-mode's next/previous item navigation, a feature I wanted to bring to ready player mode.

I was curious to see how image-mode resolved next and previous files, so I checked the associated keybinding (n) via helpful-key (my preferred alternative to describe-key), and landed on image-next-file. While this function only takes care of high-level routing, it led me to image-mode--next-file, which is where the actual next/previous file resolution happens:

(defun image-mode--next-file (file n)
  "Go to the next image file in the parent buffer of FILE.
This is typically a Dired buffer, but may also be a tar/archive buffer.
Return the next image file from that buffer.
If N is negative, go to the previous file."
  ...)

While image-mode--next-file's implementation details are worth checking out, its docstring already highlights the bit I found most interesting: dired's involvement in the mix. I'm not sure why I initially found dired usage surprising. Buffers are Emacs's backbone. They are the fundamental structures holding the content we work with, whether it’s editing text, reading logs, displaying information, and many others including file management… Dired specializes buffers for this last purpose. While dired itself is a powerhouse, at its core it's just an ordered list of files.

Given a location within a dired buffer, we can use its helpers to find next and previous files. Like image-mode, ready-player now mirrors this approach (minus tar/archive handling). This got me thinking more about the dired abstraction… If it quacks like a duck, and walks like a duck, then it's probably errrm a dired buffer. What I actually mean is that associating a dired buffer to a ready-player buffer effectively attaches a playlist of sorts. It doesn't quite matter how this dired buffer was constructed. What's important is that it's recognized as a dired buffer, so all relevant helpers remain useful.

With dired buffers acting as media playlists, we can easily create a directory playlist by merely pointing dired to the current directory. This is the default behaviour in ready-player. When you open a media file, we attach a dired buffer pointing to the current directory. Play next or previous item, and you're effectively moving up and down the associated dired buffer.

Things get more interesting when we craft dired buffers in more creative ways than just supplying a path to a directory. One of my favourite commands is find-dired. It runs the find utility, crafting a dired buffer with its results.

For kicks, I added a ready-player-load-dired-playback-buffer command to ready-player, so we can just load any dired buffer, including our newly generated one, courtesy of find-dired.

With this generated buffer loaded and ready-player random playback enabled, we get to see our lucky jumps across find results.

At this point I thought "this is prolly as far as I'll take things"… ready-player was born to address quick access to media, typically from dired itself. For deep playlist handling, there are many other Emacs media players.

The thing is, with my newly found reusable dired abstraction, a rough m3u playlist experiment didn't seem that far-fetched at all. I'd need to read an m3u file and generate a dired buffer. I knew nothing about m3u's, other than being text files including media paths, along with optional metadata. I figured minimal m3u reading support shouldn't be too difficult.

If we are to create a playlist including the first three album tracks from the artist above, it'd look something like this:

#EXTM3U

#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - Dance
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Body Talk/01 Dance.mp3
#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - When Love Has Grown
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Body Talk/02 When Love Has Grown.mp3
#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - Plum
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Body Talk/03 Plum.mp3

#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - So What
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Original Album Classics/1-01 So What.mp3
#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - The Gentle Rain
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Original Album Classics/1-02 The Gentle Rain (From the Film, _The Gentle Rain_).mp3
#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - All Clear
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Original Album Classics/1-03 All Clear.mp3

#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - Footin' It
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/The Shape Of Things To Come/01 Footin' It.mp3
#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - Face It Boy It's Over
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/The Shape Of Things To Come/02 Face It Boy It's Over.mp3
#EXTINF:-1,George Benson - Shape Of Things To Come
/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/The Shape Of Things To Come/03 Shape Of Things To Come.mp3

A crude function to extract file paths into a list would look something like the following:

(defun ready-player--media-at-m3u-file (m3u-path)
  "Read m3u playlist at M3U-PATH and return files."
  (with-temp-buffer
    (insert-file-contents m3u-path)
    (let ((files))
      (while (re-search-forward
              (rx bol (not (any "#" space))
                  (zero-or-more (not (any "\n")))
                  eol) nil t)
        (when (file-exists-p (match-string 0))
          (push (match-string 0) files)))
      (nreverse files))))

Feeding our m3u file to our new function conveniently returns a list of found files:

("/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Body Talk/01 Dance.mp3"
 "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Body Talk/02 When Love Has Grown.mp3"
 "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Body Talk/03 Plum.mp3"
 "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Original Album Classics/1-01 So What.mp3"
 "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Original Album Classics/1-02 The Gentle Rain (From the Film, _The Gentle Rain_).mp3"
 "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/Original Album Classics/1-03 All Clear.mp3"
 "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/The Shape Of Things To Come/01 Footin' It.mp3"
 "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/The Shape Of Things To Come/02 Face It Boy It's Over.mp3"
 "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson/The Shape Of Things To Come/03 Shape Of Things To Come.mp3")

Next we need to create a dired buffer from a list of files. This is where I thought things would get trickier, but I was pleasantly surprised.

The dired docstring had the answer:

(defun dired (dirname &optional switches)
  "...

If DIRNAME is a cons, its first element is taken as the directory name
and the rest as an explicit list of files to make directory entries for.
In this case, SWITCHES are applied to each of the files separately, and
therefore switches that control the order of the files in the produced
listing have no effect.

..."
  ...)

With that in mind, this is all it takes:

(let ((default-directory "/absolute/path/to/Music/George Benson"))
  (dired '("*My fancy m3u list*"
           "Body Talk/01 Dance.mp3"
           "Body Talk/02 When Love Has Grown.mp3"
           "Body Talk/03 Plum.mp3"
           "Original Album Classics/1-01 So What.mp3"
           "Original Album Classics/1-02 The Gentle Rain (From the Film, _The Gentle Rain_).mp3"
           "Original Album Classics/1-03 All Clear.mp3"
           "The Shape Of Things To Come/01 Footin' It.mp3"
           "The Shape Of Things To Come/02 Face It Boy It's Over.mp3"
           "The Shape Of Things To Come/03 Shape Of Things To Come.mp3")))

Here's the dired buffer to prove it:

We now have all the pieces. We can wire them up in a ready-player-load-m3u-playlist function.

From the previous snippet, you'd notice all file paths are relative to default-directory. While in the following snippet I use try-completion to find the longest common substring amongst the paths, I wonder if there's a more appropriate built-in function for this? I'd love to hear.

(defun ready-player-load-m3u-playlist ()
  "Load an .m3u playlist."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((m3u-path (read-file-name "find m3u: " nil nil t nil
                                   (lambda (name)
                                     (or (string-match "\\.m3u\\'" name)
                                         (file-directory-p name)))))
         (media-files (if (string-match "\\.m3u\\'" m3u-path)
                          (ready-player--media-at-m3u-file m3u-path)
                        (error "Not a .m3u file")))
         (default-directory (file-name-directory
                             (try-completion "" media-files)))
         (m3u-fname (file-name-nondirectory m3u-path))
         (dired-buffer-name (format "*%s*" m3u-fname))
         (dired-buffer (dired (append (list dired-buffer-name)
                                      (mapcar (lambda (path)
                                                (file-relative-name path default-directory))
                                              media-files)))))
    (ready-player-load-dired-playback-buffer dired-buffer)))

We're good to go now! Invoking M-x ready-player-load-m3u-playlist enables us to load our m3u playlist, automatically opening the first media file, and also navigate each song in the list one by one.

This was a really fun experiment. While dired is often used to manage files within a directory, its magic also extends to dired buffers crafted in more creative ways. find-dired and find-grep-dired are my two favourite built-ins. Are there other ones you like? Do tell.

Not long ago, I added ready-player-load-dired-playback-buffer to ready-player, but ready-player-load-m3u-playlist remains a local experiment (for now anyway). Let's see ;-)

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Ctrl-n/p everywhere. Balance restored.

Thu, 01 Aug 2024 00:00:00 GMT

For some years now, I've enjoyed macOS Ctrl-n/p movement everywhere. I sometimes forget I need Karabiner Elements to reach certain macOS corners.

macOS supports many Emacs bindings (out of the box). Ctrl-n and Ctrl-p are some of my favourites. Not only can I use these to move the cursor up and down while editing text, but in many cases, for list selections too. Out of the box, list selection, in particular, is more miss than hit. Spotlight and web drop boxes are the biggest pet peeves. Without remapping, vertical movement can only be achieved via arrow keys.

I had a sudden reminder recently when Spotlight's Ctrl-p/n didn't just work. I wanted to launch Firefox Developer Edition, the second result. Ctrl-n did nothing! The horror!

Turns out, I had a tiny misconfiguration, possibly as I recently switched to using my keyboard via Bluetooth? I needed "Modify events" set for my keyboard.

After setting "Modify events" for my external keyboard, my beloved key bindings started working again. Balance restored.

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Emacs macOS native emoji picker (revisited)

Thu, 25 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Update: Doh! I was wrong. There's a better way.

So, I totally missed the macOS native emoji picker is actually supported out of the box 😭. Thanks to redditor u/hrabannixlisp who pointed me in the right direction.

ns-do-show-character-palette is bound to C-s-SPC by default, which didn't work for me as I use (setq mac-command-modifier 'meta), that is, ⌘ as meta modifier.

While I won't be giving up (setq mac-command-modifier 'meta), I can certainly use ns-do-show-character-palette via M-x or a different binding. Thank you u/hrabannixlisp!

Read on for how I went about it the long convoluted way 🤷‍♂️

A couple of years ago, I was delighted to discover a macOS freebie for us Emacs users. Newer Macbook models started shipping with a globe/🌐 key, which summons the macOS native emoji picker. Pressing this key in Emacs works as you'd expect (no config required 🎉).

While I seldom use emojis, the globe key worked great for me until I started using an external keyboard, which didn't have this magical key. The potential solutions I came across suggest either reprogramming the keyboard or using the likes of Karabiner-Elements to map other keys to an alternate shortcut: Ctrl-⌘-SPC. As far as I can tell, this is the only other available shortcut (please reach out if otherwise). Not a great option (it conflicts with Emacs's mark-sexp). Not that I'd be super keen to lose this mark command, but even unbinding doesn't seem of much help.

While we have Emacs packages available for different emoji-picking experiences, I was keen on maintaining that native experience I enjoyed before. I nearly gave up on the matter until I remembered we have at least one more tool in the Emacs toolbox: dynamic modules. Thanks to Valeriy Savchenko's emacs-swift-module, we can leverage Swift to integrate native macOS experiences.

With that in mind, I set out to find the relevant macOS API, which turned out to be a lovely one-liner:

NSApp.orderFrontCharacterPalette(nil)

Let's bring it into Emacs via emacs-swift-module's infrastructure:

try env.defun(
  "macos-module--show-emoji-picker",
  with: "Show emoji picker (macOS module implementation)."
) { (env: Environment) in
  NSApp.orderFrontCharacterPalette(nil)
}

In theory, this is all we need. We can M-x eval-expression (macos-module--show-emoji-picker) and the picker simply pops up. I haven't worked out how define an interactive command from emacs-swift-module just yet, so for now I'll just wrap with a little elisp:

(defun macos-show-emoji-picker ()
  "Show macOS emoji picker."
  (interactive)
  (macos-module--show-emoji-picker))

And with that, we got our native macoOS emoji picker back at our fingertips:

While the dedicated globe key just worked without configuration, it required newer hardware. This new approach works on older Macbooks too. Since it's an interactive command, you can optionally bind to your preferred keys.

Having said all that, you may have noticed a brief lag during insertion. I haven't worked out the source, but since I rarely use emojis, this will have to do for now. If you have a better macOS alternative working on external keyboards, I'd love to hear about it!

I've added macos-show-emoji-picker to EmacsMacOSModule, a tiny repo I've used to experiment with emacs-swift-module. You can find EmacsMacOSModule on GitHub.

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Fresh Eyes 1.7 released

Wed, 24 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Back in April, I introduced Fresh Eyes: a tiny macOS utility helping me take care of my eyes.

I spend a bunch of time in front of a computer screen and Fresh Eyes has been helping me stick with the often recommended 20-20-20 rule.

Fresh Eyes 1.7 ships a handful of improvements suggested by users:

Postpone Fresh Eyes for 1 hour, 2 hours, 3 hours, or until the next day.
Revamped notification.
Revamped countdown screen.
Reorganized menu.
New keyboard shortcuts.
Fresh Eyes is now translated to German 🇩🇪🇩🇪🇩🇪.

One-time purchase; [no]{.underline} subscriptions, [no]{.underline} additional payments, [no]{.underline} ads.

Want to support my blogging and other open source work?

Buy this app (or the others) ;) Tell your friends!

There's always GitHub sponsoring if your prefer.

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Ready Player Mode now on MELPA

Sun, 21 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, I announced Ready Player Mode's availability on GitHub. As of today, you can find it on MELPA.

Ready Player Mode is a lightweight major mode to open media (audio/video) files in an Emacs buffer.

Install, enable via M-x ready-player-mode and you should be good to go.

Open and preview media files (audio + video) like other files. If in repeat mode, ready-player attempts to play other files in the current directory. Track playback from the corresponding dired buffer.

Playback is handled by your favourite command line utility. ready-player-mode will try to use either mpv, vlc, ffplay, or mplayer (in that order), but you can customize that. I'd love to hear of other defaults worth considering.

Bonus rendering includes media thumbnails and metadata, if either ffmpegthumbnailer or ffmpeg are found.

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OCR those buffers

Wed, 17 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I've written about macosrec before. A tiny macOS command line utility I built to take screenshots or videos of my macOS windows. Sure, there are a gazillion utilities out there, but I wanted my own, so I could bend and integrate with Emacs buffers as needed.

If you've seen me post a screenshot or gif after April 2023, it was likely taken with macosrec.

As of macosrec v0.7.3, OCR was added to the mix. I've also added a couple of dwim-shell-commands (dwim-shell-commands-macos-ocr-text-from-desktop-region and dwim-shell-commands-macos-ocr-text-from-image), so I can do things like:

OCR region

Use the mouse to select a region to OCR.

*This gif area recording was captured via macOS's built-in screencapture.

OCR dired files

Selecting any file (or files) in dired OCRs the whole lot.

*This gif window recording was captured via macosrec.

Invoking dwim-shell-commands-macos-ocr-text-from-image from the current image buffer does the job also.

What about non-macOS users?

The same approach can be used with any other OCR command line tool. dwim-shell-command includes dwim-shell-commands-tesseract-ocr-text-from-image, which uses tesseract.

While I've had more reliable results via macosrec (using macOS's Vision API), I'm sure there are other great alternatives on linux. If you know of one, I'd love to hear.

Available on github

Both macosrec and dwim-shell-command are on GitHub and installable via brew install xenodium/macosrec/macosrec and MELPA respectively.

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It's all up for grabs, compound with glue

Sun, 14 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I've written before, once you learn a little elisp, Emacs becomes this hyper malleable editor/platform. A live playground of sorts, where almost everything is up for grabs. You can inspect and tweak behaviour of just about anything to your liking.

While the compounding benefits of using your favourite Emacs utilities are evident over time, learning elisp takes the compounding effect to another level. It empowers you to have those aha moments like "if I could just wire this awesome utility with that other one, it'd be perfect for me" and enable you to act on it.

Take, for example, symbol-overlay and multiple-cursors. Two Emacs packages I've been using for years. The first one is a feature you've likely experienced on your favourite IDE or editor without thinking too much about it. Placing your editor cursor on a variable automatically highlights its usages. It's one of those lovely features with zero learning demands.

The second utility, multiple-cursors, does demand some learning but can be so fun to use once you get the hang of it. Below is a little multiple cursor demo I used recently in a reddit comment, but you really should check out Emacs Rocks! Episode 13: multiple-cursors (stick around for the ending).

So where am I going with this? While symbol-overlay offers a mechanism to rename symbols via symbol-overlay-rename, I prefer multiple-cursors for this kind of thing… "if I could just get symbol-overlay to tell multiple-cursors where to place my cursors, it'd be just perfect for me".

I've been wanting this tweak for some time. Today's the day I finally act on it. I had no idea how to go about it, but opening symbol-overlay.el (via M-x find-library symbol-overlay) and browsing through all functions (via imenu) yields the first piece I needed: symbol-overlay-get-list.

(defun symbol-overlay-get-list (dir &optional symbol exclude)
  "Get all highlighted overlays in the buffer.
If SYMBOL is non-nil, get the overlays that belong to it.
DIR is an integer.
If EXCLUDE is non-nil, get all overlays excluding those belong to SYMBOL."
  ...)

Let's take symbol-overlay-get-list for a spin, courtesy of M-x eval-expression, and see what we get out of it:

With a list of overlays, we now know where to tell multiple-cursors to do its thing. For the second piece, we needed to peek at any of the multiple-cursors commands I already use. I happen to pick mc/mark-all-like-this to examine what's under the hood.

(defun mc/mark-all-like-this ()
  "Find and mark all the parts of the buffer matching the currently active region"
  (interactive)
  (unless (region-active-p)
    (error "Mark a region to match first."))
  (mc/remove-fake-cursors)
  (let ((master (point))
        (case-fold-search nil)
        (point-first (< (point) (mark)))
        (re (regexp-opt (mc/region-strings) mc/enclose-search-term)))
    (mc/save-excursion
     (goto-char 0)
     (while (search-forward-regexp re nil t)
       (push-mark (match-beginning 0))
       (when point-first (exchange-point-and-mark))
       (unless (= master (point))
         (mc/create-fake-cursor-at-point))
       (when point-first (exchange-point-and-mark)))))
  (if (> (mc/num-cursors) 1)
      (multiple-cursors-mode 1)
    (mc/disable-multiple-cursors-mode)))

The star of the mc/mark-all-like-this attraction is mc/create-fake-cursor-at-point, used to create each cursor. If we can just iterate over the overlays, we'd be able to create a fake cursor per overlay. There's some additional logic needed to ensure all fake cursors are placed in the same relative position within symbol (using an offset). Finally, we need to enable multiple-cursors-mode.

We put it all together in ar/mc-mark-all-symbol-overlays:

(defun ar/mc-mark-all-symbol-overlays ()
  "Mark all symbol overlays using multiple cursors."
  (interactive)
  (mc/remove-fake-cursors)
  (when-let* ((overlays (symbol-overlay-get-list 0))
              (point (point))
              (point-overlay (seq-find
                              (lambda (overlay)
                                (and (<= (overlay-start overlay) point)
                                     (<= point (overlay-end overlay))))
                              overlays))
              (offset (- point (overlay-start point-overlay))))
    (setq deactivate-mark t)
    (mapc (lambda (overlay)
            (unless (eq overlay point-overlay)
              (mc/save-excursion
               (goto-char (+ (overlay-start overlay) offset))
               (mc/create-fake-cursor-at-point))))
          overlays)
    (mc/maybe-multiple-cursors-mode)))

and with that, you finally get to see it all in action…

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Like this blog? Want to start a blog? Run your blog off a single file. Write from the comfort of Emacs (or your favourite text editor) and drag and drop to the web. I'm launching a blogging service at lmno.lol. Looking for early adopters. Get in touch.

Ready Player Mode

Wed, 03 Jul 2024 00:00:00 GMT

As an Emacs user, I eventually made the leap over to dired as my file manager of choice. Dired has magical things like wdired. But this post isn't so much about dired and more about the occasional need to peek at media files (images, audio, and video) from Emacs (including dired).

To view images in Emacs, there's image mode, a fantastic major mode for taking a quick look without leaving your editor. Image mode strikes a great balance. You can get in quickly and out. The q keyboard binding is fabulous for bailing out. While viewing an image, you may quickly open the previous/next one by using n and p keyboard binding. For me, this is just about all I need within my text editor. For anything else, I resort to my favorite image viewing app (macOS's Preview).

For audio and video, we aren't as lucky with Emacs built-in features (even for a quick peek). While Emacs faithfully opens the files, it's not realistically practical for my typical needs.

There's a convenient package aptly named openwith, which automatically opens specific files in an external app. This isn't just for media files, but anything really. It works well with office docs, for example. While I've used it for quite some time, I found always bouncing to an external app for peeking at audio/video somewhat suboptimal.

While a reddit post yielded some handy options, none were in the same spirit as image mode. Having said that, I did come across mediainfo-mode on my search, which is pretty neat for viewing media metadata quickly. Bonus points for q keyboard binding to exit and mediainfo-mode-open command to open with an external app. There may be other packages out there (I'd love to hear about them), though most seemed to focus on listening to music (and playlist management), which is a different flow from what I'm after.

Ready player mode enters the chat

With all that, I had no choice (I kid of course) but to go and throw some lines of elisp together and see if I could get to my ideal media experience, and so ready player mode was born…

As core features, ready-player-mode has two buttons: one to play from within Emacs and one to open media in the preferred external app. You can TAB your way to the buttons. RET or click actions the buttons, in addition to the SPC keyboard binding to toggle playback.

Like image mode, ready-player-mode offers n/p navigation to open the next/previous media file in the current directory.

ready-player-mode attempts to display basic metadata if possible, courtesy of ffprobe and ffmpeg. You'll need these installed on your system if you want the optional metadata.

Playback is handled by your favourite command line utility. ready-player-mode will try to use either mpv, vlc, ffplay, or mplayer (in that order), but you can customize that.

ready-player-mode is available on GitHub if you're keen to check it out. Keep in mind this is a brand new package (a day old!), so it may need some improvements. If you do give it a try, I'd love to hear how you got on. I've only tested on macOS so far.

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Hey mouse, don't mess with my Emacs font size

Fri, 07 Jun 2024 00:00:00 GMT

While most of my Emacs workflows are typically keyboard-driven, I'm fairly pragmatic about mouse usage. My MacBook's trackpad is great for just kicking back to read and scroll through text.

There are brief times, however, when that keyboard-driven muscle memory overlaps my mouse usage, resulting in a buffer catastrophe. I joke of course. What I'm actually referring to is nothing more than a slight annoyance. There are times when I inadvertently trigger or events (because I happen to hold Ctrl down while triggering scrolling events). This results in buffer font size quickly changing to either really large or super small, depending on whether I was scrolling up or down at the time. The snafu is further exacerbated by inertial scrolling on trackpads. Go ahead and press the Ctrl key while your buffer is carrying some of that inertia. The font size is affected just the same, even though there was no explicit physical/touching activity on the trackpad at the time.

While this behaviour was a little annoying, I would typically just reopen the file via C-x C-v RET (aka find-alternate-file), which would reset the font size as a convenient side-effect. Now, you may wonder if reopening the file would also forget the point/cursor position, but that's not an issue if you've got the handy built-in save-place-mode turned on (highly recommended).

Ok and all, but this is a second-class workaround at best. What I really wanted is for the mouse/trackpad to stop messing with my font size.

Lucky for me, I bumped into a simple solution shared by Shane Celis and Thanga Ayyanar. It worked a treat, and it's only a few lines of elisp.

(global-set-key (kbd "") 'ignore)
(global-set-key (kbd "") 'ignore)
(global-set-key (kbd "") 'ignore)

Thank you folks. Balance restored.

Update

While I was using C-x C-v RET (aka find-alternate-file) to reset font size, Luke T. Shumaker and Matthew G. shared a better reset alternative:

C-u 0 M-x text-scale-adjust

Emacs: git rename, courtesy of dired

Thu, 16 May 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs wdired is a beautiful thing. You turn a directory representation into an editable buffer and you can do some magic. By magic, I mean you can apply your favourite text-editing commands to a directory and do some file management.

Take, for example, batch-renaming. Turn wdired on via dired-toggle-read-only, use something like Magnar's multiple-cursors (or built-in keyboard macros) and commit via wdired-finish-edit (using the often-familar C-c C-c binding). You've now renamed multiple files as it if were any other text buffer. Pretty magical.

One downside (or so I thought) is that wdired didn't automagically also take care of git renames for me, you know DWIM-style.

Every time I renamed anything via wdired and subsequently pulled up my trusty magit, I was a little sad it wasn't all just handled… The renamed files were seen as deleted, along with all the untracked counterparts.

So, I set out to change this unacceptable state of affairs 😀. I started off by setting a breakpoint on wdired-finish-edit via edebug (see why this util is awesome).

I wanted to see what wdired-finish-edit did under the hood, which led me to dired-rename-file. As I stepped through the code, I spotted the dired-vc-rename-file variable, which does exactly what you think it does 🤦.

One setq later…

(setq dired-vc-rename-file t)

…and boom! From now on, renaming from dired does exactly what you would expect. Here's magit to prove it:

lol. I was so fixated on "adding git rename support", that I forgot to first search the documentation.

While you can search for variables via the built-in describe-variable, I'm a fan of Wilfred's helpful equivalent: helpful-variable. Coupled with with your favourite completion framework (Abo Abo's ivy for me), it's as easy a fuzzy searching for anything you're after:

This post is also at lmno.lol.

Fresh Eyes now on the App Store

Fri, 05 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

A couple of days ago, I introduced Fresh Eyes, a little macOS utility to help me practice the 20-20-20 rule and take better care of my vision while on the computer.

Today, Fresh Eyes was approved and is now available on the macOS App Store.

Fresh Eyes: 20-20-20 for macOS

Wed, 03 Apr 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I've been lucky to have enjoyed healthy vision throughout my life. That is, until recently. Nothing major, I'll need glasses for some activities. I also learned from the optometrist I should follow the 20-20-20 rule to reduce eye strain.

The 20-20-20 rule is simple:

Take a break from looking at your computer screen every 20 minutes and look away at something roughly 20 feet away (6 metres) for 20 seconds.

While there are no shortages of macOS timer apps available, I figured it'd be fun to build a 20-20-20 one anyway.

Meet Fresh Eyes. I've been using it in the last few days. If you'd like to give it a try, send me an email at [email protected] and I'll reply with a TestFlight invite.

If looking for alternatives, Samuel W. Flint offers a couple of great options:

On Emacs: hammy.el by Adam Porter (alphapapa).
On Linux/Windows (GTK-based): Workrave by Raymond Penners & Rob Caeler.

Update

Fresh Eyes has now been approved and is available on the macOS App Store.

Emacs 29.3 emergency release

Mon, 25 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

It was only last week when I upgraded to Emacs 29.2. Yup, I was late to the party. This week, we have a new release.

Emacs 29.3 is an emergency bugfix release, so this time I've upgraded promptly. I'm on macOS using the great Emacs Plus so upgraded via Homebrew using:

brew reinstall emacs-plus@29 --with-imagemagick --with-no-frame-refocus --with-native-comp --with-savchenkovaleriy-big-sur-3d-icon --with-poll

ps. Like this splash screen? Check out the Emacs eye candy post.

Emacs: Toggling the continuation indicator

Sun, 24 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

By default, Emacs typically displays curly arrows when wrapping lines. While likely a handy feature to some, I didn't really find much use for it. At the same time, I never looked into their removal until now.

Turns out, there's a continuation entry in fringe-indicator-alist variable that handles this. Removing this entry also removes the curly arrows.

(setq-default fringe-indicator-alist
              (delq (assq 'continuation fringe-indicator-alist) fringe-indicator-alist))

Alternatively, one could write a simple function to toggle displaying the continuation indicator.

(defun toggle-continuation-fringe-indicator ()
  (interactive)
  (setq-default
   fringe-indicator-alist
   (if (assq 'continuation fringe-indicator-alist)
       (delq (assq 'continuation fringe-indicator-alist) fringe-indicator-alist)
     (cons '(continuation right-curly-arrow left-curly-arrow) fringe-indicator-alist))))

That's it for this post. A tiny tip. Perhaps there's a better way to handle it. If you know, I'd love to know too (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

The Org bundle

Fri, 22 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I have three apps on the App Store: Plain Org, Flat Habits, and scratch.

Plain Org / plainorg.com

My more generic solution to access org files on the go and away from Emacs.

Flat Habits / flathabits.com

My take on frictionless habit tracking truly respecting user privacy and their time (absolutely no distractions).

`scratch` / App Store

Sure, we have tons of note-taking apps but most require more steps than desirable to write something down ASAP. Launch the app and you're good to write. No new note creation, bring keyboard up, etc.

Common denominator

In addition to being offline-first, no cloud, no login, no ads, no tracking, no social… each app targets a specific purpose, sharing an important common denominator: they all use org markup as the underlying storage.

The Org bundle / App Store

While you can still get each of my apps individually, you now have the option to get them all as a single bundle: The Org bundle.

Journelly joining the bundle soon…

Continuing on the org storage theme, I got another app in the works. Also joining The Org bundle, maintaining its privacy-first approach: offline, no cloud, no login, no ads, no tracking, no social… this time in the journaling space.

Journelly is currently in beta, want to join?

sqlite-mode-extras on MELPA

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs 29 introduced the handy sqlite-mode. Soon after, I tried a couple of experiments here and there to bring additional functionality.

Folks reached out. The additions seemed useful to them and were keen on upstreaming or pushing to MELPA. While I can't commit to upstreaming at this moment, I can happily meet halfway on MELPA.

As of a couple of days, you can find sqlite-mode-extras on MELPA and GitHub. Contributions totally welcome.

While I haven't heard of issues, please continue treating the package as experimental and exercise safety with your data. Please back up.

Som tam salad dressing recipe (improvised)

Tue, 19 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

Lately, I've been slightly obsessed with Som Tam, a magnificent salad packing both crunch and flavour.

I didn't have all the right ingredients for the full-blown salad at home, so I set out to experiment with the dressing's punchy flavours. While I've gone a little rogue here, I mean no disrespect to the faithful recipe and all its glory. Luckily, I did have fish sauce at home, which I considered the core ingredient, and made do with everything else I could find.

This is where I landed:

2 cloves of garlic
Thai chillies to taste (improvised with chilli flakes)
2 tablespoons of fish sauce
1 tablespoons of palm sugar (improvised with honey)
2 limes squeezed (improvised with lemon)
1 tablespoon of dried shrimp (didn't have any)
1 small plum tomato (I used 2 of those bite-size ones)

Using my trusty mortar and pestle, I ground and crushed the garlic, chilli flakes, and tomato, forming a paste of sorts. Then added the remaining liquids (fish sauce, honey and lemon) diluting the paste.

2 tablespoons of roasted peanuts (roasted some cashews)

Most recipes seem to suggest using peanuts, though my local Thai restaurant uses cashews. Luckily I had cashews at home, so I'm copied my local. Roasted them on pan for a few minutes.

As you can imagine, I didn't just have a green papaya laying around at home, so I experimented with other crunchy veggies. While I won't reveal what the other veggies were (oh man, I've gone way off script), both my other half and I were happy with the results.

Som Tam dressing packs an awesome punch. If your salads were feeling a little boring, give this a try!

My first bread (pane dei Castelli recipe)

Thu, 14 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I followed The easiest no knead bread recipe (video).

No-knead method

Dough

1 1/4 cups (300g) lukewarm water
2 teaspoons (8g) salt
1 teaspoon (3.5g) yeast
3 cups (420g) all purpose flour

Mix thoroughly (I like to use Ciro's spoon mixing method from this video), cover and rest for 6 hours. Stretch and fold if the dough collapsed on itself to rescue.

Bake

Preheat oven (and dutch oven) at 230°C.
Flour.

I didn't have a dutch oven, but my oven-proof saucepans (with lid) did just fine. Carefully take the pan out of the oven, sprinkle the bottom with some flour, and place the dough inside. Cover with lid (careful, also hot) and bake for 30-35 minutes.

Crust

Reduce heat to 200°C.

Remove the lid and bake for another 10 minutes or until you get the crust darkness of your choice.

Rest

Let the bread cool on a cooling rack for 45 mins before cutting. If no rack available, set upsidedown.

Stretch and fold method

Dough

1 1/4 cups (300g) lukewarm water
2 1/2 teaspoons (10g) salt
2 teaspoon (7g) yeast
3 cups (420g) all purpose flour

Mix thoroughly (I like to use Ciro's spoon mixing method from this video), cover and rest for 6 hours. Stretch and fold if the dough collapsed on itself to rescue.

Stretch and fold

See Emma Fontanella's stretch and fold technique and apply 4-5 times every 30 mins.

Follow no-knead method

Remaining steps are the same as the no-knead method.

Seafood stew recipe

Mon, 11 Mar 2024 00:00:00 GMT

I've made this seafood stew a handful of times and it's always delivered.

Garlic almond paste

1/8 cup of olive oil.
8 cloves of garlic chopped.
1/4 cup almond meal (flour).

Cook garlic in low-medium heat until softened. Add almond meal and cook 3-4 mins or until golden. Set aside to cool.

1 large handful of parsley.

Blend the almond mixture to make a paste. Set aside.

Spices

1 large onion halved and sliced.

In a large pan, cook onion until softened.

1/8 cup of olive oil.
1 large red chilli finely chopped (on occasions, I use chilli flakes).
1 teaspoon of smoked paprika.
2 bay leaves.

Add chilli, paprika, and bay leaves and cook for 30 seconds (or fragrant).

Liquids

1/3 cup dry white wine (I've used cooking sake on occasion).
1000g of passata (typically comes in 500g packs).
400g plum tomatoes tin (undrained).
1 teaspoon of saffron threads (soaked in 2 tablespoons of water).
1 tablespoon of tomato paste.
2 cups of fish stock (I've used 2 stock cubes + same amount of water).

Add the wine, passata, plum tomatoes, saffron, tomato pate, and fish stock. Simmer for 10 minutes.

Fish

700g of firm white fish (cut into 5 cm chunks).
12 mussels.

Add the almond paste, fish, and mussels. Cook for 3-4 minutes.

12 prawns (shelled).

Add the prawns. Cook for 3 minutes (or pink).

Finishing touches

Season with salt and pepper to taste. I've added roughly a teaspoon of salt.

Garnish generously with parsley and you're good to go.

A Cloudflare Workers primer: hello world

Sat, 13 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

o______________o
| Hello world! |
o--------------o
        \   ^__^
         \  (oo)_______
            (__)\       )\/\
                ||----w |
                ||     ||

Keen to get started with your Hello World Cloudflare Worker? Skip to the setup section.

A little background

The vast majority of my software development experience has been centered around client-side software. The few times I've needed a server-side component for a hobby project, I've historically provisioned a linux virtual machine somewhere and ran whatever services I needed. I have to admit though, I don't enjoy the provisioning process, configuration, maintenance, upgrades, database admin, etc. which take time away from the part I enjoy more: building and experimenting with features.

While containers have made things somewhat simpler, much of the maintenance tradeoffs remain.

These days, the server-managing overhead has been greatly reduced by "serverless" solutions. Odd terminology for a server offering, but I digress. It more or less refers to removing most of that additional responsibility that comes with managing your own servers and enabling you to focus on building your business logic. Having said that, I've typically shied away from these services, with the possibly irrational fear of vendor lock-in.

The thing is, if most of my potential server-side needs merely require an entry point (where I could route/handle incoming requests) and possibly some persistence (maybe a database), I should be able to abstract these things away and build server-side logic against portable abstractions. With that in place, maybe there's little vendor lock-in to worry about? Who knows, the devil's in the detail. If I keep shying away from these services, I'll never know, so maybe I should try some and see.

Let's try Cloudflare Workers

There are no shortages of serverless options offering functions as a service. Google Cloud, AWS Lambda, Azure Functions, Vercel Functions, Netlify Functions, Fastly, Cloudflare workers, I could go on…

While I haven't researched the different offerings, I had made a mental note to check out Cloudflare Workers as they had announced D1, their database backed by SQLite …and who doesn't love SQLite? ;) OK, I'm no expert here, but I have had a pleasant experience whenever I've used it. These days, even Emacs 29 got some SQLite love, which prompted me to add cell navigation/navigation and try other experiments.

D1 / SQLite in beta

Keep in mind that D1 is in public beta and not yet recommended for large production workloads. From the Cloudflare site:

"While the D1 team expects breaking changes and issues to be minimal, they may still occur. The D1 team generally does not recommend running large production workloads on beta products."

Workers cost

In terms of pricing (as of 2024-01-13), the free tier enables workers to handle up 100,000 requests per day. Plenty for trying things out.

In any case, we're only checking out Cloudflare's offering, so let's move on…

Settings up a new Cloudflare Worker (via web dash) {#settings-up-a-new-cloudflare-worker-via-web-dash id="cloudflare-worker-hello-world-setup"}

Cloudflare has a tiny snippet on their Workers landing page that sets things up rather quickly, but [I won't be using it]{.underline}.

~/ $ npm create cloudflare -- my-app
~/ $ cd my-app
~/ $ npx wrangler deploy
Published https://my-app.world.workers.dev

⚠️ Note: before you get copying and pasting, read on.

Cloudflare's snippet is helpful, but it does quite a bit under the hood. I'm somewhat of a node and serverless noob, so I wanted to understand things a little more and figure out the bare minimum needed to start a minimal Cloudflare Worker project.

Instead, we'll first click here and there over at https://dash.cloudflare.com to spin off our new worker from the web and later continue from the command line.

Give the worker a name. We'll call it "todos" to give ya a little sneak peek at what the next post is possibly about… But you can call it whatever you'd like. Keep in mind you'll need to use this name to refer to your new worker.

Congrats, you've now deployed a new worker. You can access it via the URL that looks something like https://todos.somewhere.workers.dev

This is great and all, but we want to build something with this new worker, so let's set up our local development environment…

Prerequisites

You'll need node.js installed on your machine.

I happen to be on macOS, so I installed node via Homebrew.

brew install node

Create a new node project

We want to start with a bare bones node project, so let's do just that.

mkdir HelloCloudflareWorker
cd HelloCloudflareWorker
npm init -y

Install TypeScript (compiler)

I like some guardrails when targetting Javascript, so I'll use the TypeScript compiler in this project. Let's install it.

npm install --save-dev typescript
npx tsc --init

Install Cloudflare Typescript types

To have Cloudflare types information accessible to the TypeScript compiler, we'll need to install that too.

npm install --save-dev @cloudflare/workers-types

Install Wrangler (Cloudflare tooling)

To manage your worker from the command-line, you'll need Cloudflare's wrangler tool. Let's install it.

npm install --save-dev wrangler

Point Wrangler to our worker

We're done installing things now. Let's point wrangler to our new worker by creating its config file.

wrangler.toml

name = "todos"
main = "worker/worker.ts"

Worker entry point

By default, the worker we created using Cloudflare's dash has the following entry point:

export default {
  async fetch(request, env, ctx) {
    return new Response( 'Hello World!'):
  }
}

However, this isn't yet included in our development environment. We need to write our first bit of code. You may have noticed our wrangler.toml is pointing to the main entry point (worker/worker.ts) and this file doesn't exist yet. Let's create it, though be sure to also create its owning directory:

mkdir worker

Now we can create our very own worker/worker.ts. Let's make the first change that shapes worker to our liking. Rather than just printing "Hello World", let's style things up using our cow friend. We'll create worker/worker.ts and include the spiffed up message.

worker/worker.ts

import { Env, ExecutionContext } from '@cloudflare/workers-types';

export default {
  async fetch(request: Request, env: Env, ctx: ExecutionContext): Promise {
    let defaultResponse = `
   o______________o
   | Hello World! |
   o--------------o
           \\   ^__^
            \\  (oo)\_______
               (__)\\       )\\/\\
                   ||----w |
                   ||     ||`
    return new Response(defaultResponse);
  }
};

It's worth mentioning the import statement, since it brings Cloudflare's type information for both Env and ExecutionContext.

Running worker locally

Okay, we now have our worker/worker.ts code ready to go. Let's run it locally. For that we use the wrangler utility.

npx wrangler dev

With that, you'll notice the worker is now running locally and waiting to be visited at http://localhost:8787.

Deploying worker

When we first created the worker via https://dash.cloudflare.com, it automatically deployed to https://todos.somewhere.workers.dev. But our mods only ran locally. Let's deploy, again with the wrangler utility.

npx wrangler deploy

We're good to go. Let's point our browser to the worker's public location.

…and with that, we have a functional Cloudflare Worker and a local development environment to shape things up however we'd like. What would you use the Worker for?

Gave this primer a try? I'd love to hear from ya (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

Enjoying this content? Find it useful?

Consider ✨sponsoring me✨ or buy ✨my iOS apps✨.

A chatgpt-shell compose ux experiment

Mon, 01 Jan 2024 00:00:00 GMT

It's been roughly 9 months since I experimented with wiring the ChatGPT API to an Emacs comint buffer in chatgpt-shell. ChatGPT's request-response nature maps fairly well to a shell's mode of interaction.

In the past, I've also talked about blurring the lines between shell and editor. That is, using Emacs as your shell (eshell being my favourite) enables compounding goodies from both shell and editor when both are used from the same app.

Keeping interactions within the same app also cuts down on some of that friction that comes with context switching between your text editor and the browser for llm things.

Today, my interactions with llms typically consists of copying and pasting details from other Emacs buffers, crafting a query, and finally submitting by pressing enter (RET) from a shell like chatgpt-shell.

With the entire interaction happening from Emacs, we're already cutting a fair amount of friction… But we can do better, specially when copying, pasting, and crafting those multi-line queries (you don't want to prematurely submit those shell queries by inadvertently pressing RET when you want a newline).

chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose

This is where chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose comes in, an opinionated experiment bringing some of my favourite "compose" features over from the likes of magit commit buffers, org capture, mu4e compose, and so on…

You can bring a compose buffer up by invoking M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose. From there, you can both craft and send your queries. If you're a magit fan, the process should feel fairly familiar with crafting a git commit message by editing away and quickly committing (via C-c C-c binding). Similarly, you can also abort with the familiar C-c C-k binding.

I use this compose utility often enough that I bound it to C-c C-e, though this may not be your cup of tea (needs overriding other mode maps).

(use-package chatgpt-shell
  :commands
  (chatgpt-shell
   chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose)
  :bind (("C-c C-e" . chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose)
         :map org-mode-map
         ("C-c C-e" . chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose)
         :map eshell-mode-map
         ("C-c C-e" . chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose)
         :map mu4e-compose-mode-map
         ("C-c C-e" . chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose)
         :map emacs-lisp-mode-map
         ("C-c C-e" . chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose)))

While the compose buffer displays a single query/response at a time, it also follows on from previous requests. You can press r to reply and continue the conversation.

The compose buffer is fairly stateless and mostly serves as viewport over the last query in the shell itself. If you invoke chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose with a prefix (ie. C-u), it wipes the shell history. You can do it from the compose buffer itself, if you forgot to prior to launching.

You can also use the o binding to jump to the "other buffer" (the shell carrying the conversation history).

If using the r and o bindings in a compose buffer sounds a little strange, fear not. The compose buffer is writeable while crafting queries, thus you can safely insert any character. Once a query is submitted (via C-c C-c), the buffer automatically becomes read-only, and thus unlocking single-character bindings.

Another magit commit favorite of mine is using the M-p or M-n bindings to insert previous messages via git-commit-prev-message or git-commit-next-message.

With that in mind, I also brought M-p and M-n over to the editable compose buffer.

If cycling isn't efficient enough, you can also use the typical M-r binding to search and insert from history.

Now, getting back to removing some of that copy-pasting friction… Selecting text in any buffer and invoking M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose (or C-c C-e in my case) automatically pastes the region into the compose buffer. You get to tweak your query before submitting (via that familiar C-c C-c), in a more flexible buffer (compared to a shell).

Note: You can also invoke the compose command with a region as many times as you'd like. Each region is sent to the compose buffer, so you can craft more involved queries before submission.

While I typically prefer short query responses (using diffs like the example above), I sometimes want full snippets as follow-ups. I found myself typing "show entire snippet" often enough, that I now use one of those single-character bindings (e) for this purpose.

Compose bindings

I've showcased most of the compose key bindings, here's the whole lot (so far anyway), which you can also view from chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose's documentation.

Editing

C-c C-c to send the buffer query.
C-c C-k to cancel compose buffer.
M-r search through history.
M-p cycle through previous item in history.
M-n cycle through next item in history.

Read-only

C-c C-c After sending offers to abort query in-progress.
q Exits the read-only buffer.
g Refresh (re-send the query). Useful to retry on disconnects.
n Jump to next source block.
p Jump to next previous block.
r Reply to follow-up with additional questions.
e Send "Show entire snippet" query.
o Jump to other buffer (ie. the shell itself).
C-M-h Mark block at point.

Buyer beware: it's all pretty experimental

When I started playing with the compose buffer idea, I wasn't too sure whether or not its usage would stick, so I basically hacked chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose to pieces. A cheap prototype of sorts to validate the idea before fully committing to a more involved solution.

I'll eventually rewrite chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose as either a major or minor mode if there's enough interest.

For now, I'll continue using as is to validate its usefulness.

If you give chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose a try, I'd love to hear your feedback (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

Enjoying this content? Find it useful? Consider sponsoring.

A Murder at the End of the World: Are you Vi or Emacs?

Fri, 22 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I've enjoyed watching A Murder at the End of the World. The show may resonate with folks following the tech world. Won't say much more than that…

What I can maybe say is, the shows features Reddit, Brave browser, terminal usage (ifconfig, nmap, hydra, responder), and a reference to the good 'ol Vi vs Emacs rivalry, which I hope folks these days don't take further than friendly teasing between dear cousins.

In any case, being an Emacs nut, the scene gave me a good tickle. It's a great show, with a lovely Emacs cherry on top! While the show title and description didn't immediately draw me in, I'm glad I gave it a chance.

An basic Mullvad WireGuard setup for macOS

Sun, 17 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Needed a VPN to test an API from a different location. Gave Mullvad a try.

Pretty neat, you can generate an account number without providing an email address. You can also pre-pay with a ton of options, including cash, crypto, credit cards, PayPal, wire transfers…

After seeing your account credited, one can download a generated WireGuard configuration. Also a WireGuard noob, so took this opportunity to give it a try.

The WireGuard macOS app has an "Import Tunnel(s) from File…" option where you can import the .conf file downloaded from Mullvad's generated config. After that, all I had to do was click the "Activate" button and Bob's your uncle.

You can test your connection via:

curl https://am.i.mullvad.net/connected

I had a brief stint at using the command-line alternative via homebrew brew install wireguard-go wireguard-tools, but that seems to fail silently:

wg-quick up xxxxx
[#] wireguard-go utun
[+] Interface for xxxxx is utun7
[#] wg setconf utun7 /dev/fd/63
[#] ifconfig utun7 inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/xx xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx alias
[#] ifconfig utun7 inet6 xxxx:xxxx:xxxx:xxxx::x:xxxx/xxx alias
[#] ifconfig utun7 up
[#] route -q -n add -inet6 ::/1 -interface utun7
[#] route -q -n add -inet6 8000::/1 -interface utun7
[#] route -q -n add -inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/x -interface utun7
[#] route -q -n add -inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx/x -interface utun7
[#] route -q -n add -inet xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx -gateway xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
[#] networksetup -getdnsservers Wi-Fi
[#] networksetup -getsearchdomains Wi-Fi
[#] networksetup -getdnsservers iPhone USB
[#] networksetup -getsearchdomains iPhone USB
[#] networksetup -getdnsservers Thunderbolt Bridge
[#] networksetup -getsearchdomains Thunderbolt Bridge
[#] networksetup -getdnsservers xxxxx
[#] networksetup -getsearchdomains xxxxx
[#] networksetup -setdnsservers iPhone USB xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
[#] networksetup -setsearchdomains iPhone USB Empty
[#] networksetup -setdnsservers xxxxx xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
[#] networksetup -setsearchdomains xxxxx Empty
[#] networksetup -setdnsservers Wi-Fi xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
[#] networksetup -setsearchdomains Wi-Fi Empty
[#] networksetup -setdnsservers Thunderbolt Bridge xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx
[#] networksetup -setsearchdomains Thunderbolt Bridge Empty
[+] Backgrounding route monitor

curl https://am.i.mullvad.net/connected

I'm on a Macbook M1 Pro, running macOS Sonoma. If you got wg-quick working on Sonoma, I'd love to hear from ya (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

An iOS journaling app powered by org plain text

Wed, 06 Dec 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I've been experimenting with building a rich text editing component for iOS, powered by org markup. The idea is to offer a mobile-friendly editing experience, backed by our beloved plain text format.

To make things a little more interesting, I'm introducing a new org-based app to help anyone with regular journaling.

👉 Meet ✨Journelly✨

Plain text is the serialization format. No conversion/import/export needed.

Though it's early days, it's fairly functional. Been using it daily for some time. You can opt in to use an external org file and sync with your beloved Emacs.

Want to give it a try? Want a TestFlight invite? Send me an email address (any would do) at either of these: Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email.

The topic of org being fairly Emacs-oriented, though a strength for someone far down the rabbit hole, it is understandable to call it out for someone in a different position. Lucky for us, org markup is plain text and can be implemented by apps other than Emacs, like Journelly itself for iOS and even more experimentally on macOS:

And like Journelly for iOS, I got other org things available on iOS:

	As an Org mode fan, so I wrote Plain Org for iOS. It's on the App Store.
	Inspired by Atomic Habits, I wrote Flat Habits for iOS. Also on the App Store.
	I needed an Emacs-inspired scratch buffer on iOS (who doesn't?), so I built one.

As an Org mode fan, so I wrote Plain Org for iOS. It's on the App Store.
Inspired by Atomic Habits, I wrote Flat Habits for iOS. Also on the App Store.
I needed an Emacs-inspired scratch buffer on iOS (who doesn't?), so I built one.

Just like the stuff I do or write about? Sponsor me.

Building your own bookmark launcher

Wed, 29 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

✨sponsor✨ this content

I've been toying with the idea of managing browser bookmarks from you know where. Maybe dump a bunch of links into an org file and use that as a quick and dirty bookmark manager. We'll start with a flat list plus fuzzy searching and see how far that gets us.

The org file would look a little something like this:

::: captioned-content ::: caption bookmarks.org :::

My bookmarks
- [[https://lobste.rs/t/emacs][Emacs editor (Lobsters)]]
- [[https://emacs.stackexchange.com][Emacs Stack Exchange]]
- [[https://www.reddit.com/r/emacs][Emacs subreddit]]
- [[https://emacs.ch][Emacs.ch (Mastodon)]]
- [[https://www.emacswiki.org][EmacsWiki]]
- [[https://planet.emacslife.com/][Planet Emacslife]]

:::

Next we need fuzzy searching, but first let's write a little elisp to extract all links from the org file:

(require 'org-element)
(require 'seq)

(defun browser-bookmarks (org-file)
  "Return all links from ORG-FILE."
  (with-temp-buffer
    (let (links)
      (insert-file-contents org-file)
      (org-mode)
      (org-element-map (org-element-parse-buffer) 'link
        (lambda (link)
          (let* ((raw-link (org-element-property :raw-link link))
                 (content (org-element-contents link))
                 (title (substring-no-properties (or (seq-first content) raw-link))))
            (push (concat title
                          "\n"
                          (propertize raw-link 'face 'whitespace-space)
                          "\n")
                  links)))
        nil nil 'link)
      (seq-sort 'string-greaterp links))))

The snippet uses org-element to iterate over links to collect/return them in a list. We join both the title and url, so searching can match either of these values. We also add a little formatting (new lines/face) to spiff things up.

(browser-bookmarks "/private/tmp/bookmarks.org")

We can now feed our list to our preferred narrowing framework (ivy, helm, ido, vertico) and use it to quickly select a bookmark. In the past, I've used the likes of ivy-read directly, though have since adopted the humble but mighty completing-read which hooks up to any of the above frameworks.

With that in mind, let's use completing-read to make a selection and split the text to extract the corresponding URL. Feed it to browse-url, and you got your preferred browser opening your bookmark.

(defun open-bookmark ()
  (interactive)
  (browse-url (seq-elt (split-string (completing-read "Open: " (browser-bookmarks "/private/tmp/bookmarks.org")) "\n") 1)))

I remain a happy ivy user, so we can see its fuzzy searching in action.

At this point, we now have our bookmark-launching Emacs utility. It's only an M-x open-bookmark command away, but we want to make it accessible from anywhere in our operating system, in my case macOS.

Let's enable launching from the command line, though before we do that, let's craft a dedicated frame for this purpose.

(defmacro present (&rest body)
  "Create a buffer with BUFFER-NAME and eval BODY in a basic frame."
  (declare (indent 1) (debug t))
  `(let* ((buffer (get-buffer-create (generate-new-buffer-name "*present*")))
          (frame (make-frame '((auto-raise . t)
                               (font . "Menlo 15")
                               (top . 200)
                               (height . 20)
                               (width . 110)
                               (internal-border-width . 20)
                               (left . 0.33)
                               (left-fringe . 0)
                               (line-spacing . 3)
                               (menu-bar-lines . 0)
                               (minibuffer . only)
                               (right-fringe . 0)
                               (tool-bar-lines . 0)
                               (undecorated . t)
                               (unsplittable . t)
                               (vertical-scroll-bars . nil)))))
     (set-face-attribute 'ivy-current-match frame
                         :background "#2a2a2a"
                         :foreground 'unspecified)
     (select-frame frame)
     (select-frame-set-input-focus frame)
     (with-current-buffer buffer
       (condition-case nil
           (unwind-protect
               ,@body
             (delete-frame frame)
             (kill-buffer buffer))
         (quit (delete-frame frame)
               (kill-buffer buffer))))))

Most of the snippet styles our new frame and invokes the body parameter. While I don't typically resort to macros, we get a little syntatic sugar here, so we can invoke like so:

(defun present-open-bookmark-frame ()
  (present (browse-url (seq-elt (split-string (completing-read "Open: " (browser-bookmarks "/private/tmp/bookmarks.org")) "\n") 1))))

Wrapping our one-liner with the present-open-bookmark-frame function enables us to easily invoke from the command line, with something like

emacsclient -ne "(present-open-bookmark-frame)"

Now that we can easily invoke from the command line, we have the flexibility to summon from anywhere. We can even bind to a key shortcut, available anywhere (not just Emacs). I typically do this via Hammerspoon, with some helpers, though there are likely simpler options out there.

function emacsExecute(activate, elisp)
   if activate then
      activateFirstOf({
            {
               bundleID="org.gnu.Emacs",
               name="Emacs"
            }
      })
   end

   local socket, found = emacsSocketPath()
   if not found then
      hs.alert.show("Could not get emacs socket path")
      return "", false
   end

   local output,success = hs.execute("/opt/homebrew/bin/emacsclient -ne \""..elisp.."\" -s "..socket)
   if not success then
      hs.alert.show("Emacs did not execute: "..elisp)
      return "", false
   end

   return output, success
end

function openBookmark()
   appRequestingEmacs = hs.application.frontmostApplication()
   emacsExecute(false, "(present-open-bookmark-frame)")
   activateFirstOf({
         {
            bundleID="org.gnu.Emacs",
            name="Emacs"
         }
   })
end

hs.hotkey.bind({"alt"}, "W", openBookmark)

With that, we have our Emacs-powered bookmark launcher, available from anywhere.

While we used our Emacs frame presenter to summon our universal bookmark launcher, we can likely the same mechanism for other purposes. Maybe a clipboard (kill ring) manager?

What would you use it for? Get in touch (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

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Native Emacs/macOS UX integrations via Swift modules

Sat, 25 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Once you learn a little elisp, Emacs becomes this hyper malleable editor/platform. A live playground of sorts, where almost everything is up for grabs at runtime. Throw some elisp at it, and you can customize or extend almost anything to your heart's content. I say almost, as there's a comparatively small native core, that would typically require recompiling if you wanted to make further (native) mods. But that isn't entirely true. Emacs 25 enabled us to further extend things by loading native dynamic modules, back in 2016.

Most of my Emacs-bending adventures have been powered by elisp, primarily on macOS. I also happen to have an iOS dev background, so when Valeriy Savchenko announced his project bringing Emacs dynamic modules powered by Swift, I added it to my never-ending list of things to try out.

Fast-forward to a year later, and Roife's introduction to emt finally gave me that much-needed nudge to give emacs-swift-module a try. While I wish I had done it earlier, I also wish emacs-swift-module had gotten more visibility. Native extensions written in Swift can open up some some neat integrations using native macOS UX/APIs.

While I'm new to Savchenko's emacs-swift-module, the project has wonderful documentation. It quickly got me on my way to build an experimental dynamic module introducing a native context menu for sharing files from my beloved editor.

Most of the elisp/native bridging magic happens with fairly little Swift code:

try env.defun(
  "macos-module--share",
  with: """
    Share files in ARG1.

    ARG1 must be a vector (not a list) of file paths.
    """
) { (env: Environment, files: [String]) in
  let urls = files.map { URL(fileURLWithPath: $0) }

  let picker = NSSharingServicePicker(items: urls)
  guard let view = NSApp.mainWindow?.contentView else {
    return
  }

  let x = try env.funcall("macos--emacs-point-x") as Int
  let y = try env.funcall("macos--emacs-point-y") as Int

  let rect = NSRect(
    x: x + 15, y: Int(view.bounds.height) - y + 15, width: 1, height: 1
  )
  picker.show(relativeTo: rect, of: view, preferredEdge: .maxY)
}

This produced an elisp macos-module--share function I could easily access from elisp like so:

(defun macos-share ()
  "Share file(s) with other macOS apps.

If visiting a buffer with associated file, share it.

While in `dired', any selected files, share those.  If region is
active, share files in region.  Otherwise share file at point."
  (interactive)
  (macos-module--share (vconcat (macos--files-dwim))))

On a side note, (macos--files-dwim) chooses files depending on context. That is, do what I mean (DWIM) style. If there's a file associated with current buffer, share it. When in dired (the directory editor, aka file manager), look at region, selected files, or default to file at point.

(defun macos--files-dwim ()
  "Return buffer file (if available) or marked/region files for a `dired' buffer."
  (if (buffer-file-name)
      (list (buffer-file-name))
    (or
     (macos--dired-paths-in-region)
     (dired-get-marked-files))))

(defun macos--dired-paths-in-region ()
  "If `dired' buffer, return region files.  nil otherwise."
  (when (and (equal major-mode 'dired-mode)
             (use-region-p))
    (let ((start (region-beginning))
          (end (region-end))
          (paths))
      (save-excursion
        (save-restriction
          (goto-char start)
          (while (< (point) end)
            ;; Skip non-file lines.
            (while (and (< (point) end) (dired-between-files))
              (forward-line 1))
            (when (dired-get-filename nil t)
              (setq paths (append paths (list (dired-get-filename nil t)))))
            (forward-line 1))))
      paths)))

I got one more example of a native macOS integration I added. Being an even simpler one, and in hindsight, I prolly should have introduced it first. In any case, this one reveals dired files in macOS's Finder app (including the selection itself).

try env.defun(
  "macos-module--reveal-in-finder",
  with: """
    Reveal (and select) files in ARG1 in macOS Finder.

    ARG1 mus be a vector (not a list) of file paths.
    """
) { (env: Environment, files: [String]) in
  NSWorkspace.shared.activateFileViewerSelecting(files.map { URL(fileURLWithPath: $0) })
}

The corresponding elisp is nearly identical to its macos-share sibling:

(defun macos-reveal-in-finder ()
  "Reveal file(s) in macOS Finder.

If visiting a buffer with associated file, reveal it.

While in `dired', any selected files, reveal those.  If region is
active, reveal files in region.  Otherwise reveal file at point."
  (interactive)
  (macos-module--reveal-in-finder (vconcat (macos--files-dwim))))

My Swift module experiment introduces two native macOS UX integrations, now available via M-x macos-share and M-x macos-reveal-in-finder. I've pushed all code to it's own repo.

I hope this post brings visibility to the wonderful emacs-swift-module project and sparks new, native, and innovative integrations for those on macOS. Can't wait to see what others can do with it.

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Migrating/re-encrypting pass's password store

Thu, 16 Nov 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Note to self, I needed to migrate/re-encrypt someone's password store (aka pass). Straightforward:

Get the new key, probably already in gpg key chain. Try listing it:

gpg --list-keys

To re-encrypt, pass init with new key is enough. It'll prompt for old pass key.

cd path/to/.password-store
pass init NEW-GPG-KEY

How I smash burgers

Mon, 30 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I'm neither a burger expert nor a connoisseur of any kind, yet I sure have a lot of fun smashing burgers at home. Needless to say, I shamelessly enjoy gobbling them too!

my smash burger

I'll share details on how I smash my burgers, but here's a quick ingredient list, if that's all you need.

Mince beef (20%-30% fat).
Streaky bacon.
Brioche burger buns.
American cheese slices (cheddar individual slices work too).
Lettuce.
Tomatoes.
Onions.
Pickles.
Jalapeños.
Garlic.
Chipotle powder.
Mayonnaise.
Salt.
Pepper.
Oil.
Greaseproof paper.
Butter.

The calling

My quest to smash burgers at home didn't start until earlier this year, while watching the The Menu. I just could't stop craving the burger from that scene, so I set out to start smashing my own.

The gear

Don't rush to buy anything fancy. Your existing gear will likely do the job just fine. I'd say try a few things out and only upgrade when needed. I'll share the gear I use and where I felt I needed tweaking.

Skillet

While I didn't have a griddle at home, I did have a couple of trusty Lodge skillets (cast iron and carbon steel). Both work great for burgers, though I have a slight preference for the carbon steel one, as it's the bigger of the two and gives a little more room for manoeuvring, specially when smashing two burgers at a time.

Heat the skillet up and add a little oil. If the oil starts smoking, be quick to drop the patties and start smashing.

Grill Spatula (too big/stiff for skillet)

Somewhat inspired by the film, I got myself a wide spatula so I could firmly press those patties against the skillet, and to flip of course.

While this kind of spatula may work well on a spacious griddle, I felt constrained on a relatively small cast iron. Specially when flipping. I went looking for an alternative.

Spatula + smasher (my winning combo)

Over at the r/castiron subreddit, I discovered fish spatulas. They are fairly agile on cast irons but also work great for loosening burger patties before flipping.

While effective for flipping, fish spatulas are obviously no good for smashing. So I got myself a burger smasher. This combo worked well for me.

When smashing, use greaseproof paper to prevent the patties from sticking to the smasher.

Ingredients

While I've drawn inspiration from others, I've landed on my own preferred ingredients. I'm sure that will continue changing over time. Pick and choose as your heart desires.

Minced/ground beef

Minced beef with higher fat content (around 20-30%) is often recommended for a couple of reasons:

Flavour: Fat equals flavour in cooking. The higher fat content will melt during cooking and become 'self-basting', resulting in a juicier and more flavourful burger.
Texture: The fat in the beef melts under heat, helping the burger achieve a crispy, caramelized exterior known as the Maillard reaction, which contrasts nicely against the soft, juicy interior.

In the UK, I can typically find minced beef with 15%-20% fat content at the main supermarkets.

Be sure to salt and pepper to taste (as in picture) on one side. Once flipped on pan, salt and pepper the other side.

Bacon

I tend to prefer smoked streaky bacon, but hey these will be your burgers. Your burgers, your rules.

Buns (brioche)

I hear potato buns are great for burgers. I've yet to try them. So far, I've settled for brioche. I happen to find these near me, so I've gone with them.

Butter the buns and brown on the skillet for a minute. Check the buns often. Brioche buns can burn quickly.

American cheese

American cheese is often the burger cheese of choice.

While American cheese isn't widely available in the UK, the individually wrapped orange-looking cheddar cheese slices work just fine.

Toppings

I like my burgers with lettuce, tomatoes, onions, pickles, and occasionally jalapeños. For pickles, I typically just take cornichons and slice them up.

Burger sauce (chipotle/garlic/mayo)

While classic burger sauce is often made with mayo, ketchup, pickles, and mustard, I've gone fairly rogue here.

You see, I love chipotle mayo. I'm also a fan of garlic mayo, so I figured why not both? Turns out these three ingredients work great together.

I like to draw out the flavours by first mixing the garlic and chipotle with a little hot water.

1 garlic clove.
2 teaspoons of chipotle powder.
1 tablespoon of hot water.
Pinch of salt.

…and then thicken with mayo.

1/4 cup of mayo.

These are very rough measurements, tweak to your preference. Make more garlicky, spicier, or soften things by adding garlic, chipotle, or mayo.

Assembling

I like to assemble in the following order from the bottom bun up.

Sauce on bottom bun.
Lettuce.
Tomatoes.
Onions.
2 patties (melted cheese on both).
Bacon.
Pickles.
Jalapeños.
Sauce on top bun (oops, I forgot in the picture).

…and here's the final product.

If you gave smashing burgers a go, I'd love to hear about it. Also any tips are very much welcome. Get in touch (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

Open in Xcode at line number

Tue, 24 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I live mostly in Emacs. I say mostly 'cause well, I'm fairly pragmatic about it. If there's a workflow elsewhere that's more appropriate for my needs, I'll happily use that instead. While I'd love to do my web browsing from my beloved editor, Firefox ticks the right boxes for me.

I do most of my iOS coding in Emacs. It's a hybrid of sorts between Emacs and Xcode. If I need to use the debugger, Xcode is a clear winner for me. If I happen to be visiting a Swift file in an Emacs buffer, I typically used the handy crux-open-with from crux to open in Xcode, and continue from there. This worked OK, but I always wished opening in Xcode would also jump to the same line number as the Emacs point (cursor) location. This is particularly useful if I had just spotted where I'd like to set a breakpoint in an Emacs buffer and need to transition over to Xcode.

It turns out, there's a nifty command line utility for that. xed, the Xcode text editor invocation tool. It enables telling Xcode what file to open and at what line number:

xed -line 141 path/to/some/file.swift

With that in mind, I've added my own version of crux-open-with, using dwim-shell-command.

When running on macOS, the function checks whether or not I'm visiting a buffer for a programming language, and opens the file in Xcode at the same line number.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-open-externally ()
  "Open file(s) externally."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Open externally"
   (if (eq system-type 'darwin)
       (if (derived-mode-p 'prog-mode)
           (format "xed --line %d '<>'"
                   (line-number-at-pos (point)))
         "open '<>'")
     "xdg-open '<>'")
   :shell-args '("-x" "-c")
   :silent-success t
   :utils (if (eq system-type 'darwin)
              "open"
            "xdg-open")))

dwim-shell-commands-open-externally is now added to dwim-shell-commands.el.

ps. If you find opening the same file in a different context handy, you may also like the package browse-at-remote that opens the visited file at its corresponding remote location (for example, GitHub). I can never remember the name of the function (browse-at-remote), so I aliased it to something I'd remember and moved on…

(defalias 'ar/open-at-github #'browse-at-remote))

Trimming video screenshots

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

A quick one… I recently wanted to trim the black borders around a video screenshot. While I could use an image editor to manually select and trim, I wondered if there was an imagemagick trick somewhere out there for such a thing… and of course there was:

magick convert -fuzz 3% -define trim:percent-background=0% -trim +repage path/to/input.png path/to/output.png

Pretty neat. It does the job, but I won't remember it next time. May as well make another dwim-shell-command function out of it and conveniently invoke from Emacs via a memorable name plus fuzzy search.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-image-trim-borders ()
  "Trim image(s) border (useful for video screenshots)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Trim image border"
   "magick convert -fuzz 3% -define trim:percent-background=0% -trim +repage '<>' '<>_trimmed.<>'"
   :utils "magick"))

While the screenshot I've just used was a little blurry, it's from the movie Tron Legacy, and it features Emacs eshell. This is old news, though well covered.

dwim-shell-commands-image-trim-borders is now added to dwim-shell-commands.el

Displaying image details in mode line

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

A benefit of running Emacs as a GUI app, is that you can view images from your beloved editor. This is super handy to take a quick peek at any image.

Sometimes, I'd like a little more than just viewing the image. I'd like to see basic image details like type, dimensions, and file size. The imagemagick identify utility is pretty handy for that.

identify -format "%m %wx%h %b" path/to/image.png

I could easily invoke shell-command for this or even create a dwim-shell-command function (maybe I will), but if this info was proactively displayed in the mode line, I wouldn't have to fetch it myself.

Since I know I can use the identify command for this, I may as well see if I can plug it into the mode line.

Turns out this wasn't too bad by setting setting mode-line-format. I added a little logic to only include image details while in image-mode and rely on process-lines to fetch the details. This function returns a list, which is a happy coincidence since mode-line-format also expects a list.

(setq-default mode-line-format
              '(" "
                mode-line-front-space
                mode-line-client
                mode-line-frame-identification
                mode-line-buffer-identification
                (:eval
                 (when (eq major-mode 'image-mode)
                   ;; Needs imagemagick installed.
                   (process-lines "identify" "-format" "[%m %wx%h %b]" (buffer-file-name))))
                " "
                mode-line-position
                (vc-mode vc-mode)
                (multiple-cursors-mode mc/mode-line)
                " " mode-line-modes
                mode-line-end-spaces))

I'd love to hear if there's a pure elisp alternative (mastodon/twitter). I gave (image-size (image-get-display-property) :pixels) a try, but that seemed to return the display size in buffer rather than actual file size.

Creating an iCloud account (via tart VM)

Fri, 06 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: This method no longer works for creating iCloud accounts. I'd love to know if you find an alternative. Please let me know.

I wanted an additional @icloud.com account for myself. My first thought was to head over to https://developer.apple.com and create a new account, but that requires an existing email address. I wanted an actual @icloud.com email address.

My next thought was to create a new account using the iOS simulator, but that complained about creating too many accounts already. Strange, as I hadn't created any.

I could create an account from macOS settings itself, though that would require logging out my current account (and the syncing implications). To get around that, I could maybe create a temporary macOS user. Instead, I somewhat revisited the simulator route and looked for a VM option to run macOS. This gave me an excuse to play with VM options on macOS.

I had been meaning to check out lima as per Hacker News's Lima: A nice way to run Linux VMs on Mac. The Hacker News's thread has a handful of great recommendations. Amongst them, tart (macOS and Linux VMs on Apple Silicon) stood out, as it also gave me the Mac on Mac option.

Installing tart via Homebrew followed the typical brew command… a breeze via my trusty Emacs eshell:

brew install cirruslabs/cli/tart

Cloning a VM image, while straightforward, it did take a little while for the chunky download:

tart clone ghcr.io/cirruslabs/macos-sonoma-base:latest sonoma-base

Running the macOS Sonoma VM was a breeze:

tart run sonoma-base

…and with that, I got a full (and disposable) macOS VM I can use to create another @icloud.com account:

While there may be simpler options out there to create an @icloud.com account (please do let me know mastodon/twitter), the VM did the job. I'd been meaning to find a low friction mechanism to run VMs for a different reason, but that's a post for another time.

Virtual machine (VM) bookmarks

Wed, 04 Oct 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs hangs saving .authinfo.gpg (workaround)

Sat, 16 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

My Emacs (v29.1) was hanging when saving changes to .authinfo.gpg. Turns out, I ran into a known issue with a workaround. Downgrading gnupgp to a version older than 2.4.1 sorts things out.

I'm on macOS. Downgraded by downloading the 2.4.0 Homebrew formula at https://raw.githubusercontent.com/Homebrew/homebrew-core/59edfe598541186430d49cc34f42671e849e2fc9/Formula/gnupg.rb and installing with:

brew unlink gnupg
brew install ~/Downloads/gnupg.rb

Redact that buffer

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

As I was getting ready to take an Emacs screenshot in the previous post, I figured I may want to redact email addresses before moving forward. I had a quick look for existing options and found redacted.el, built-in toggle-rot13-mode, and unpackaged/lorem-ipsum-overlay. All great options. I wanted a solution I could feed a single regular expression to obscure matches. I also wanted toggling capabilities, so I had a quick go at it…

I also wanted the ability to redact the entire buffer content, so feeding a space to the regexp query also translates to [[:graph:]], effectively redacting all visible characters.

The solution is overlay-based, ensuring the buffer content remains unchanged. The function may have its own rough edges, yet it certainly scratched the itch for the current need. I'll leave ya with the snippet.

(defun ar/toggle-redact-buffer ()
  "Redact buffer content matching regexp. A space redacts all."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((redacted)
         (regexp (string-trim (read-regexp "Redact regexp" 'regexp-history-last)))
         (matches (let ((results '()))
                    (when (string-empty-p regexp)
                      (setq regexp "[[:graph:]]")
                      (setq regexp-history-last regexp)
                      (add-to-history 'regexp-history regexp))
                    (save-excursion
                      (goto-char (point-min))
                      (while (re-search-forward regexp nil t)
                        (push (cons (match-beginning 0) (match-end 0)) results)))
                    (nreverse results))))
    (mapc (lambda (match)
            (dolist (overlay (overlays-in (car match) (cdr match)))
              (setq redacted t)
              (delete-overlay overlay))
            (unless redacted
              (overlay-put (make-overlay (car match) (cdr match))
                           'display (make-string (- (cdr match) (car match)) ?x))))
          matches)))

Send note to Kindle

Fri, 15 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

While on Mastodon, I spotted @summeremacs looking into sending Emacs text selections to a Kindle via email. This sparked my interest as I previously looked into sending pdfs to my Kindle via mu4e.

Kindle offers a neat service where you can email a file to your @kindle.com address and it automatically shows up in your Kindle library.

I already do email from my beloved editor, and like most Emacs things, it's powered by elisp. In other words, it's basically up for grabs if you'd like to glue it to anything else, so I did…

I can now select a region and invoke M-x send-to-kindle-as-txt to send it over to my Kindle.

Soon enough, the note shows up on my Kindle.

Opening the note reveals the same content we had previously selected and sent from our malleable editor.

While it looks kinda magical, it's fairly simple under the hood. It takes the region content, writes it to a txt file, creates an email message buffer attaching the file, and finally sends via message-send-and-exit.

If M-x send-to-kindle-as-txt is invoked with a C-u prefix, you get to inspect the message buffer right before sending via C-c C-c.

Here's the full snippet.

(defcustom send-to-kindle-from-email
  nil
  "Your own email address to send from via mu4e."
  :type 'string
  :group 'send-to-kindle)

(defcustom send-to-kindle-to-email
  nil
  "Your Kindle email address to send pdf to."
  :type 'string
  :group 'send-to-kindle)

(defun send-to-kindle-as-txt (review)
  (interactive "P")
  (unless send-to-kindle-from-email
    (setq send-to-kindle-from-email
          (read-string "From email address: ")))
  (unless send-to-kindle-to-email
    (setq send-to-kindle-to-email
          (read-string "To email address: ")))
  (let* ((content (string-trim (if (region-active-p)
                                   (buffer-substring (region-beginning) (region-end))
                                 (buffer-string))))
         (note-name (let ((name (string-trim (read-string "Note name: "))))
                      (if (string-empty-p name)
                          (nth
                           0 (string-split
                              (substring content 0 (min 40 (length content))) "\n"))
                        name)))
         (path (concat (temporary-file-directory) note-name))
         (txt (concat path ".txt"))
         (buffer (get-buffer-create (generate-new-buffer-name "*Email txt*"))))
    (with-temp-buffer
      (insert content)
      (write-file txt))
    (with-current-buffer buffer
      (erase-buffer)
      ;; Disable hooks
      (let ((message-mode-hook nil))
        (message-mode))
      (insert
       (format
        "From: %s
To: %s
Subject: %s
--text follows this line--
<#multipart type=mixed>
<#part type=\"text/plain\" filename=\"%s\" disposition=attachment>
<#/part>
<#/multipart>"
        send-to-kindle-from-email
        send-to-kindle-to-email
        note-name txt))
      (unless review
        (message-send-and-exit)))
    (when review
      (switch-to-buffer buffer))))

By the way, and I only just learned this today… To take a screenshot on a Kindle Paperwhite, tap on these opposite corners.

SHA-256 hash from URL, the easy way

Sun, 10 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

From time to time, I need to generate a SHA-256 hash from a file hosted on some server. For me, this flow typically goes something along the lines of:

Copy the file URL from browser.
Drop to Emacs eshell.
Change current directory.
Type "curl -o file"
Paste the file URL.
Run curl command.
Type "shasum -a 256 file".
Run shasum command.
Copy the generated hash.
Maybe delete the downloaded file?

We can maybe shave some steps off by downloading directly from the browser, though that may also bring additional clicks and navigating to a download location.

Amongst the steps, shasum is the star player, and its output can be seen below.

shasum -a 256 path/to/downloaded/file

Not a huge deal. One can copy the hash from the output, but why go through multiple small manual steps when I know I can get Emacs to simplify the lot? I've expedited a similar flow in the past when cloning git repos. Let's simplify again so hashing a hosted file boils down to:

Copy the file URL from browser.
Run an Emacs interactive command.

This is where I pull out dwim-shell-command (a little package I wrote) and glue the lot to get an expedited experience.

There isn't much to the function other than glueing a little elisp and a shell script via dwim-shell-command for some buffer/error handling.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-sha-256-hash-file-at-clipboard-url ()
  "Download file at clipboard URL and generate SHA-256 hash."
  (interactive)
  (let ((url (current-kill 0)))
    (unless (string-match-p "^http[s]?://" url)
      (user-error "No URL in clipboard"))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Generate SHA-256 hash from clipboard URL."
     (format
      "temp_file=$(mktemp)
       function cleanup {
         rm -f $temp_file
       }
       trap cleanup EXIT
       curl --no-progress-meter --location --fail --output $temp_file %s || exit 1
       shasum -a 256 $temp_file | awk '{print $1}'"
      (shell-quote-argument url))
     :utils '("curl" "shasum")
     :on-completion
     (lambda (buffer process)
       (if-let ((success (= (process-exit-status process) 0))
                (hash (with-current-buffer buffer
                        (string-trim (buffer-string)))))
           (progn
             (kill-buffer buffer)
             (kill-new hash)
             (message "Copied %s to clipboard"
                      (propertize hash 'face 'font-lock-string-face)))
         (switch-to-buffer buffer))))))

dwim-shell-commands-sha-256-hash-file-at-clipboard-url is now in dwim-shell-commands.el, the optional counterpart in dwim-shell-command.

UPDATE

There's better way. Thanks to Philip Kaludercic for suggesting curl -s example.com | sha256sum - | cut -d " " -f1 and Sacha Chua who pinged me about it.

Also note I'm now relying on the <> template, since dwim-shell-command replaces it with the clipboard/kill ring.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-sha-256-hash-file-at-clipboard-url ()
  "Download file at clipboard URL and generate SHA-256 hash."
  (interactive)
  (unless (string-match-p "^http[s]?://" (current-kill 0))
    (user-error "No URL in clipboard"))
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Generate SHA-256 hash from clipboard URL."
   "curl -s '<>' | sha256sum - | cut -d ' ' -f1"
   :utils '("curl" "sha256sum")
   :on-completion
   (lambda (buffer process)
     (if-let ((success (= (process-exit-status process) 0))
              (hash (with-current-buffer buffer
                      (string-trim (buffer-string)))))
         (progn
           (kill-buffer buffer)
           (kill-new hash)
           (message "Copied %s to clipboard"
                    (propertize hash 'face 'font-lock-string-face)))
       (switch-to-buffer buffer)))))

Inline previous result and why you should edebug

Tue, 05 Sep 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Artur Malabarba's Debugging Elisp Part 1: Earn your independence is nearly a decade old, yet it rings just as true today.

Learning to Edebug really "is the right decision for anyone who doesn't know how to Edebug." Why, you may ask? He best puts it as "running into errors is not only a consequence of tinkering with your editor, it is the only road to graduating in Emacs."

For me personally, it earned me that independence to bend Emacs my way. Don't like how something works? Pull up the debugger to help me understand how a package or function works. I've done this countless of times to bend things my way.

Speaking of edebug, I had been meaning to tweak edebug's result display behaviour for quite some time. As you step through code, edbug prints the result of previous expressions to the minibuffer. This works well, but I couldn't help but feel like my eyes were constantly jumping between the code and the minibuffer at the bottom of the window.

I wanted to minimize the eye jumping experience, so I figured I could likely bend things my way and print the result at point. How did I go about it? The same way I often do. Figure out what function is called for a given key binding via describe-key or my favourite replacement helpful-key from helpful.el. This led me to edebug-next-mode in edebug.el. At that point, I could have set a breakpoint in edebug-next-mode and eventually step into the relevant code, but hey we had a better clue. We knew that all output started with "Result:", so we could just search for that string in edebug.el instead. Jackpot! edebug-compute-previous-result and its adjacent edebug-previous-result are just the right functions:

(defun edebug-compute-previous-result (previous-value)
  (if edebug-unwrap-results
      (setq previous-value
            (edebug-unwrap* previous-value)))
  (setq edebug-previous-result
        (concat "Result: "
                (edebug-safe-prin1-to-string previous-value)
                (eval-expression-print-format previous-value))))

(defun edebug-previous-result ()
  "Print the previous result."
  (interactive)
  (message "%s" edebug-previous-result))

We can see that edebug-previous-result invokes message which is responsible for displaying the debugged expression's result in the minibuffer. Modifying this functions behaviour would be enough to achieve inline display, but I also want to remove "Result:" from the displayed message. Neither of these functions offer configurability, so we'll resort to advising both functions. That is, monkey patch them (errm I know… lovely).

(defun adviced:edebug-compute-previous-result (_ &rest r)
  "Adviced `edebug-compute-previous-result'."
  (let ((previous-value (nth 0 r)))
    (if edebug-unwrap-results
        (setq previous-value
              (edebug-unwrap* previous-value)))
    (setq edebug-previous-result
          (edebug-safe-prin1-to-string previous-value))))

(advice-add #'edebug-compute-previous-result
            :around
            #'adviced:edebug-compute-previous-result)

adviced:edebug-compute-previous-result removes "Result:" in addition to dropping (eval-expression-print-format previous-value), which I don't typically rely on.

(require 'eros)

(defun adviced:edebug-previous-result (_ &rest r)
  "Adviced `edebug-previous-result'."
  (eros--make-result-overlay edebug-previous-result
    :where (point)
    :duration eros-eval-result-duration))

(advice-add #'edebug-previous-result
            :around
            #'adviced:edebug-previous-result)

adviced:edebug-previous-result is in charge of display via message, so all we need is some replacement. I initially played with popup-tip and that did the job just fine, but Colin led me to a better path while pointing to Clojure and Common Lisp. This reminded me of eros: Evaluation Result OverlayS for Emacs Lisp, which I already used. Swapping message for eros--make-result-overlay did the trick. Yes, this is a private function, but I can live with that. This code is only an advice-remove away from disabling, but hey look at those inline results!

Further sqlite-mode extensions

Sun, 27 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I've continued poking at Emacs 29's sqlite-mode. Since my last post on extensions, I've experimented a little with adding a handful of interactive functions:

sqlite-mode-extras-compose-and-execute: Compose and execute a query.

sqlite-mode-extras-execute: Execute a query.

sqlite-mode-extras-add-row: Add row to table at point.

sqlite-mode-extras-delete-row-dwim: Similar to sqlite-mode-delete but also enables deleting range in region.

sqlite-mode-extras-refresh: Refreshes the buffer re-querying the database.
sqlite-mode-extras-ret-dwim: If on table, toggle expansion. If on row, edit it.
sqlite-mode-extras-execute-and-display-select-query: Executes a query and displays results.

I've been playing with the following key bindings:

(use-package sqlite-mode-extras
  :bind (:map
         sqlite-mode-map
         ("n" . next-line)
         ("p" . previous-line)
         ("b" . sqlite-mode-extras-backtab-dwim)
         ("f" . sqlite-mode-extras-tab-dwim)
         ("+" . sqlite-mode-extras-add-row)
         ("D" . sqlite-mode-extras-delete-row-dwim)
         ("C" . sqlite-mode-extras-compose-and-execute)
         ("E" . sqlite-mode-extras-execute)
         ("S" . sqlite-mode-extras-execute-and-display-select-query)
         ("DEL" . sqlite-mode-extras-delete-row-dwim)
         ("g" . sqlite-mode-extras-refresh)
         ("" . sqlite-mode-extras-backtab-dwim)
         ("" . sqlite-mode-extras-tab-dwim)
         ("RET" . sqlite-mode-extras-ret-dwim)))

The code lives in sqlite-mode-extras.el under my Emacs config repo. Beware, it's fairly experimental and hasn't been tested thoroughly.

My custom Tesco Clubcard pkpass

Tue, 22 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

My significant other and I had two plastic Tesco Clubcards. I lost mine, so I took a picture of hers. I was fairly certain a barcode photo would scan just as well at self-checkout, and it did.

This got me thinking about Apple's Wallet pkpasses. I don't really know much about them. Could I potentially create my own .pkpass? If I could just include the same barcode as in the photo, it should do the job just fine.

Now I should mention, Tesco does have an app on the App Store. If you just want the official Wallet pass on your iPhone, use that. But I was curious about whether or not I could create my own pass.

Turns out I can. I followed Apple's building your first pass which runs you through creating Wallet identifiers/certificates, editing pass.json, and downloading/building signpass (the utility used to sign .pass bundles).

The signpass utility is included in WalletCompanionFiles.zip, which comes with a handful of sample passes.

WalletCompanionFiles
│
├── SamplePasses
│   │
│   ├── BoardingPass.pass
│   ├── Coupon.pass
│   ├── Event.pass
│   ├── Event.pkpass
│   ├── Generic.pass
│   └── StoreCard.pass
│       │
│       ├── pass.json
│       └── ...
└── signpass

Being a rewards card, I opted to look into StoreCard.pass, but like all other passes, the barcode itself is what makes each pass scannable. The barcode details are specified in the bundles's pass.json file. I needed to figure out the relevant values describing the Tesco barcode.

"barcode": {
  "format": "???",
  "message": "???",
  "messageEncoding": "???"
}

I had no clue what values I should use for a Tesco Clubcard. I did, however, have a photo of the barcode I needed. This is in fact what prompted looking into scanning barcodes from Emacs, which worked just great. It gave me all the crucial bits for the Clubcard.

"barcode": {
  "format": "PKBarcodeFormatCode128",
  "message": "1234567890123456",  // not my actual Clubcard number of course.
  "messageEncoding": "iso-8859-1"
}

That's all that's needed for the barcode section, the most useful part of the pass. We're not done though. We also need our registered Wallet identifiers, so the signpass utility can sign.

"passTypeIdentifier": "my.com.identifier.passmaker", // also not my actual one.
"teamIdentifier": "AAABBBCCCD", // nor this one.

We should be able to sign the pass with the following:

signpass -p StoreCard.pass

We're technically done. We now have a working card, but it looks just like the sample store card included in WalletCompanionFiles.

What's the fun in that? Now that I can make my own Clubcard, let's customize it!

For imagery, I replaced a couple of images in the .pass bundle:

StoreCard.pass
│
├── pass.json
├── icon.png
├── logo.png // replaced
└── strip.png // replaced

I replaced logo.png using a Tesco logo I found on Wikipedia. I had initially removed strip.png, but that made the card feel a little empty. I was thinking of using a Tesco carrier bag to bulk the space up. While I didn't find a suitable bag image, I did land on "Very Little Helps, 2008". Using my limited GIMP skills, I cropped one of the images and also replaced strip.png.

The remaining customizations took place in pass.json and should be fairly self-explanatory. There's the text shown in all labels as well as three customizable colours (background, label, and foreground).

{
  "formatVersion": 1,
  "passTypeIdentifier": "my.com.identifier.passmaker", // also not my actual one.
  "teamIdentifier": "AAABBBCCCD", // nor this one.
  "serialNumber": "AnySerialNumberYouWant",
  "barcode": {
    "format": "PKBarcodeFormatCode128",
    "message": "1234567890123456",
    "messageEncoding": "iso-8859-1"
  },
  "organizationName": "Not Tesco of course",
  "description": "Not a Tesco reqards card",
  "logoText": "Clubcard",
  "foregroundColor": "rgb(255, 255, 255)",
  "labelColor": "rgb(255, 255, 255)",
  "backgroundColor": "rgb(2, 81, 158)", // Blue for that Tesco look
  "storeCard": {
    "auxiliaryFields": [
      {
        "key": "membership",
        "label": "Member since 2023",
        "value": ""
      },
      {
        "key": "membership2",
        "label": "Expires sometime",
        "value": ""
      }
    ]
  }
}

…and with all that, here's what my very own custom Tesco Clubcard pkpass looks like. As you can appreciate, my image-editing skills aren't all that great, but hey this will do for now.

Update

Redditor u/stupergenius suggested using the image's original background color. Nice suggestion. Tweaked via pass.json:

"foregroundColor": "rgb(2, 81, 158)",
"labelColor": "rgb(15, 58, 105)",
"backgroundColor": "rgb(166, 202, 214)",

Extending sqlite-mode (cell navigation + edits)

Mon, 07 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I recently wrote about Emacs 29's new sqlite-mode, which enables you to browse sqlite databases from your beloved editor.

Out of the box, it supports the following browsing features:

sqlite-mode-list-data: List the data from the table under point.
sqlite-mode-list-column: List the columns of the table under point.
sqlite-mode-list-tables: Re-list the tables from the currently selected database.

On the editing side of things it supports row deletion:

sqlite-mode-delete: Delete the row under point.

While fairly spartan, it lays foundations for additional tools and features.

Two features I would like to have:

TAB navigation across table rows and columns.
Updating the row's field at point.

This would give me the familiar behaviour I'm used to in my org tables as well as other common spreadsheet tools.

Luckily, this is Emacs, so we can bend it our way… and I sure did!

Here's tab navigating forward:

Here's tab navigating backward:

And updating row fields:

Most of the navigation is achieved by querying the current buffer to figure out column positions. Editing was in some ways easier, as I looked at sqlite-mode-delete to figure out how it handled the query.

To get the more familiar navigation behaviour, I've adjusted my key bindings as follows:

(use-package sqlite-mode-extras
  :bind (:map
         sqlite-mode-map
         ("n" . next-line)
         ("p" . previous-line)
         ("" . sqlite-mode-extras-backtab-dwim)
         ("" . sqlite-mode-extras-tab-dwim)
         ("RET" . sqlite-mode-extras-ret-dwim)))

The code for sqlite-mode-extras-tab-dwim, sqlite-mode-extras-backtab-dwim, and sqlite-mode-extras-ret-dwim is little rough still (hacky even), but hey still fun.

For now, the code lives in sqlite-mode-extras.el under my Emacs config repo. Improvements/fixes totally welcome!

Emacs 29's sqlite-mode

Sun, 06 Aug 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I've jumped on the Emacs 29 bandwagon! Mickey Petersen has a great rundown of What's New in Emacs 29.1.

Now every so often, I need to take a quick peek at an sqlite3 table. Emacs 29.1 ships sqlite-mode, which can help with that. Use sqlite-mode-open-file to open a database.

Pressing RET on a table shows its content via sqlite-mode-list-data. DEL does as you'd expect and delete a row via sqlite-mode-delete.

Emacs: scan this QR/bar code

Sun, 30 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Another day, another tool brought to my Emacs fingertips. A while ago, I wrote about easily copying text from desktop to mobile via QR codes. Later on, I brought it under dwim-shell-command as dwim-shell-commands-clipboard-to-qr.

This time around, I needed the opposite: to scan a code from an image file. This is where zbar's zbarimg comes in. These days, I'm mostly on macOS, so I installed via Homebrew:

$ brew install zbar

There's really nothing to the command. You feed it an image, and it outputs the scanned details. Perfect.

$ zbarimg path/to/code-128.png
CODE-128:hello world
scanned 1 barcode symbols from 1 images in 0.02 seconds

The only challenge is my brain. I probably won't remember the name of this wonderful tool next time I need it, so I'll just add it to my dwim-shell-commands.el arsenal with a memorable name:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-image-scan-code ()
  "Scan any code from image(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Scan code"
   "zbarimg '<>'"
   :utils "zbarimg"))

In the future, rather than reaching out to zbarimg directly, I'll use my trusty fuzzy search and… voilà!

Because dwim-shell-command operates on either dired files or current file, we can also apply our new function when viewing the QR code itself.

dwim-shell-commands-image-scan-code is now pushed to dwim-shell-commands.el, the optional package in dwim-shell-command.

A cure for JavaScript fatigue?

Tue, 25 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

It's been roughly a decade since I wrote any significant amount of JavaScript. Back then, I primarily relied on the Google Closure Compiler, now maybe an archaeological artefact? These days, it's hard not to bump into any JavaScript project that doesn't rely on npm, along with many other tools like the Typescript compiler, ESLint, Prettier… There are a ton of available frameworks too. I was somewhat put off (or maybe just lazy?) by the initial ramp-up to reenter the JavaScript world. I guess that's what some refer to as Javascript Fatigue.

I'm giving JavaScript another try, but this time with an Emacs chatgpt-shell standing by. Reentering the JavaScript world as a noob, I often know what I want to enable, but I'm unfamiliar with which project knobs to turn to set things up.

While I may want to dig deeper into things in the future, at present I just want to dabble with JavaScript. I want a local project set up as quickly as possible. ChatGPT has been pretty handy at that. The Emacs ChatGPT shell and its minibuffer prompts work fairly well for my needs, yet I often found myself wishing it could behave more like a magit commit buffer. That is, launch a dedicated buffer (not the shell itself), ask the question, maybe paste some snippets, and send it on its way with that oh so familiar and satisfying C-c C-c binding (sending mail also says hello).

This is where M-x chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose comes in. It's a mash between the ChatGPT shell and a magit commit buffer:

In the background, the buffer is still powered by the shell itself, so you can reuse it to ask clarifying questions.

A couple of additional features worth mentioning… Invoking chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose with an active region automatically copies the region content over to the compose buffer. This is handy if you'd like to create more elaborate prompts with further editing. So far, this feels more natural than editing text from the shell or the minibuffer, where RET doesn't insert new lines.

The compose buffer is powered by a background shell (storing history for us). Typing clear followed by C-c C-c clears the background shell history.

chatgpt-shell-prompt-compose is available in chatgpt-shell v0.72.1. I've so far bound it to C-c C-e, though I've already found some unfortunate clashes.

ChatGPT visits the Emacs doctor

Wed, 12 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs is a part-time job. A multi-language development environment. A lisp machine. An email client. A web browser. A zettelkasten. A spreadsheet. A mastodon client. A shell. A ledger. A super agenda. An operating system. Some say it sends ripples into the atmosphere or plays tetris for you. It may even warm your place up during the winter. Can meme with you. It's an ultra-malleable editor with endless possibilities, powered by your life-long customizations. Oh man, no wonder we need to chat to someone from time to time. You know what I mean? Sir, this is a Wendy's.

Luckily, we also have the built-in Emacs psychotherapist we can chat to, courtesy of M-x doctor. It's powered by elisp, and like all Emacs things, it's basically up for grabs. What I mean is, elisp implements many of these features, but also glues the lot for you. Once you learn a little elisp, you can build new Emacs features but also glue others for that magical compound effect.

The Emacs doctor

A little while ago, I wanted to give ChatGPT a try, preferably from Emacs (of course). I figured a shell interface would be a great fit for the interaction. Emacs already shipped with a general command interpreter (comint), so I cobbled together a ChatGPT Emacs shell.

chatgpt-shell

So where am I going with all this? The fine netizens r/emaphis and salgernon both planted a great seed:

I haven't forgotten about you. Let's take chatgpt-shell, M-x doctor, our versatile elisp glue, and let's make them talk:

There isn't too much to the code, but beware:

If you want to run it, you'll need chatgpt-shell installed and set up.
This was a quick fun hack. No code judging ;)

The snippet is further down… Start with chatgpt-shell-visit-doctor as the entry point, setting things up for us. It creates both the *chatgpt* and *doctor* buffers and arranges the windows next to each other.

We also set a ChatGPT system prompt to guide things a little:

"Pretend to be an overwhelmed Emacs user who is obsessed with configuring their init.el file. You are in a session talking to a psychotherapist. Limit your output to no more than 20 words. In the course of 5 exchanges between you and the therapist, show improvements. On the 8th exchange after therapist speaks, declare you are cured and only output 'Thank you doc, I think I'm cured!'"

ChatGPT and Emacs doctor can go on and on, so we limit ChatGPT responses to 20 words per response and 8 exchanges. We don't want the session to abruptly end without a resolution, so we'll use Thank you doc, I think I'm cured! as our key phrase to end the session.

We register chatgpt-shell--on-chatgpt-patient-response as a hook to receive ChatGPT output, which we feed to the *doctor* buffer. We subsequently get a doctor response that's fed back to ChatGPT via chatgpt-shell--insert-doc-response.

We add some additional freebies like binding Ctrl-c Ctrl-c to chatgpt-shell-leave-doctor, so we can bail out of the exchange from the *chatgpt* buffer.

We also introduced chatgpt-shell--insert-delayed-text as a replacement for insert to slow things down a little. For visual effects, really.

(require 'chatgpt-shell)

(defun chatgpt-shell-visit-doctor ()
  (interactive)
  (setq chatgpt-shell--doctor-in-session t)
  (when (get-buffer "*doctor*")
    (kill-buffer "*doctor*"))
  (delete-other-windows)
  (split-window-horizontally)
  (other-window 1)
  (doctor)
  (visual-line-mode 1)
  (when (fboundp 'accent-menu-mode)
    (accent-menu-mode -1))
  (mapc
   (lambda (shell-buffer)
     (kill-buffer shell-buffer))
   (chatgpt-shell--shell-buffers))
  (other-window 1)
  (setq chatgpt-shell-system-prompts
        '(("Doc" . "Pretend to be an overwhelmed Emacs user who is obsessed with configuring their init.el file. You are in a session talking to a psychotherapist. Limit your output to no more than 20 words. In the course of 5 exchanges between you and the therapist, show improvements. On the 8th exchange after therapist speaks, declare you are cured and only output \"Thank you doc, I think I'm cured!\".")))
  (setq chatgpt-shell-system-prompts nil)
  (setq chatgpt-shell-system-prompt nil)
  (with-current-buffer (chatgpt-shell)
    (define-key chatgpt-shell-mode-map (kbd "C-c C-c")
      'chatgpt-shell-leave-doctor)
    (shell-maker-set-buffer-name (current-buffer)
                                 "*chatgpt*"))
  (chatgpt-shell--insert-doc-response))

(defun chatgpt-shell--doc-conversation ()
  (let ((convo (with-current-buffer "*doctor*"
                 (split-string (buffer-string) "\n\n"))))
    (seq-remove
     (lambda (item)
       (string-empty-p (string-trim item)))
     (append
      ;; Replace first doc line, so it drops "Each time you are finished talking, type RET twice."
      (list "I am the psychotherapist.  Please, describe your problems.")
      (mapcar
       (lambda (item)
         (replace-regexp-in-string "\n" " " item))
       (cdr convo))))))

(defun chatgpt-shell--doc-response ()
  (let* ((conversation (chatgpt-shell--doc-conversation))
         (length (seq-length conversation))
         (doc-response (nth (1- length) conversation)))
    doc-response))

(defun chatgpt-shell--insert-doc-response ()
  (with-current-buffer "*chatgpt*"
    (goto-char (point-max))
    (chatgpt-shell--insert-delayed-text (chatgpt-shell--doc-response))
    (call-interactively 'shell-maker-submit)))

(defun chatgpt-shell--insert-delayed-text (text)
  "Insert TEXT into the current buffer, with a delay between each character."
  (dolist (char (string-to-list text))
    (insert char)
    (sit-for 0.009)))

(defun chatgpt-shell--on-chatgpt-patient-response (command output)
  (if (and chatgpt-shell--doctor-in-session
           (not (string-match-p (regexp-quote "I'm cured") output)))
      (progn
        (with-current-buffer "*chatgpt*"
          (goto-char (point-max)))
        (with-selected-window (get-buffer-window "*doctor*")
          (goto-char (point-max))
          (chatgpt-shell--insert-delayed-text output)
          (call-interactively 'doctor-ret-or-read)
          (chatgpt-shell--insert-doc-response)))
    (message "Bye Bye")))

(defun chatgpt-shell-leave-doctor ()
  (interactive)
  (setq chatgpt-shell--doctor-in-session nil)
  (call-interactively 'chatgpt-shell-ctrl-c-ctrl-c))

(add-hook 'chatgpt-shell-after-command-functions
          #'chatgpt-shell--on-chatgpt-patient-response)

(global-set-key (kbd "M-q") #'chatgpt-shell-visit-doctor)

Ok, enough already. Let's see it in action.

If you'd like to take a closer look for analysis, here's the official transcript of this fruitful session:

I am the psychotherapist. Please, describe your problems. Each time you are finished talking, type RET twice.

I spend hours tweaking my Emacs config, but it's never perfect. I'm overwhelmed and obsessed with customization.

Is it because it's not ever perfect you are overwhelmed and obsessed with customization that you came to me?

Yes, I can't stop myself from constantly trying to tweak and improve my Emacs configuration. It's consuming me.

Emacs? Hah! I would appreciate it if you would continue.

Sorry about that. Yes, I came to you because I'm overwhelmed by my obsession with customizing my Emacs configuration.

Does it bother you that you are overwhelmed by your obsession with customizing your emacs configuration?

Absolutely! I feel trapped in an endless cycle of tweaking and configuring, unable to achieve satisfaction.

Why do you say that?

I constantly seek perfection in my Emacs config, but it's an unattainable goal that leaves me exhausted and frustrated.

When did you first know that it's an unattainable goal that leaves you exhausted and frustrated?

I've realized it recently after spending countless hours trying to perfect my Emacs configuration without any lasting satisfaction.

Are you sure?

Thanks you doc, I think I'm cured.

While we can work exclusively with the *doctor* buffer making requests directly to the ChatGPT API, where's the fun in that? Getting the buffers to talk to each other enables us to marvel at both the beauty and absurdity of being able to glue anything together in our lovely Emacs world.

Happy Emacsing!

chatgpt-shell v0.60.1 updates

Sun, 09 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Back in April, I shared chatgpt-shell updates, showcasing chatgpt-shell features. It's been a little while, so here's an update with the latest additions.

Like this project? Consider ✨sponsoring✨.

Multi-session support

You can run multiple shell instances independently configured to use different versions or system prompts.

This was biggest recent change. Please report issues.

Display system prompt and version

The current shell's version and system prompt are now displayed more prominently in both the shell prompt and buffer name.

With multi-session support, displaying shell details in the buffer name becomes more important as it makes it easier to find shells across your buffer list.

Rename shell buffers

While buffer names are now automatically derived, one can also use chatgpt-shell-rename-buffer to use custom buffer names.

ob-chatgpt-shell improvements

Use :temperature to specify the temperature.

Use :context CONTEXT-NAME to pick and choose which source blocks to aggregate as context. Thank you Thomas Moulia.

Use :preflight t to debug ob-chatgpt-shell execution.

chatgpt-shell-write-git-commit

Adds chatgpt-shell-write-git-commit, so you can generate commit messages using the current region. Thank you Simon Judd.

Approximate context length

chatgpt-shell now uses chatgpt-shell--approximate-context-length to approximate the context size and discard history if necessary. This is pretty experimental but seems to work well enough. It's enabled by default to get some feedback. Please file bugs if needed or send PRs to improve.

`S-` for multiline input

In addition to C-J to insert multi-line input, S- is also supported. Thank you shouya for the submission.

Welcome message

A welcome message now makes the help much more discoverable for new or sporadic users. Thank you shouya for the suggestion.

Help me

While the README documents the shells and Emacs is self-documenting, we now have a help command to make things a little more discoverable.

Hello chatgpt-shell-mode and dall-e-shell-mode

Both chatgpt-shell and dall-e-shell are both based on shell-maker and until recently both shared shell-maker-mode as their major mode. This didn't play well with yasnippet. Both shells now enable independent major modes: chatgpt-shell-mode and dall-e-shell-mode. Thank you Daniel Liden for the proposal.

Saving transcript customizations

Make transcript saving more customizable via shell-maker-transcript-default-path and shell-maker-transcript-default-filename. Thank you gnusupport.

New ChatGPT model versions

New OpenAI model versions were recently released and added to chatgpt-shell: gpt-3.5-turbo-0613 and gpt-4-0613. Thanks you Norio Suzuki.

Load awesome prompts

M-x chatgpt-shell-load-awesome-prompts to download and import curated prompts from awesome-chatgpt-prompts. Thank you Daniel Gomez.

ob-async

We had reports that ob-chatgpt-shell didn't play nice with ob-async. Thank you William Medrano for the solution.

Configurable prompts

Functions like chatgpt-shell-describe-code ask ChatGPT to describe the code in region. These functions used hardcoded English prompts. These are now configurable, so users can tweak or translate if preferred. Thank you Norio Suzuki.

chatgpt-shell-prompt-header-describe-code
chatgpt-shell-prompt-header-refactor-code
chatgpt-shell-prompt-header-generate-unit-test
chatgpt-shell-prompt-header-proofread-region
chatgpt-shell-prompt-header-whats-wrong-with-last-command
chatgpt-shell-prompt-header-eshell-summarize-last-command-output

Duplicate this!

Wed, 05 Jul 2023 00:00:00 GMT

James Dyer has a nice post sharing his frequent dired need to duplicate files. He offers a solution using a custom interactive command. His use-case resonated with me.

Similarly, James' recommendation to bind his file-duplicating command to C-c d [^1] sent a signal to my brain triggering Bozhidar Batsov's crux-duplicate-current-line-or-region.

crux-duplicate-current-line-or-region is part of a "collection of Ridiculously useful extensions for Emacs" (yeah that's crux). The command itself does what it says on the tin.

Let's duplicate the current line.

Now let's duplicate the current region.

Since I already have a well-internalized key-binding duplicating lines/regions in text buffers, I could extend a similar behaviour to dired files with almost zero adoption effort.

In case you haven't noticed, I've made it a part-time job to make command line utilities easily accessible from Emacs (1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 21) via dwim-shell-command. Partly because it's fairly quick and partly 'cause it's fun.

Jame's post gave me yet another opportunity to exercise my errrm part-time job. This time, duplicating files. All I need is the cp utility and a template:

cp -R '<>' '<>'

I seldom type these template's myself when I want to execute a command (via M-x dwim-shell-command). I typically wrap these templates in interactive commands, making them easily accessible via M-x and your favorite completion framework. I happen to use ivy.

(require 'dwim-shell-command)

(defun dwim-shell-commands-duplicate ()
  "Duplicate file(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Duplicate file(s)."
   "cp -R '<>' '<>'"
   :utils "cp"))

There's nothing much to the command. Most logic is handled by the template, replacing <> with the current file and <> with a uniquified version of it. Having said this, there's a bunch of free DWIM love that kicks in, courtesy of the dwim-shell-command package by yours truly. Let's give our new dwim-shell-commands-duplicate command a spin.

Like crux-duplicate-current-line-or-region duplicates the current line, our new command duplicates the current dired file.

Got multiple files to duplicate? Like crux-duplicate-current-line-or-region, we can use the region for a similar purpose.

While we have been using the region to duplicate adjacent files, we can also mark specific files.

Our cp -R '<>' '<>' template uses the -R (recursive) flag, so we get another freebie. In addition to files, we can also duplicate directories.

Lastly, because we're on a DWIM train, if your current buffer happens to be visiting a file, you can M-x dwim-shell-commands-duplicate the current file to duplicate it. You're automatically dropped to a dired buffer, with point on the new file (à la dired-jump).

While duplicating files using a template was a mere cp -R '<>' '<>' away, we get a bunch of free DWIM magic applied to a handful of use-cases and contexts. What made the file-duplicating use-case extra special is that it maps almost exactly to an equivalent text command. Keep the same key bindings and we almost get a "free feature".

(use-package crux
  :ensure t
  :commands crux-open-with
  :bind
  (("C-c d" . crux-duplicate-current-line-or-region)))

(use-package dwim-shell-command
  :ensure t
  :bind (:map dired-mode-map
              ("C-c d" . dwim-shell-commands-duplicate))
  :config
  ;; Loads all my own dwim shell commands
  ;; (including `dwim-shell-commands-duplicate')
  (require 'dwim-shell-commands))

You can find my ever-growing list of similar commands over at dwim-shell-commands.el (the optional part of the package). Got some nifty usages? Would love to check 'em out. Get in touch.

Like this or other content? ✨Sponsor✨ via GitHub Sponsors.

Update

If you're keen on a regex-based approach, u/arthurno1 offers a great built-in alternative: dired-do-copy-regexp (bound to % C).

Stitching images from the comfort of dired

Thu, 29 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I recently wanted a few images stitched together. A perfect job for ImageMagick. A quick search yielded the magical incantation:

convert image1.jpg image2.jpg image3.jpg +append joined.jpg

Great, now I know, but I'll rarely use it and will soon forget it. I may as well add it to my repository of DWIM command line utilities, wrapped in a convenient Emacs function, applicable from different contexts… know what I mean? 🙃

I built dwim-shell-command for this purpose. You can take the above command and easily turn it into an interactive Emacs command with something like the following:

(require 'dwim-shell-command)

(defun dwim-shell-commands-join-images-horizontally ()
  "Join all marked images horizontally as a single image."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Join images horizontally"
   "convert -verbose '<<*>>' +append 'joined.jpg'"
   :utils "convert"))

You can select as many images as you'd like from the comfort of your dired and make the ImageMagick happen.

The snippet does the job just fine, but we can make it smarter. For starters, let's not hardcode the output filename. We'll ask the user instead. While we're asking, let's offer a default filename, but let's not assume the output extension is .jpg. Let's guess based on the image selection. While we're at it, let's not override the output file if already exists. Uniquify it.

Most of the above can be achieved by either using dwim-shell-command helpers or its templating language. For example, <> ensures that if joined.png already exists, it automatically generates joined(1).png instead.

(require 'dwim-shell-command)

(defun dwim-shell-commands-join-images-horizontally ()
  "Join all marked images horizontally as a single image."
  (interactive)
  (let ((filename (format "joined.%s"
                          (or (seq-first (dwim-shell-command--file-extensions)) "png"))))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Join images horizontally"
     (format "convert -verbose '<<*>>' +append '<<%s(u)>>'"
             (dwim-shell-command-read-file-name
              (format "Join as image named (default \"%s\"): " filename)
              :default filename))
     :utils "convert")))

Here's the new horizontal command in action…

Notice how this time we didn't mark the images using dired-mark, typically bound to m. Instead, we made our selection using the region. Also, if you haven't gotten your junk food fix yet, here's the fries equivalent ;)

We'll rinse all and repeat to get the vertical command equivalent. I know, I know, there's fair amount of duplication but c'est la vie.

(require 'dwim-shell-command)

(defun dwim-shell-commands-join-images-vertically ()
  "Join all marked images vertically as a single image."
  (interactive)
  (let ((filename (format "joined.%s"
                          (or (seq-first (dwim-shell-command--file-extensions)) "png"))))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Join images vertically"
     (format "convert -verbose '<<*>>' -append '<<%s(u)>>'"
             (dwim-shell-command-read-file-name
              (format "Join as image named (default \"%s\"): " filename)
              :default filename))
     :utils "convert")))

…and for our grand finale, we'll vertically join our burgers and fries. Behold!

These commands are now part of dwim-shell-command. To get them, load the optional commands via (require 'dwim-shell-commands).

noweb: the lesser known org babel glue

Sun, 18 Jun 2023 00:00:00 GMT

While Org babel's noweb isn't something I've frequently used for literate programming, its simplicity makes it rather versatile to glue all sorts of babel things I hadn't previously considered.

The idea is simple. Add a placeholder like <> to an org babel source block, and it will be automatically replaced (verbatim) with the content (or result) of referred block before execution. You'll also need the :noweb yes header argument.

#+NAME: other-block
#+begin_src swift
  print("Hello 0")
#+end_src

#+RESULTS: other-block
: Hello 0

#+BEGIN_SRC swift :noweb yes
  <>
  print("Hello 1")
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
: Hello 0
: Hello 1

Since <> is replaced with the content of said block, at execution time, the block is effectively equivalent to executing:

print("Hello 0")
print("Hello 1")

Why is this so versatile? Org babel can include/execute all sorts of languages, so you can mix and match the result from one language and massage it to appear as the body of another block using the same (or different) language.

I was recently asked how to include the result from one babel block in another using ob-chatgpt-shell. While the initial question was looking for a solution involving variables, we can use noweb to achieve a similar goal.

Note that in this case, I'll be using <>, with (), to refer to #+RESULTS: rather than the source block itself.

#+NAME: hello
#+BEGIN_SRC chatgpt-shell
Say hello in spanish
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS: hello
Hola

#+BEGIN_SRC chatgpt-shell :noweb yes
<>
What does the previous line say verbatim?
#+END_SRC

Executing the block

<>
What does the previous line say verbatim?

Gives us

#+RESULTS:

The previous line says "Hola".

On a similar note, I was asked if the results from a previous source block could be fed to a Swift Chart block using ob-swiftui.

While I'm new to Swift Charts, I do love glueing things via Emacs lisp. I figured I could write a little elisp to generate random data and feed it to a SwiftUI block via <>. The result is pretty neat, based on Apple's LineMark example.

#+NAME: data
#+begin_src emacs-lisp :lexical no
  (concat (mapconcat (lambda (n)
                       (format "MonthlyHoursOfSunshine(city: \"Seattle\", month: %d, hoursOfSunshine: %d),"
                               n (random 100)))
                     (number-sequence 1 20) "\n")
          "\n"
          (mapconcat (lambda (n)
                       (format "MonthlyHoursOfSunshine(city: \"Cupertino\", month: %d, hoursOfSunshine: %d),"
                               n (random 100)))
                     (number-sequence 1 20) "\n"))
#+end_src

#+begin_src swiftui :results file :noweb yes
  import Charts

  struct MonthlyHoursOfSunshine: Identifiable {
    var city: String
    var date: Date
    var hoursOfSunshine: Double
    var id = UUID()

    init(city: String, month: Int, hoursOfSunshine: Double) {
      let calendar = Calendar.autoupdatingCurrent
      self.city = city
      self.date = calendar.date(from: DateComponents(year: 2020, month: month))!
      self.hoursOfSunshine = hoursOfSunshine
    }
  }

  struct ContentView: View {
    var data: [MonthlyHoursOfSunshine] = [
<>
    ]
    var body: some View {
      Chart(data) {
        LineMark(
          x: .value("Month", $0.date),
          y: .value("Hours of Sunshine", $0.hoursOfSunshine)
        )
        .foregroundStyle(by: .value("City", $0.city))
      }
      .frame(minWidth: 800, minHeight: 300)
      .padding()
      .colorScheme(.dark)
    }
  }
#+end_src

While I've shown fairly basic usages of noweb, we can accomplish some nifty integrations. Check out the noweb reference syntax for more examples and additional header arguments like tangle, strip-tangle, and others.

Deleting from Emacs sequence vars

Thu, 25 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Adding hooks and setting variables is core to customizing Emacs. Take a major mode like emacs-lisp-mode as an example. To customize its behaviour, one may add a hook function to emacs-lisp-mode-hook, or if you're a little lazy while experimenting, you may even use a lambda.

(add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook
          #'my/emacs-lisp-mode-config)

(add-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook
          (lambda ()
            (message "I woz ere")))

emacs-lisp-mode-hook's content would subsequently look as follows:

'(my/emacs-lisp-mode-config
  (lambda nil
    (message "I woz ere"))
  ert--activate-font-lock-keywords
  easy-escape-minor-mode
  lisp-extra-font-lock-global-mode)

Maybe my/emacs-lisp-mode-config didn't work out for us and we'd like to remove it. We can use remove-hook for that and evaluate something like:

(remove-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook #'my/emacs-lisp-mode-config)

The lambda can be removed too, but you ought to be careful in using the same lambda body.

(remove-hook 'emacs-lisp-mode-hook
             (lambda ()
               (message "I woz tere")))

There are other ways to remove the lambdas, but we're digressing here… We typically have to write these throwaway snippets to undo our experiments. What if we just had a handy helper always available to remove items from sequences (edit: we do, remove-hook is already interactive, see Update 2 below)? After all, hooks are just lists (sequences).

While the interactive command can likely be simplified further, I tried to optimize for ergonomic usage. For example, completing-read gives us a way narrow down whichever variable we'd like to modify as well as the item we'd like to remove. seqp is also handy, as we filter out noise by automatically removing any variable that's not a sequence.

(defun ar/remove-from-list-variable ()
  (interactive)
  (let* ((var (intern
               (completing-read "From variable: "
                                (let (symbols)
                                  (mapatoms
                                   (lambda (sym)
                                     (when (and (boundp sym)
                                                (seqp (symbol-value sym)))
                                       (push sym symbols))))
                                  symbols) nil t)))
         (values (mapcar (lambda (item)
                           (setq item (prin1-to-string item))
                           (concat (truncate-string-to-width
                                    (nth 0 (split-string item "\n"))
                                    (window-body-width))
                                   (propertize item 'invisible t)))
                         (symbol-value var)))
         (index (progn
                  (when (seq-empty-p values) (error "Already empty"))
                  (seq-position values (completing-read "Delete: " values nil t)))))
    (unless index (error "Eeek. Something's up."))
    (set var (append (seq-take (symbol-value var) index)
                     (seq-drop (symbol-value var) (1+ index))))
    (message "Deleted: %s" (truncate-string-to-width
                            (seq-elt values index)
                            (- (window-body-width) 9)))))

Hooks are just an example of lists we can delete from. I recently used the same command on display-buffer-alist.

While this has been a fun exercise, I can't help but think that I'm likely re-inventing the wheel here. Is there something already built-in that I'm missing?

Update 1

alphapapa suggested some generalizations that would provide an editing buffer of sorts. This is a neat idea, using familiar key bindigs C-c C-c to save and C-c C-k to bail.

Beware, I haven't tested the code with a diverse set of list items, so there's a chance of corrupting the variable content. Improvements to the code are totally welcome.

;;; -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-

(defun ar/edit-list-variable ()
  (interactive)
  (let* ((var (intern
               (completing-read "From variable: "
                                (let (symbols)
                                  (mapatoms
                                   (lambda (sym)
                                     (when (and (boundp sym)
                                                (seqp (symbol-value sym)))
                                       (push sym symbols))))
                                  symbols) nil t)))
         (values (string-join
                  (mapcar #'prin1-to-string (symbol-value var))
                  "\n")))
    (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*eval elisp*")
      (emacs-lisp-mode)
      (local-set-key (kbd "C-c C-c")
                     (lambda ()
                       (interactive)
                       (eval-buffer)
                       (kill-this-buffer)
                       (message "Saved: %s" var)))
      (local-set-key (kbd "C-c C-k") 'kill-this-buffer)
      (erase-buffer)
      (insert (format "(setq %s\n `(%s))" var values))
      (mark-whole-buffer)
      (indent-region (point-min) (point-max))
      (deactivate-mark)
      (switch-to-buffer (current-buffer)))))

Update 2

So hunch was right…

"While this has been a fun exercise, I can't help but think that I'm likely re-inventing the wheel here. Is there something already built-in that I'm missing?"

juicecelery's Reddit commit confirmed it. Thank you! remove-hook is already interactive 🤦‍♂️. TIL 😁

juicecelery was kind enough to point out an improvement in the custom function:

"but I see your improvements, for instance that non list items are removed from the selection."

Sprinkle me logs

Thu, 18 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

At times, basic prints/logs are just about the right debugging strategy. Sure, we have debuggers and REPLs which are super useful, but sometimes you just know that sprinkling your code with a handful of temporary prints/logs will get you enough info to fix an issue.

I must confess, my temporary print statements are fairly uninspiring. Sometimes I log the name of the method/function, but I also resort to less creative options like print("Yay") or print("Got here").

My laziness and lack of creativity knows no boundaries, so if I need multiple unique entries, I often copy, paste, and append numbers to my entries: print("Yay 2"), print("Yay 3"), print("Yay 4")… I know, are you judging yet?

So rather than develop the creative muscle, I've decided to lean on laziness and old habits, so let's make old habit more efficient :) I no longer want to copy, paste, and increment my uncreative log statements. Instead, I'll let Emacs do it for me!

There isn't a whole lot to the implementation. It searches the current buffer for other instances of the same logging string and captures the largest counter found. It subsequently prints the same string with the counter incremented. This can be done in a few lines of elisp, but I figure I wanted some additional features like auto indenting and changing the logging string when using a prefix.

(defvar ar/unique-log-word "Yay")

(defun ar/insert-unique-log-word (prefix)
  "Inserts `ar/unique-log-word' incrementing counter.

With PREFIX, change `ar/unique-log-word'."
  (interactive "P")
  (let* ((word (cond (prefix
                      (setq ar/unique-log-word
                            (read-string "Log word: ")))
                     ((region-active-p)
                      (setq ar/unique-log-word
                            (buffer-substring (region-beginning)
                                              (region-end))))
                     (ar/unique-log-word
                      ar/unique-log-word)
                     (t
                      "Reached")))
         (config
          (cond
           ((equal major-mode 'emacs-lisp-mode)
            (cons (format "(message \"%s: \\([0-9]+\\)\")" word)
                  (format "(message \"%s: %%s\")" word)))
           ((equal major-mode 'swift-mode)
            (cons (format "print(\"%s: \\([0-9]+\\)\")" word)
                  (format "print(\"%s: %%s\")" word)))
           ((equal major-mode 'ada-mode)
            (cons (format "Ada.Text_Io.Put_Line (\"%s: \\([0-9]+\\)\");" word)
                  (format "Ada.Text_Io.Put_Line (\"%s: %%s\");" word)))
           ((equal major-mode 'c++-mode)
            (cons (format "std::cout << \"%s: \\([0-9]+\\)\" << std::endl;" word)
                  (format "std::cout << \"%s: %%s\" << std::endl;" word)))
           (t
            (error "%s not supported" major-mode))))
         (match-regexp (car config))
         (format-string (cdr config))
         (max-num 0)
         (case-fold-search nil))
    (when ar/unique-log-word
      (save-excursion
        (goto-char (point-min))
        (while (re-search-forward match-regexp nil t)
          (when (> (string-to-number (match-string 1)) max-num)
            (setq max-num (string-to-number (match-string 1))))))
      (setq max-num (1+ max-num)))
    (unless (looking-at-p "^ *$")
      (end-of-line))
    (insert (concat
             (if (looking-at-p "^ *$") "" "\n")
             (format format-string
                     (if ar/unique-log-word
                         (number-to-string (1+ max-num))
                       (string-trim
                        (shell-command-to-string
                         "grep -E '^[a-z]{6}$' /usr/share/dict/words | shuf -n 1"))))))
    (call-interactively 'indent-for-tab-command)))

Note: This snippet may evolve independently of this post. For the latest, chech my Emacs config's fe-prog.el.

I want to be lazy in other languages, so the function can now be extended to support other languages. Here's the Swift counterpart.

Since I sometimes log function names, I figured making it region-aware would help with that.

I'm sure there's a package out there that does something similar, but I figure this would be a fun little elisp hack.

Happy logging!

Update 1

Set ar/unique-log-word to nil and let it generate a random word. Maybe I get to learn new words as I debug ;)

Update 2

Added Ada and C++ support, thanks to James Dyer's post.

dwim-shell-command on Windows + upload to 0x0.st

Thu, 11 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

You can now use dwim-shell-command on Windows. Shoutout to Kartik Saranathan, who sent a pull request to get rid of ls usage.

Also thanks to Bram for sharing his upload to 0x0.st implementation. I'd been wanting to do something similar for imgur, but 0x0.st is a much better alternative!

dwim-shell-commands-upload-to-0x0 is now part of dwim-shell-commands.el (the optional part of the package). It has a couple of additional touches:

Open the uploaded image in eww browser.
Automatically copy the upload URL to kill-ring. You're likely gonna share this link, right?

If you're unfamiliar with dwim-shell-command, it enables Emacs shell commands with DWIM behaviour:

Asynchronously.
Using noweb templates.
Automatically injecting files (from dired or other buffers) or kill ring.
Managing buffer focus with heuristics.
Showing progress bar.
Quick buffer exit.
More reusable history.

In addition to replacing shell-command with dwim-shell-command, I also use it to bring all sorts of command line utilities to familiar Emacs workflows (in dired or current buffers), without having to remember complex command invocations.

I've covered many of the use-cases before:

chatgpt-shell siblings now on MELPA also

Mon, 01 May 2023 00:00:00 GMT

In chatgpt-shell updates, I highlighted dall-e-shell (a DALL-E Emacs shell), ob-chatgpt-shell (ChatGPT org babel support), and ob-dall-e-shell (DALL-E org babel support) were initially excluded from the chatgpt-shell MELPA submission while I worked out their split.

That's now sorted and the packages are available on MELPA.

Here's ob-chatgpt-shell and ob-dall-e-shell in action.

Here's dall-e-shell.

Generating elisp org docs

Fri, 28 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

chatgpt-shell's README includes few org tables documenting the package's customizable variables as well as available commands. Don't worry, this isn't really another ChatGPT post.

Here's an extract of the docs table:

| Custom variable                       | Description                                                 |
|---------------------------------------+-------------------------------------------------------------|
| chatgpt-shell-display-function        | Function to display the shell.                              |
| chatgpt-shell-curl-additional-options | Additional options for `curl' command.                      |
| chatgpt-shell-system-prompt           | The system message helps set the behavior of the assistant. |

While the table docs didn't take long to build manually, they quickly became out of sync with their elisp counterparts. Not ideal, as it'll require a little more careful maintenance in the future.

Emacs being the self-documenting editor that it is, I figured I should be able to extract customizable variables, commands, along with their respective docs, and generate these very same org tables.

I had no idea how to go about this, but apropos-variable and apropos-command surely knew where to fetch the details from. A peek into apropos.el quickly got me on my way. Turns out mapatoms is just what I needed. It iterates over obarray, Emacs's symbol table. We can use it to extract the symbols we're after.

Since we're filtering symbols from chatgpt-shell, we can start by including only those whose symbol-name match "^chatgpt-shell". Out of all matching, we should only keep custom variables. We can use custom-variable-p to check for that. This gives us all relevant variables. We can subsequently get each variable's corresponding docs using (get symbol 'variable-documentation) and put it into a list.

Now, if we pull our org babel rabbit out of our Emacs magic hat, we can use :results table to print the list as an org table. The source block powering this magic trick looks as follows:

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :results table :colnames '("Custom variable" "Description")
  (let ((rows))
    (mapatoms
     (lambda (symbol)
       (when (and (string-match "^chatgpt-shell"
                                (symbol-name symbol))
                  (custom-variable-p symbol))
         (push `(,symbol
                 ,(car
                   (split-string
                    (or (get (indirect-variable symbol)
                             'variable-documentation)
                        (get symbol 'variable-documentation)
                        "")
                    "\n")))
               rows))))
    rows)
#+end_src

And just like that… we effortlessly get our elisp docs in an org table, straight from Emacs's symbol table.

It's worth noting that our snippet used indirect-variable to resolve aliases but also limited descriptions to the first line in each docstring.

To build a similar table for interactive commands, we can use the following block (also including bindings).

#+BEGIN_SRC emacs-lisp :results table :colnames '("Binding" "Command" "Description")
  (let ((rows))
    (mapatoms
     (lambda (symbol)
       (when (and (string-match "^chatgpt-shell"
                                (symbol-name symbol))
                  (commandp symbol))
         (push `(,(mapconcat
                   #'help--key-description-fontified
                   (where-is-internal
                    symbol shell-maker-mode-map nil nil (command-remapping symbol)) ", ")
                 ,symbol
                 ,(car
                   (split-string
                    (or (documentation symbol t) "")
                    "\n")))
               rows))))
    rows)
#+END_SRC

You see? This post wasn't really about ChatGPT. Aren't you glad you stuck around? 😀

LLM bookmarks

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

chatgpt-shell updates

Tue, 25 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

About a month ago, I posted about an experiment to build a ChatGPT Emacs shell using comint mode. Since then, it's turned into a package of sorts, evolving with user feedback and pull requests.

Now on MELPA

While chatgpt-shell is a young package still, it seems useful enough to share more widely. As of today, chatgpt-shell is available on MELPA. Many thanks to Chris Rayner for his MELPA guidance to get the package added.

I'll cover some of the goodies included in the latest chatgpt-shell.

Delegating to Org Babel

chatgpt-shell now evaluates Markdown source blocks by delegating to org babel. I've had success with a handful of languages. In some instances, some babel headers may need overriding in chatgpt-shell-babel-headers.

Here's a Swift execution via babel, showing standard output.

In addition to standard output, chatgpt-shell can now render blocks generating images. Here's a rendered SwiftUI layout via ob-swiftui.

Can also do diagrams. Here's ditaa in action.

Renaming blocks

At times, ChatGPT may forget to label source blocks or maybe you just want to name it differently… You can now rename blocks at point.

Send prompt/region

There are a handful of commands to send prompts from other buffers, including the region. For example chatgpt-shell-explain-code.

chatgpt-shell-send-region
chatgpt-shell-generate-unit-test
chatgpt-shell-refactor-code
chatgpt-shell-proofread-doc
chatgpt-shell-eshell-summarize-last-command-output
chatgpt-shell-eshell-whats-wrong-with-last-command

Saving/restoring transcript

You can save your current session to a transcript and restore later.

History improvements

Nicolas Martyanoff has a great post on making IELM More Comfortable. A couple of improvements that stood out for me were:

Making the command history persistent.
Searching history with shell-maker-search-history / M-r via completing-read.

shell-maker-search-history, coupled with your completion framework of choice, can be pretty handy. I happen to use Oleh Krehel's ivy.

shell-maker (make your own AI shells)

While ChatGPT is a popular service, there are many others sprouting. Some are cloud-based, others local, proprietary, open source… In any case, it'd be great be able to hook on to them without much overhead. shell-maker should help with that. The first shell-maker clients are chatgpt-shell and dall-e-shell.

While I've built dall-e-shell, it'd be great to see what others can do with shell-maker. If you wire it up to anything, please get in touch (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

dall-e-shell, ob-chatgpt-shell, and ob-dall-e-shell (on MELPA too)

UPDATE: dall-e-shell, ob-chatgpt-shell, and ob-dall-e-shell are now available on MELPA also.

You've seen dall-e-shell in the previous section. Here's what ob-chatgpt-shell and ob-dall-e-shell look like in an org mode document:

How are you using `chatgpt-shell`?

Whether you are an existing chatgpt-shell user, or would like to give things a try, installing from MELPA should generally make things easier for ya. As I mentioned, chatgpt-shell is a young package still. There are unexplored Emacs integrations out there. I'd love to hear about whatever you come up with (Mastodon / Twitter / Reddit / Email).

Recording and screenshotting windows: the lazy way

Sat, 22 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

While there's no substitution for great written documentation, a quick demo can go a long way in conveying what a tool if capable of doing or what a tip/trick can achieve.

If you've read a handful of my posts, you would have come across either a screenshot or a short clip with some demo. Historically, I've used the macOS's built-in utility invoked via ⌘ + Shift + 5. It does a fine job for screenshots. For video captures, it's got a couple of small quirks.

Record window

Unlike screenshots, macOS video capture cannot record a specific window. While you can select a region, it's easy to inadvertently include a portion of your wallpaper in the recording. Not a big deal, but I felt posted screencasts could look as clean as their screenshot counterparts if we could record the window alone.

Let's compare grabbing a region vs window alone. I know the clean look may be subjective, but see what I mean?

Capture region (includes wallpaper/background)

Capture window only (ahhh, so clean)

Cancel recording

macOS has a handy shortcut (⌘ + Ctrl + Esc) to stop recording. If you got your demo right, you're done. If not, you have one more step remaining (right click to delete the blooper).

Also not a huge deal, but I was hoping for a single shortcut to stop recording [and]{.underline} also automatically discard. I haven't found one, but would love to hear if otherwise.

macosrec enters the chat

I wanted more flexibility to build my own recording/screenshotting flows. A command line utility could be quite versatile at that, so I built macosrec.

macosrec enables taking a screenshot or recording a window video entirely from the command line.

elisp glues the world

Command line utilities can be invoked in all sorts of ways, but I'm an Emacs nutter so you can see where this is going… I want Emacs key bindings to control the lot.

C-c _ Take screenshot of a window C-c ( Start recording window C-c ) Stop recording window C-c 8 Abort recording

Integrating command line utilities into Emacs and making them quickly accessible seems to have become a full-time hobby of mine. I kid, but it's become a pretty painless process for me. I built dwim-shell-command for that. If you've never heard of DWIM, it stands for "Do what I mean". To give you an idea of the kinds of things I'm using DWIM commands for, check the following out:

dwim-shell-commands-audio-to-mp3
dwim-shell-commands-bin-plist-to-xml
dwim-shell-commands-clipboard-to-qr
dwim-shell-commands-drop-video-audio
dwim-shell-commands-files-combined-size
dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-clipboard-url
dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-clipboard-url-to-downloads
dwim-shell-commands-image-to-grayscale
dwim-shell-commands-image-to-icns
dwim-shell-commands-image-to-jpg
dwim-shell-commands-image-to-png
dwim-shell-commands-pdf-password-protect
dwim-shell-commands-reorient-image
dwim-shell-commands-resize-gif
dwim-shell-commands-resize-image
dwim-shell-commands-resize-video
dwim-shell-commands-speed-up-gif
dwim-shell-commands-speed-up-video
dwim-shell-commands-unzip
dwim-shell-commands-video-to-gif
dwim-shell-commands-video-to-optimized-gif
dwim-shell-commands-video-to-webp

If it ever took you a little while to find the right command incantation to get things right, only to forget all about it next time you need it (I'm looking at you ffmpeg), dwim-shell-command can help you easily save things for posterity and make them easily accessible in the future.

Since we're talking ffmpeg, here's all it takes to have gif conversion handy:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-video-to-gif ()
  "Convert all marked videos to gif(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert to gif"
   "ffmpeg -loglevel quiet -stats -y -i '<>' -pix_fmt rgb24 -r 15 '<>.gif'"
   :utils "ffmpeg"))

There's no way I'll remember the ffmpeg command, but I can always fuzzy search my trusty commands with something like "to gif" and apply to either the current buffer file or any selected dired files.

So where am I going with this? I wrote DWIM shell commands for the bindings I previously described:

C-c _ dwim-shell-commands-macos-screenshot-window C-c ( dwim-shell-commands-macos-start-recording-window C-c ) dwim-shell-commands-macos-end-recording-window C-c 8 dwim-shell-commands-macos-abort-recording-window

Out of all of commands, dwim-shell-commands-macos-start-recording-window is likely the most interesting one.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-macos-start-recording-window ()
  "Select and start recording a macOS window."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((window (dwim-shell-commands--macos-select-window))
         (path (dwim-shell-commands--generate-path "~/Desktop" (car window) ".mov"))
         (buffer-file-name path) ;; override so <> picks it up
         (inhibit-message t))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
       "Start recording a macOS window."
       (format
        "# record .mov
         macosrec --record '%s' --mov --output '<>'
         # speed .mov up x1.5
         ffmpeg -i '<>' -an -filter:v 'setpts=1.5*PTS' '<>_x1.5.<>'
         # convert to gif x1.5
         ffmpeg -loglevel quiet -stats -y -i '<>_x1.5.<>' -pix_fmt rgb24 -r 15 '<>_x1.5.gif'
         # speed .mov up x2
         ffmpeg -i '<>' -an -filter:v 'setpts=2*PTS' '<>_x2.<>'
         # convert to gif x2
         ffmpeg -loglevel quiet -stats -y -i '<>_x2.<>' -pix_fmt rgb24 -r 15 '<>_x2.gif'"
        (cdr window))
       :silent-success t
       :monitor-directory "~/Desktop"
       :no-progress t
       :utils '("ffmpeg" "macosrec"))))

As you likely expect, this command invokes macosrec to start recording a window. The nifty part is that when it's done recording (and saving the .mov file), it automatically creates multiple variants. For starters, it creates x1.5 and x2 .mov videos, but it also generates their .gif counterparts.

Let's recap here for a sec. You start recording a window video with C-c (, end with C-c ), and automagically have all these generated files waiting for you.

You can subsequently inspect any of the video candidates and pick the most appropriate variant. Discard whatever else you don't need.

The output bundle is tailored to my needs. Maybe you want to invoke gifsycle for more optimized versions? Or maybe you want automatic webp generation via ffmpeg? DWIM does that I mean, so you likely have other plans…

dwim-shell-commands-macos-start-recording-window and all other DWIM commands are now included in dwim-shell-commands.el, which ships optionally as part of dwim-shell-command.

macosrec is also on GitHub, but if you want to be on your way, you can install via:

brew tap xenodium/macosrec
brew install macosrec

This is my way to record and screenshot windows the lazy way. How would you tweak to make it yours?

ob-swiftui updates

Thu, 20 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

While experimenting with delegating Markdown blocks to Org babel in Emacs chatgpt-shell, I resurrected ob-swiftui. A package I had written to execute and render SwiftUI blocks in org babel.

ob-swiftui has two modes of rendering SwiftUI blocks: :results window, which runs outside of Emacs in a native window and :results file, which renders and saves to a file. The latter can be viewed directly from Emacs.

:results file was a little clunky. That is, it hardcoded dimensions I had to manually modify if the canvas wasn't big enough. It was also a little slow.

The clunkyness really came through with my chatgpt-shell experiments, so I took a closer look and made a few changes to remove hardcoding and speeds things up.

The results ain't too shabby.

Another tiny improvement is that if you'd like to compose a more complex layout made of multiple custom views, ob-swiftui now looks for a ContentView as that root view by default. Specifying another root view was already possible but it had to be explicitly requested via :view param.

You can now omit the :view param if you name the root view ContentView:

#+begin_src swiftui
  struct ContentView: View {
    var body: some View {
        TopView()
        BottomView()
    }
  }

  struct TopView: View {
    var body: some View {
      Text("Top text")
    }
  }

  struct BottomView: View {
    var body: some View {
      Text("Bottom text")
    }
  }
#+end_src

The improvements have been pushed to ob-swiftui and will soon be picked up on melpa.

Edit: Added ContentView details.

My Emacs eye candy

Sat, 15 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I get the occasional question about my Emacs theme, font, and other eye candy. I'm always tickled and happy to share.

It's been a while since I've made visually significant changes to my Emacs config. May as well briefly document for posterity…

Nyan Mode

First things first. The adorable and colorful little fella in my mode line is a Nyan Cat (if you dare, check the meme video). Yes, I know it's sooo 2011, but it's 2023 and I still love the little guy hanging out in my Emacs mode line. I still get asked about it.

This fabulous feature comes to us via the great Nyan Mode package. If looks haven't convinced you, Nyan also packs scrolling functionality. Click anywhere in it.

Oh, and if you can't get enough of Nyan, there's also zone-nyan for Emacs.

Emacs Plus (macOS)

I should mention I'm running Emacs 28 on macOS via the excellent Emacs Plus homebrew recipe. These are all the options I enable.

brew install  emacs-plus@28 --with-imagemagick --with-no-frame-refocus --with-native-comp --with-savchenkovaleriy-big-sur-icon

Icon

Since we're talking eye candy, let's chat about --with-savchenkovaleriy-big-sur-icon. This Emacs Plus option enables Valeriy Savchenko's wonderful icon.

Titlebar

I've enabled both transparent title bar as well as dark appearance, giving a minimal window decoration.

(add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-transparent-titlebar . t))
(add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-appearance . dark))

Note: both of these variables are prefixed ns- (macOS-only settings).

Font (JetBrains Mono)

I've been on JetBrains Mono font for quite some time now. In the past, I've also been a fan of Mononoki and Menlo (on macOS) or Meslo (similar elsewhere).

Theme (Materialized)

I'm using Materialized which I derived from the great Material Theme for Emacs.

Modeline tabs/ribbons (Moody)

The moody package adds a nice touch displaying mode line elements as tabs and ribbons.

Modeline menus (Minions)

The minions package removes lots of minor mode clutter from the mode line and stashes it away in menus.

Hiding modeline (hide mode line mode)

Hiding the mode line isn't something I use in most major modes. However, I found it complements my shell (eshell) quite well. While I was sceptical at first, once I hid the mode line in my shell I never looked back. I just didn't miss it. I also love the uncluttered clean vibe. hide-mode-line-mode can help with that.

Welcome screen

Back in October 2022, I experimented with adding a minimal welcome screen. I was initially hesitant, as I was already a fan of the welcome scratch buffer. In any case, I figured I'd eventually get tired of it and remove it. Well, it's enabled in my config still ;) My initial attachment to a landing scratch quickly faded. I'm only a C-x b binding away from invoking ivy-switch-buffer to get me anywhere.

The great Emacs logo originally shared by u/pearcidar43.

Zones

I've been meaning to re-enable zones in my config. They always gave me a good tickle. I've already mentioned zone-nyan, but if you're new to zones, they kick off after a period of inactivity (similar to a screensaver).

Here's zone-pgm-rotate in all its glory. Oh and it's built-in!

Coincidentally, I had a go at writing a basic zone a little while ago.

Config

Most of the items mentioned I pulled from my Emacs config's fe-ui.el. There's more there if you're interested.

What is some of your favorite Emacs eye candy? reddit / mastodon / twitter.

shell-maker, a maker of Emacs shells

Sat, 08 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, I wrote about an experiment to bring ChatGPT to Emacs as a shell. I was fairly new to both ChatGPT and building anything on top of comint. It was a fun exercise, which also generated some interest.

As mentioned in the previous post, I took inspiration in other Emacs packages (primarily ielm) to figure out what I needed from comint. Soon, I got ChatGPT working.

As I was looking at OpenAI API docs, I learned about DALL-E: "an AI system that can create realistic images and art from a description in natural language."

Like ChatGPT, they also offered an API to DALL-E, so I figured I may as well try to write a shell for that too… and I did.

There was quite a bit of code duplication between the two Emacs shells I had just written. At the same time, I started hearing from folks about integrating other tools, some cloud-based, some local, proprietary, open source.. There's Cody, invoke-ai, llama.cpp, alpaca.cpp, and the list continues to grow.

With that in mind, I set out to reduce the code duplication and consolidate into a reusable package. And so shell-maker was born, a maker of Emacs shells.

shell-maker's internals aren't too different from the code I had before. It's still powered by comint, but instead offers a reusable convenience wrapper.

It takes little code to implement a shell, like the sophisticated new greeter-shell ;)

(require 'shell-maker)

(defvar greeter-shell--config
  (make-shell-maker-config
   :name "Greeter"
   :execute-command
   (lambda (command _history callback error-callback)
     (funcall callback
              (format "Hello \"%s\"" command)
              nil))))

(defun greeter-shell ()
  "Start a Greeter shell."
  (interactive)
  (shell-maker-start greeter-shell--config))

shell-maker is available on GitHub and currently bundled with chatgpt-shell. If there's enough interest and usage, I may just break it out into its own package. For now, it's convenient to keep with chatgpt-shell and dall-e-shell.

If you plug shell-maker into other tools, I'd love to hear about it.

Happy shell making!

Flat Habits 1.1.4 released

Thu, 06 Apr 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Flat Habits 1.1.4 is now available on the App Store.

Flat Habits is a habit tracker that’s mindful of your time, data, and privacy. It's a simple but effective iOS app.

If you care about how your data is stored, Flat Habits is powered by org plain text markup without any cloud component. You can use your favorite editor (Emacs, Vim, VSCode, etc.) to poke at habit data, if that's your cup of tea.

What's new?

Quicker toggling, now exposing Done/Skip.
- Double tap marks Done.
Also display in 12 hour time format.
Overdue habits are now labelled "past" and coloured orange.
Don't dismiss creation dialog if tapping outside.
Set #+STARTUP: nologdrawer in new files.

Are you a fan?

Is Flat Habits helping you keep up with your habits? Please rate/review 😊

A ChatGPT Emacs shell

Tue, 21 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: chatgpt-shell has evolved a bit and is now on MELPA.

I had been meaning to give ChatGPT a good try, preferably from Emacs. As an eshell fan, ChatGPT seemed like the perfect fit for a shell interface of sorts. With that in mind, I set out to wire ChatGPT with Emacs's general command interpreter (comint).

I had no previous experience building anything comint-related, so I figured I could just take a peek at an existing comint-derived mode to achieve a similar purpose. inferior-emacs-lisp-mode (ielm) seemed to fit the bill just fine, so I borrowed quite a bit to assemble a basic shell experience.

From then on, it was mostly about sending each request over to the ChatGPT API to get a response. For now, I'm relying on curl to make each request. The invocation is fairly straightforward:

curl "https://api.openai.com/v1/chat/completions" \
     -H "Authorization: Bearer YOUR_OPENAI_KEY" \
     -H "Content-Type: application/json" \
     -d "{
     \"model\": \"gpt-3.5-turbo\",
     \"messages\": [{\"role\": \"user\", \"content\": \"YOUR PROMPT\"}]
     }"

There are two bits of information needed in each request. The API key, which you must get from OpenAI, and the prompt text itself (i.e. whatever you want ChatGPT to help you with). The results are not too shabby.

I've uploaded the code to GitHub as a tiny chatgpt-shell package. It's a little experimental and rough still, but hey, it does the job for now. Head over to github to take a look. The latest iteration handles multiline prompts (use C-j for newlines) and basic code highlighting.

Let's see where it all goes. Pull requests for improvements totally welcome ;-)

`scratch` a new minimal org mode scratch area for iOS

Sat, 04 Mar 2023 00:00:00 GMT

While we already have lots of note-taking apps on iOS, I wanted a minimal *scratch* area (à la Emacs), so I built one.

What's the use-case? You're on the go. Someone's telling you directions, or a phone number, name of a restaurant, anything really… you just need to write it down right now, quickly!

No time to create a new contact, a note, a file, or spend time on additional taps, bring up keyboard… You just want to write it somewhere with the least amount of friction.

Being an Emacs and org user, I had to sprinkle the app with basic markup support for headings, lists and checkboxes. Also, having a *scratch* "buffer" on my iPhone gives me that warm emacsy fuzzy feeling :)

You can download *scratch* from the App Store.

Find it useful? Please help me spread the word. Tell your friends.

Chicken Karaage recipe

Sun, 29 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

Huge fan of Chicken Karaage, but never really made it at home until recently.

Dice the chicken

350 grams boneless chicken thighs

Dice the chicken up.

Marinade for 30 mins

1 tablespoon soy sauce (Kikkoman or similar)
1 tablespoon cooking Sake
2 tablespoons of grated ginger (include liquids)
1/2 teaspoon Mirin

Mix all ingredients into a ziploc bag. Add the diced chicken and let it marinade for 30 minutes in the fridge.

Pat dry

Paper towels

After marinating, pat the chicken dry with paper towels and set aside.

Breading

Potato starch

Ok, not quite breading since we're using potato starch but same goal. Sprinkle the chicken pieces and make sure they are fully coated with the starch.

Frying (1st round)

Vegetable oil
Paper towels

Heat up (roughly at 160°C) enough oil in a pan to cover the chicken pieces. Cook for about 3 minutes. The pieces don't have to be super golden at this point. There will be another round of frying for that.

Rest for 4 minutes

Paper towels

Let the chicken rest on paper towels for about 4 minutes before frying again.

Frying (2nd round)

Vegetable oil
Paper towels

This time heat up the oil at roughly 200°C. This is a quick in-and-out action to make the chicken crispy. Cook for 30 seconds. Take out and set aside on some paper towels. Let it cool and it's ready to eat.

Dipping

Kewpie mayo
Sriracha sauce

This is totally optional, but I'm a fan of both Kewpie mayo and Sriracha sauce. You can dip your chicken in either or both!

Emacs: org-present in style

Tue, 10 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

I had been meaning to check out David Wilson's System Crafters post detailing his presentations style achieved with the help of org-present and his own customizations. If you're looking for ways to present from Emacs itself, David's post is well worth a look.

org-present's spartan but effective approach resonated with me. David's touches bring the wonderfully stylish icing to the cake. I personally liked his practice of collapsing slide subheadings by default. This lead me to think about slide navigation in general…

There were two things I wanted to achieve:

Easily jump between areas of interest. Subheadings, links, and code blocks would be a good start.
Collapse all but the current top-level heading within the slide, as navigation focus changes.

A quick search for existing functions led me to org-next-visible-heading, org-next-link, and org-next-block. While these make it easy to jump through jump between headings, links, org block on their own, I wanted to jump to whichever one of these is next (similar a web browser's tab behaviour). In a way, DWIM style.

I wrapped the existing functions to enable returning positions. This gave me ar/rg-next-visible-heading-pos, ar/rg-next-link-pos, and ar/rg-next-block-pos respectively. Now that I can find out the next location of either of these items, I can subsequently glue the navigation logic in a function like ar/org-present-next-item. To restore balance to the galaxy, I also added ar/org-present-previous-item.

(defun ar/org-present-next-item (&optional backward)
  "Present and reveal next item."
  (interactive "P")
  ;; Beginning of slide, go to previous slide.
  (if (and backward (eq (point) (point-min)))
      (org-present-prev)
    (let* ((heading-pos (ar/org-next-visible-heading-pos backward))
           (link-pos (ar/org-next-link-pos backward))
           (block-pos (ar/org-next-block-pos backward))
           (closest-pos (when (or heading-pos link-pos block-pos)
                          (apply (if backward #'max #'min)
                                 (seq-filter #'identity
                                             (list heading-pos
                                                   link-pos
                                                   block-pos))))))
      (if closest-pos
          (progn
            (cond ((eq heading-pos closest-pos)
                   (goto-char heading-pos))
                  ((eq link-pos closest-pos)
                   (goto-char link-pos))
                  ((eq block-pos closest-pos)
                   (goto-char block-pos)))
            ;; Reveal relevant content.
            (cond ((> (org-current-level) 1)
                   (ar/org-present-reveal-level2))
                  ((eq (org-current-level) 1)
                   ;; At level 1. Collapse children.
                   (org-overview)
                   (org-show-entry)
                   (org-show-children)
                   (run-hook-with-args 'org-cycle-hook 'children))))
        ;; End of slide, go to next slide.
        (org-present-next)))))

(defun ar/org-present-previous-item ()
  (interactive)
  (ar/org-present-next-item t))

(defun ar/org-next-visible-heading-pos (&optional backward)
  "Similar to `org-next-visible-heading' but for returning position.

Set BACKWARD to search backwards."
  (save-excursion
    (let ((pos-before (point))
          (pos-after (progn
                       (org-next-visible-heading (if backward -1 1))
                       (point))))
      (when (and pos-after (not (equal pos-before pos-after)))
        pos-after))))

(defun ar/org-next-link-pos (&optional backward)
  "Similar to `org-next-visible-heading' but for returning position.

Set BACKWARD to search backwards."
  (save-excursion
    (let* ((inhibit-message t)
           (pos-before (point))
           (pos-after (progn
                        (org-next-link backward)
                        (point))))
      (when (and pos-after (or (and backward (> pos-before pos-after))
                               (and (not backward) (> pos-after pos-before))))
        pos-after))))

(defun ar/org-next-block-pos (&optional backward)
  "Similar to `org-next-block' but for returning position.

Set BACKWARD to search backwards."
  (save-excursion
    (when (and backward (org-babel-where-is-src-block-head))
      (org-babel-goto-src-block-head))
    (let ((pos-before (point))
          (pos-after (ignore-errors
                       (org-next-block 1 backward)
                       (point))))
      (when (and pos-after (not (equal pos-before pos-after)))
        ;; Place point inside block body.
        (goto-char (line-beginning-position 2))
        (point)))))

(defun ar/org-present-reveal-level2 ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((loc (point))
        (level (org-current-level))
        (heading))
    (ignore-errors (org-back-to-heading t))
    (while (or (not level) (> level 2))
      (setq level (org-up-heading-safe)))
    (setq heading (point))
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (org-overview)
    (org-show-entry)
    (org-show-children)
    (run-hook-with-args 'org-cycle-hook 'children)
    (goto-char heading)
    (org-show-subtree)
    (goto-char loc)))

Beware, this was a minimal effort (with redundant code, duplication, etc) and should likely be considered a proof of concept of sorts, but the results look promising. You can see a demo in action.

While this was a fun exercise, I can't help but think there must be a cleaner way of doing it or there are existing packages that already do this for you. If you do know, I'd love to know.

Future versions of this code will likely be updated in my Emacs org config.

Update

Removed a bunch of duplication and now rely primarily on existing org-next-visible-heading, org-next-link, and org-next-block.

Emacs: insert and render SF symbols

Sun, 08 Jan 2023 00:00:00 GMT

About a week ago, I added an Emacs function to insert SF symbol names. This is specially useful for SwiftUI. I didn't bother too much with inserting symbols themselves since I hadn't figured out a way to render them for all buffers. That's now changed.

Christian Tietze and Alan Third both have useful posts in this space:

I'm currently using the following to render SF symbols in all buffers (macOS only):

;; Enable rendering SF symbols on macOS.
(when (memq system-type '(darwin))
  (set-fontset-font t nil "SF Pro Display" nil 'append))

Now that I can render SF symbols everywhere, I may be more included to use them to spif things up.

I've added sf-symbol-insert to sf.el, let's see if usage sticks.

Emacs: Macro me some SF Symbols

Sat, 31 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

For inserting SF Symbols in SwiftUI, I typically rely on Apple's SF Symbols app to browse the symbols's catalog. Once I find a symbol I'm happy with, I copy its name and paste it into my Swift source. This works fairly well.

With Christian Tietze recently posting how he rendered SF Symbols in Emacs, I figured there may be a way to shift the above workflow to rely on Emacs completion instead. While I initially went down a rabbit hole to programmatically extract SF symbols (via something like SFSafeSymbols), I took a step back to rethink the strategy.

From the SF Symbols app, one can select multiple symbols and copy/paste either the symbols themselves or their respective names. The catch is you can only copy disjointed data. That is, you can copy the symbols or their names, but not both in one go. Let's take a look at what the disjointed data looks like. I've pasted both under separate sections in an Emacs buffer.

If I could rejoin these two sets, I would have a lookup table I could easily invoke from Emacs.

There are roughly 4500 symbols, so copying, pasting, along with text manipulation isn't manually feasible. Lucky for us, an Emacs keyboard macro is the perfect hammer for this nail. You can see the macro in action below.

This looks fairly magical (and it is), but when you break it down into its building blocks, it's nothing more than recording your keystrokes and replaying them. Starting with the cursor at the beginning of square.and.arrow.up, these are the keystrokes we'd need to record:

C-s : iseach-forward to search for a character and jump to it

= : insert = so we jump to == Symbols ==

: runs isearch-exit since we're done jumping.

C-n : next-line.

C-a : beginning-of-line.

C-SPC : set-mark-command to activate the region.

C-f : forward-char to select symbol.

C-w : kill-ring-save to cut/kill the symbol.

C-u C- : set-mark-command (with prefix) to jump back to where we started before searching.

C-y : yank to yank/paste the symbol.

C- : set-mark-command to activate the region.

C-e : end-of-line to select the entire line.

" : As a smartparens user, inserting quote with region places quotes around selection.

C-n : next-line.

C-a : beginning-of-line. We are now at a strategic location where we can replay the above commands.

To start/end recording and executing keyboard macros, use:

C-x ( : kmacro-start-macro

C-x ) : kmacro-end-macro

C-x e : kmacro-end-and-call-macro runs your macro. Press e immediately after to execute again.

C-u 0 C-x e : kmacro-end-and-call-macro (with zero prefix) repeat until there is an error.

Our previous example ran on a handful of SF symbols. Let's bring out the big guns and run on the entire dataset. This time, we'll run the entire flow, including macro creation and executing until there is an error (i.e. process the whole lot).

Now that we have our data joined, we can feed it to the humble completing-read.

It's worth highlighting that to render SF Symbols in Emacs, we must propertize our text with one of the macOS SF fonts, for example "SF Pro".

With all the pieces in place, let's use our new function to insert SF symbol names in a SwiftUI snippet. Since we're using completing-read we can fuzzy search our lookups with our favorite completion frameworks (in my case via ivy).

While this post is macOS-specific, it gives a taste of how powerful Emacs keyboard macros can be. Be sure to check out Emacs Rocks! Episode 05: Macros in style and Keyboard Macros are Misunderstood - Mastering Emacs. For those that dabble in elisp, you can appreciate how handy completing-read is with very little code.

The full source to sf-symbol-insert-name is available in my Emacs config repo. The function is fairly bare bones and has had fairly little testing. Patches totally welcome.

Update

There is some redundancy in the snippet I had forgotten to remove. Either way, latest version at sf.el.

Emacs: ffmpeg and macOS aliasing commands

Sun, 18 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

On a recent mastodon post, Chris Spackman mentioned he uses Emacs to save ffmpeg commands he's figured out for later usage. Emacs is great for this kind of thing. I've tried different approaches over time and eventually landed on dwim-shell-command, a small package I wrote. Like Chris, I also wanted a way to invoke magical incantations of known shell commands without having to remember all the details.

Chris's post reminded me of a few use-cases I'd been meaning to add DWIM shell commands for.

ffmpeg

Trimming seconds from videos
- dwim-shell-commands-video-trim-beginning using:
```
ffmpeg -i '<>' -y -ss <> -c:v copy -c:a copy '<>_trimmed.<>'
```
- dwim-shell-commands-video-trim-end using:
```
ffmpeg -sseof -<> -i '<>' -y -c:v copy -c:a copy '<>_trimmed.<>'
```
  Side-node: The <> placeholder is recognized as a query, so Emacs will prompt you for a numeric value.
Extracting audio from videos
- dwim-shell-commands-video-to-mp3 using:
```
ffmpeg -i '<>' -vn -ab 128k -ar 44100 -y '<>.mp3'
```

With these new dwim shell commands added, I can easily apply them one after the other. No need to remember command details.

macOS aliases

After rebuilding Emacs via the wonderful emacs-plus, I recently broke my existing /Applications/Emacs.app alias. No biggie, one can easily add a new one alias from macOS Finder, but I've been wanting to do it from Emacs. Turns out there's a bit of AppleScript we can turn into a more memorale command like dwim-shell-commands-macos-make-finder-alias:

osascript -e 'tell application \"Finder\" to make alias file to POSIX file \"<>\" at POSIX file \"%s\"'

It's highly unlikely I'll remember the AppleScript snippet (are there better ways?), but I'll easily find and invoke my new command with fuzzy searching:

Included in dwim-shell-command

All of these are now included in dwim-shell-commands.el, which you can optionally load after installing dwim-shell-command from MELPA.

Emacs: Context-aware yasnippets

Mon, 12 Dec 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Back in 2020, I wrote a semi-automatic yasnippet to generate Swift initializers. I say semi-automatic because it could have been a little smarter. While it helped generate some of the code, what I really wanted was full context-aware generation. The Swift struct already had a few properties defined, so a smarter yasnippet should have been able to use this info for code generation.

With an extra push, we could have written a smarter yasnippet, but it may require a fair bit of parsing logic. Fast forward to today, and bringing context-awareness seems like the right match for Tree-sitter. While Tree-sitter can enable faster and more reliable syntax-highlighting in our beloved text editor, it can also power smarter tools. It does so by exposing a semantic snapshot of our source code using a syntax tree.

Let's see how we can use Tree-sitter to realise our original yasnippet vision. We'll start with the same struct snippet we used back in 2020. The goal is to generate an initializer using the existing definitions.

struct Coordinate {
  public let x: Int
  public let y: Int
  public let z: Int
}

While Emacs will will soon ship its own Tree-sitter integration, I've opted to try out the emacs-tree-sitter package as Swift support is currently included in tree-sitter-langs.

I have much to learn much about Tree-sitter syntax trees, but the package ships with a handy tool to dump the tree via tree-sitter-debug-mode.

With a syntax tree in mind, one can craft a query to semantically extract parts of the code. In our case, we want property names and types. I've yet to get acquainted with Tree-sitter's query syntax, but the package also ships with another handy tool that helps view query results via tree-sitter-query-builder.

The following query extracts all the let properties in file. You can see the builder in action above, highlighting our query results.

(struct_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @value))

If we want to be more thorough, we should likely cater for classes, vars, int/string literals, etc. so the query needs to be extended as follows. I'm sure it can be written differently, but for now, it does the job.

(struct_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @type))
(struct_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (string) @value))
(struct_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (number) @value))
(struct_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @value))
(struct_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (string) @value))
(struct_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (number) @value))
(class_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @type))
(class_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (string) @value))
(class_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (number) @value))
(class_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @type))
(class_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (string) @value))
(class_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (number) @value))

Now that we got our Tree-sitter query sorted, let's write a little elisp to extract the info we need from the generated tree. We'll write a swift-class-or-struct-vars-at-point function to extract the struct (or class) at point and subsequently filter its property names/types using our query. To simplify the result, we'll return a list of alists.

(defun swift-class-or-struct-vars-at-point ()
  "Return a list of class or struct vars in the form '(((name . \"foo\") (type . \"Foo\")))."
  (cl-assert (seq-contains local-minor-modes 'tree-sitter-mode) "tree-sitter-mode not enabled")
  (let* ((node (or (tree-sitter-node-at-point 'struct_declaration)
                   (tree-sitter-node-at-point 'class_declaration)))
         (vars)
         (var))
    (unless node
      (error "Neither in class nor struct"))
    (mapc
     (lambda (item)
       (cond ((eq 'identifier
                  (tsc-node-type (cdr item)))
              (when var
                (setq vars (append vars (list var))))
              (setq var (list (cons 'name (tsc-node-text
                                           (cdr item))))))
             ((eq 'type
                  (tsc-node-type (cdr item)))
              (setq var (map-insert var 'type (tsc-node-text
                                               (cdr item)))))
             ((eq 'string
                  (tsc-node-type (cdr item)))
              (setq var (map-insert var 'type "String")))
             ((eq 'number
                  (tsc-node-type (cdr item)))
              (setq var (map-insert var 'type "Int")))
             (t (message "%s" (tsc-node-type (cdr item))))))
     (tsc-query-captures
      (tsc-make-query tree-sitter-language
                      "(struct_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @type))
                       (struct_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (string) @value))
                       (struct_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (number) @value))
                       (struct_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @value))
                       (struct_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (string) @value))
                       (struct_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (number) @value))
                       (class_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @type))
                       (class_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (string) @value))
                       (class_declaration (variable_declaration (identifier) @name (number) @value))
                       (class_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (type) @type))
                       (class_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (string) @value))
                       (class_declaration (constant_declaration (identifier) @name (number) @value))")
      node nil))
    (when var
      (setq vars (append vars (list var))))
    vars))

Finally, we write a function to generate a Swift initializer from our property list.

(defun swift-class-or-struct-initializer-text (vars)
  "Generate a Swift initializer from property VARS."
  (cl-assert (seq-contains local-minor-modes 'tree-sitter-mode) "tree-sitter-mode not enabled")
  (format
   (string-trim
    "
init(%s) {
  %s
}")
   (seq-reduce (lambda (reduced var)
                 (format "%s%s%s: %s"
                         reduced
                         (if (string-empty-p reduced)
                             "" ", ")
                         (map-elt var 'name)
                         (map-elt var 'type)))
               vars "")
   (string-join
    (mapcar (lambda (var)
              (format "self.%s = %s"
                      (map-elt var 'name)
                      (map-elt var 'name)))
            vars)
    "\n  ")))

We're so close now. All we need is a simple way invoke our code generator. We can use yasnippet for that, making init our expandable keyword.

# -*- mode: snippet -*-
# name: init all
# key: init
# --
`(swift-class-or-struct-initializer-text (swift-class-or-struct-vars-at-point))`

And with all that, we've got our yasnippet vision accomplished!

Be sure to check out this year's relevant EmacsConf talk: Tree-sitter beyond syntax highlighting.

All code is now pushed to my config repo. By the way, I'm not super knowledgable of neither yasnippet nor Tree-sitter. Improvements are totally welcome. Please reach out on the Fediverse if you have suggestions!

Update

Josh Caswell kindly pointed out a couple of interesting items:

tree-sitter-langs's Swift grammar is fairly outdated/incomplete.
There are more up-to-date Swift grammar implementations currently available:
- tree-sitter-swifter (by Josh Caswell himself)
- tree-sitter-swift (by Alex Pinkus)

Emacs: quickly killing processes

Sun, 13 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Every so often, I need to kill the odd unresponsive process. While I really like proced (check out Mickey Petersen's article), I somehow find myself using macOS's Activity Monitor to this purpose. Kinda odd, considering I prefer to do these kinds of things from Emacs.

What I'd really like is a way to quickly fuzzy search a list of active processes and choose the unresponsive culprid, using my preferred completion frontend (in my case ivy).

The function below gives us a fuzzy-searchable process utility. While we could use ivy-read directly in our implementation, we're better of using completing-read to remain compatible with other completion frameworks. I'm a big fan of the humble completing-read. You feed it a list of candidates and it prompts users to pick one.

To build our process list, we can lean on proced's own source: proced-process-attributes. We transform its output to an alist, formatting the visible keys to contain the process id, owner, command name, and the command line which invoked the process. Once a process is chosen, we can send a kill signal using ~~signal-process~~ dwim-shell-command and our job is done.

(require 'dwim-shell-command)
(require 'map)
(require 'proced)
(require 'seq)

(defun dwim-shell-commands-kill-process ()
  "Select and kill process."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((pid-width 5)
         (comm-width 25)
         (user-width 10)
         (processes (proced-process-attributes))
         (candidates
          (mapcar (lambda (attributes)
                    (let* ((process (cdr attributes))
                           (pid (format (format "%%%ds" pid-width) (map-elt process 'pid)))
                           (user (format (format "%%-%ds" user-width)
                                         (truncate-string-to-width
                                          (map-elt process 'user) user-width nil nil t)))
                           (comm (format (format "%%-%ds" comm-width)
                                         (truncate-string-to-width
                                          (map-elt process 'comm) comm-width nil nil t)))
                           (args-width (- (window-width) (+ pid-width user-width comm-width 3)))
                           (args (map-elt process 'args)))
                      (cons (if args
                                (format "%s %s %s %s" pid user comm (truncate-string-to-width args args-width nil nil t))
                              (format "%s %s %s" pid user comm))
                            process)))
                  processes))
         (selection (map-elt candidates
                             (completing-read "kill process: "
                                              (seq-sort
                                               (lambda (p1 p2)
                                                 (string-lessp (nth 2 (split-string (string-trim (car p1))))
                                                               (nth 2 (split-string (string-trim (car p2))))))
                                               candidates) nil t)))
         (prompt-title (format "%s %s %s"
                               (map-elt selection 'pid)
                               (map-elt selection 'user)
                               (map-elt selection 'comm))))
    (when (y-or-n-p (format "Kill? %s" prompt-title))
      (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
       (format "Kill %s" prompt-title)
       (format "kill -9 %d" (map-elt selection 'pid))
       :utils "kill"
       :error-autofocus t
       :silent-success t))))

I've pushed dwim-shell-commands-kill-process to my ~~config~~ dwim-shell-commands.el. Got suggestions? Alternatives? Lemme know.

Update

I've moved dwim-shell-commands-kill-process from my Emacs config to dwim-shell-commands.el. A few advantages:

Killing processes is now async.
Should anything go wrong, an error message is now accessible.
You can easily install via MELPA.

If you prefer the previous version (without a dependency on dwim-shell-command), have a look at the initial commit.

Hey Emacs, change the default macOS app for…

Sun, 06 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

A few weeks ago, I added an "open with" command to dwim-shell-commands.el. It's pretty handy for opening files using an external app (ie. not Emacs) other than the default macOS one.

dwim-shell-commands-macos-open-with and dwim-shell-commands-open-externally are typically enough for me to handle opening files outside of Emacs. But every now and then I'd like to change the default macOS app associated with specific file types. Now this isn't particularly challenging in macOS, but it does require a little navigating to get to the right place to change this default setting.

Back in March 2020, I tweeted about duti: a command-line utility capable of setting default applications for various document types on macOS. While I liked the ability to change default apps from the command-line, the habit never quite stuck.

Fast forward to 2022. I've been revisiting lots of my command-line usages (specially those that never stuck) and making them more accessible from Emacs via dwim-shell-command. I seldom change default apps on macOS, so my brain forgets about duti itself, let alone its arguments, order, etc. But with a dwim shell command like dwim-shell-commands-macos-set-default-app, I can easily invoke the command via swiper's counsel-M-x fuzzy terms: "dwim set".

As an added bonus, I get to reuse dwim-shell-commands--macos-apps from "open with" to quickly pick the new default app, making the whole experience pretty snappy.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-macos-set-default-app ()
  "Set default app for file(s)."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((apps (dwim-shell-commands-macos-apps))
         (selection (progn
                      (cl-assert apps nil "No apps found")
                      (completing-read "Set default app: " apps nil t))))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Set default app"
     (format "duti -s \"%s\" '<>' all"
             (string-trim
              (shell-command-to-string (format "defaults read '%s/Contents/Info.plist' CFBundleIdentifier"
                                               (map-elt apps selection)))))
     :silent-success t
     :no-progress t
     :utils "duti")))

(defun dwim-shell-commands--macos-apps ()
  "Return alist of macOS apps (\"Emacs\" . \"/Applications/Emacs.app\")."
  (mapcar (lambda (path)
            (cons (file-name-base path) path))
          (seq-sort
           #'string-lessp
           (seq-mapcat (lambda (paths)
                         (directory-files-recursively
                          paths "\\.app$" t (lambda (path)
                                             (not (string-suffix-p ".app" path)))))
                       '("/Applications" "~/Applications" "/System/Applications")))))

As usual, I've added dwim-shell-commands-macos-set-default-app to dwim-shell-commands.el, which you can install via MELPA.

Did you find this tiny integration useful? Check out Hey Emacs, where did I take that photo?

Hey Emacs, where did I take that photo?

Wed, 02 Nov 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I was recently browsing through an old archive of holiday photos (from dired of course). I wanted to know where the photo was taken, which got me interested in extracting Exif metadata.

Luckily the exiftool command line utility does the heavy lifting when it comes to extracting metadata. Since I want it quickly accessible from Emacs (in either dired or current buffer), a tiny elisp snippet would give me just that (via dwim-shell-command).

(defun dwim-shell-commands-image-exif-metadata ()
  "View EXIF metadata in image(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "View EXIF"
   "exiftool '<>'"
   :utils "exiftool"))

The above makes all Exif metadata easily accessible, including the photo's GPS coordinates. But I haven’t quite answered the original question. Where did I take the photo? I now know the coordinates, but I can’t realistically deduce neither the country nor city unless I manually feed these values to a reverse geocoding service like OpenStreetMap. Manually you say? This is Emacs, so we can throw more elisp glue at the problem, mixed in with a little shell script, and presto! We've now automated the process of extracting metadata, reverse geocoding, and displaying the photo's address in the minibuffer. Pretty nifty.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-image-reverse-geocode-location ()
  "Reverse geocode image(s) location."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Reverse geocode"
   "lat=\"$(exiftool -csv -n -gpslatitude -gpslongitude '<>' | tail -n 1 | cut -s -d',' -f2-2)\"
    if [ -z \"$lat\" ]; then
      echo \"no latitude\"
      exit 1
    fi
    lon=\"$(exiftool -csv -n -gpslatitude -gpslongitude '<>' | tail -n 1 | cut -s -d',' -f3-3)\"
    if [ -z \"$lon\" ]; then
      echo \"no longitude\"
      exit 1
    fi
    json=$(curl \"https://nominatim.openstreetmap.org/reverse?format=json&accept-language=en&lat=${lat}&lon=${lon}&zoom=18&addressdetails=1\")
    echo \"json_start $json json_end\""
   :utils '("exiftool" "curl")
   :silent-success t
   :error-autofocus t
   :on-completion
   (lambda (buffer)
     (with-current-buffer buffer
       (goto-char (point-min))
       (let ((matches '()))
         (while (re-search-forward "^json_start\\(.*?\\)json_end" nil t)
           (push (match-string 1) matches))
         (message "%s" (string-join (seq-map (lambda (json)
                                               (map-elt (json-parse-string json :object-type 'alist) 'display_name))
                                             matches)
                                    "\n")))
       (kill-buffer buffer)))))

Displaying the photo's address in the minibuffer is indeed pretty nifty, but what if I’d like to drop a pin in a map for further exploration? This is actually simpler, as there's no need for reverse geocoding. Following a similar recipe, we merely construct an OpenStreetMap URL and open it in our favourite browser.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-image-browse-location ()
  "Open image(s) location in browser."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Browse location"
   "lat=\"$(exiftool -csv -n -gpslatitude -gpslongitude '<>' | tail -n 1 | cut -s -d',' -f2-2)\"
    if [ -z \"$lat\" ]; then
      echo \"no latitude\"
      exit 1
    fi
    lon=\"$(exiftool -csv -n -gpslatitude -gpslongitude '<>' | tail -n 1 | cut -s -d',' -f3-3)\"
    if [ -z \"$lon\" ]; then
      echo \"no longitude\"
      exit 1
    fi
    if [[ $OSTYPE == darwin* ]]; then
      open \"http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=${lat}&mlon=${lon}&layers=C\"
    else
      xdg-open \"http://www.openstreetmap.org/?mlat=${lat}&mlon=${lon}&layers=C\"
    fi"
   :utils "exiftool"
   :error-autofocus t
   :silent-success t))

Got suggestions? Improvements? All three functions are now included in dwim-shell-commands.el as part of dwim-shell-command. Pull requests totally welcome ;)

Emacs: A welcoming experiment

Mon, 24 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

The *scratch* buffer is the first thing I see when I launch an Emacs session. Coupled with persistent-scratch, it's served me well over the years. I gotta say though, my scratch buffer accumulates random bits and often becomes a little messy. It's not the most visually appealing landing buffer when launching Emacs. But who cares, I'm only a C-x b binding away from invoking ivy-switch-buffer to get me wherever I need to be. It's powered by ivy-use-virtual-buffers, which remembers recent files across sessions.

Having said all of this, I recently ran into u/pearcidar43's post showcasing a wonderful Emacs banner. Lucky for us, they shared the image, so I got curious about building a minimal welcome buffer of sorts. Nothing fancy, the only requirements being to load quickly and enable me to get on with my C-x b ritual. Throw in a little bonus to exit quickly by pressing just q if I so desire.

I didn't know a whole lot on how to go about it, so I took a peek at emacs-dashboard for inspiration. Turns out, I needed little code to get the desired effect in my early-init.el:

(defun ar/show-welcome-buffer ()
  "Show *Welcome* buffer."
  (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*Welcome*")
    (setq truncate-lines t)
    (let* ((buffer-read-only)
           (image-path "~/.emacs.d/emacs.png")
           (image (create-image image-path))
           (size (image-size image))
           (height (cdr size))
           (width (car size))
           (top-margin (floor (/ (- (window-height) height) 2)))
           (left-margin (floor (/ (- (window-width) width) 2)))
           (prompt-title "Welcome to Emacs!"))
      (erase-buffer)
      (setq mode-line-format nil)
      (goto-char (point-min))
      (insert (make-string top-margin ?\n ))
      (insert (make-string left-margin ?\ ))
      (insert-image image)
      (insert "\n\n\n")
      (insert (make-string (floor (/ (- (window-width) (string-width prompt-title)) 2)) ?\ ))
      (insert prompt-title))
    (setq cursor-type nil)
    (read-only-mode +1)
    (switch-to-buffer (current-buffer))
    (local-set-key (kbd "q") 'kill-this-buffer)))

(setq initial-scratch-message nil)
(setq inhibit-startup-screen t)

(when (< (length command-line-args) 2)
  (add-hook 'emacs-startup-hook (lambda ()
                                  (when (display-graphic-p)
                                    (ar/show-welcome-buffer)))))

This being Emacs, I can bend it as far as needed. In my case, I didn't need much, so I can probably stop here. It was a fun experiment. I'll even try using it for a little while and see if it sticks. I'm sure there's plenty more that could be handled (edge cases, resizes, etc.), but if you want something more established, consider something like emacs-dashboard instead. I haven't used it myself, but is pretty popular.

Emacs: Open with macOS app

Fri, 14 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

On a recent Reddit comment, tdstoff7 asked if I had considered writing an "Open with" DWIM shell command for those times one would like to open a file externally using an app other than the default. I hadn't, but nice idea.

Take images as an example. Though Emacs can display them quickly, I also open images externally using the default app (Preview in my case). But then there are those times when I'd like to open with a different app for editing (maybe something like GIMP). It'd be nice to quickly choose which app to open with.

There isn't much to the code. Get a list of apps, ask user to pick one (via completing-read), and launch the external app via dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files.

There's likely a better way of getting a list of available apps (happy to take suggestions), but searching in "/Applications" "~/Applications" and "/System/Applications" does the job for now.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-macos-open-with ()
  "Convert all marked images to jpg(s)."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((apps (seq-sort
                #'string-lessp
                (seq-mapcat (lambda (paths)
                              (directory-files-recursively
                               paths "\\.app$" t (lambda (path)
                                                  (not (string-suffix-p ".app" path)))))
                            '("/Applications" "~/Applications" "/System/Applications"))))
         (selection (progn
                      (cl-assert apps nil "No apps found")
                      (completing-read "Open with: "
                                       (mapcar (lambda (path)
                                                 (propertize (file-name-base path) 'path path))
                                               apps)))))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Open with"
     (format "open -a '%s' '<<*>>'" (get-text-property 0 'path selection))
     :silent-success t
     :no-progress t
     :utils "open")))

dwim-shell-commands-macos-open-with is now included in dwim-shell-command, available on melpa. What other uses can you find for it?

Improving on Emacs macOS sharing

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

A quick follow-up to Emacs: macOS sharing (DWIM style)… Though functional, the implementation had a couple of drawbacks.

Tohiko noticed fullscreen wasn't working at all while Calvin proposed enumeration for tighter Emacs integration.

Calvin's suggestion enables using completing-read to pick the sharing service. This makes the integration feel more at home. As a bonus, it also enables sharing from fullscreen Emacs.

As an ivy user, you can see a vertical list of sharing services.

Here's the new snippet, now pushed to dwim-shell-commands.el:

(defun dwim-shell-commands--macos-sharing-services ()
  "Return a list of sharing services."
  (let* ((source (format "import AppKit
                         NSSharingService.sharingServices(forItems: [
                           %s
                         ]).forEach {
                           print(\"\\($0.prompt-title)\")
                         }"
                         (string-join (mapcar (lambda (file)
                                                (format "URL(fileURLWithPath: \"%s\")" file))
                                              (dwim-shell-command--files))
                                      ", ")))
         (services (split-string (string-trim (shell-command-to-string (format "echo '%s' | swift -" source)))
                                 "\n")))
    (when (seq-empty-p services)
      (error "No sharing services available"))
    services))

(defun dwim-shell-commands-macos-share ()
  "Share selected files from macOS."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((services (dwim-shell-commands--macos-sharing-services))
         (service-name (completing-read "Share via: " services))
         (selection (seq-position services service-name #'string-equal)))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Share"
     (format
      "import AppKit

       _ = NSApplication.shared

       NSApp.setActivationPolicy(.regular)

       class MyWindow: NSWindow, NSSharingServiceDelegate {
         func sharingService(
           _ sharingService: NSSharingService,
           didShareItems items: [Any]
         ) {
           NSApplication.shared.terminate(nil)
         }

         func sharingService(
           _ sharingService: NSSharingService, didFailToShareItems items: [Any], error: Error
         ) {
           let error = error as NSError
           if error.domain == NSCocoaErrorDomain && error.code == NSUserCancelledError {
             NSApplication.shared.terminate(nil)
           }
           exit(1)
         }
       }

       let window = MyWindow(
         contentRect: NSRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 0, height: 0),
         styleMask: [],
         backing: .buffered,
         defer: false)

       let services = NSSharingService.sharingServices(forItems: [\"<<*>>\"].map{URL(fileURLWithPath:$0)})
       let service = services[%s]
       service.delegate = window
       service.perform(withItems: [\"<<*>>\"].map{URL(fileURLWithPath:$0)})

       NSApp.run()" selection)
     :silent-success t
     :shell-pipe "swift -"
     :join-separator ", "
     :no-progress t
     :utils "swift")))

dwim-shell-command is available on melpa. What other uses can you find for it?

Emacs: macOS sharing (DWIM style)

Wed, 12 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: See an improved implementation here.

A few days ago, I wrote dwim-shell-commands-macos-reveal-in-finder. While I've written a bunch of other dwim-shell-commands, what set this case apart was the use of Swift to glue an Emacs workflow.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-macos-reveal-in-finder ()
  "Reveal selected files in macOS Finder."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Reveal in Finder"
   "import AppKit
    NSWorkspace.shared.activateFileViewerSelecting([\"<<*>>\"].map{URL(fileURLWithPath:$0)})"
   :join-separator ", "
   :silent-success t
   :shell-pipe "swift -"))

There is hardly any Swift involved, yet it scratched a real itch I couldn't otherwise reach (reveal multiple dired files in macOS's Finder).

divinedominion's reddit comment got me thinking of other use-cases, so I figured why not push this Swift-elisp beeswax a little further… Let's add macOS's sharing ability via dwim-shell-command, so I could invoke it from the comfort of my beloved dired or any 'ol Emacs buffer visiting a file.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-macos-share ()
  "Share selected files from macOS."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((position (window-absolute-pixel-position))
         (x (car position))
         (y (- (x-display-pixel-height)
               (cdr position))))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Share"
     (format
      "import AppKit

       _ = NSApplication.shared

       NSApp.setActivationPolicy(.regular)

       let window = InvisibleWindow(
         contentRect: NSRect(x: %d, y: %s, width: 0, height: 0),
         styleMask: [],
         backing: .buffered,
         defer: false)

       NSApp.activate(ignoringOtherApps: true)

       DispatchQueue.main.async {
         let picker = NSSharingServicePicker(items: [\"<<*>>\"].map{URL(fileURLWithPath:$0)})
         picker.delegate = window
         picker.show(
           relativeTo: .zero, of: window.contentView!, preferredEdge: .minY)
       }

       NSApp.run()

       class InvisibleWindow: NSWindow, NSSharingServicePickerDelegate, NSSharingServiceDelegate {
         func sharingServicePicker(
           _ sharingServicePicker: NSSharingServicePicker, didChoose service: NSSharingService?
         ) {
           if service == nil {
             print(\"Cancelled\")

             // Delay so \"More...\" menu can launch System Preferences
             DispatchQueue.main.asyncAfter(deadline: .now() + 0.1) {
               NSApplication.shared.terminate(nil)
             }
           }
         }

         func sharingServicePicker(
           _ sharingServicePicker: NSSharingServicePicker,
           delegateFor sharingService: NSSharingService
         ) -> NSSharingServiceDelegate? {
           return self
         }

         func sharingService(
           _ sharingService: NSSharingService,
           didShareItems items: [Any]
         ) {
           NSApplication.shared.terminate(nil)
         }

         func sharingService(
           _ sharingService: NSSharingService, didFailToShareItems items: [Any], error: Error
         ) {
           let error = error as NSError
           if error.domain == NSCocoaErrorDomain && error.code == NSUserCancelledError {
             NSApplication.shared.terminate(nil)
           }
           exit(1)
         }
       }" x y)
     :silent-success t
     :shell-pipe "swift -"
     :join-separator ", "
     :no-progress t
     :utils "swift")))

Sure there is some trickery involved here (like creating an invisible macOS window to anchor the menu), but hey the results are surprisingly usable. Take a look…

I've pushed dwim-shell-commands-macos-share to dwim-shell-commands.el in case you'd like to give it a try. It's very much an experiment of sorts, so please treat it as such. For now, I'm looking forward to AirDropping more files and seeing if the flow sticks. Oh, and I just realised I can use this to send files to iOS Simulators. Win.

dwim-shell-command is available on melpa. What other uses can you find for it?

Emacs: Reveal in macOS Finder (DWIM style)

Sun, 09 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Just the other day, Graham Voysey filed an escaping bug against dwim-shell-command. Once he verified the the fix, he also posted two uses of dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files. I've made some small tweaks, but here's the gist of it:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-feh-marked-files ()
  "View all marked files with feh."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "View with feh"
   "feh --auto-zoom --scale-down '<<*>>'"
   :silent-success t
   :utils "feh"))

(defun dwim-shell-commands-dragon-marked-files ()
  "Share all marked files with dragon."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "View with dragon"
   "dragon --on-top '<<*>>'"
   :silent-success t
   :utils "dragon"))

I love seeing what others get up to by using dwim-shell-command. Are there new magical command-line utilities out there I don't know about? In this instance, I got to learn about feh and dragon.

feh is a no-frills image viewer for console users while dragon is a simple drag-and-drop source/sink for X or Wayland. Both utilities are great uses of dwim-shell-command, enabling a seamless transition from Emacs to the outside world. These days I'm rarely on a linux box, so I was keen to ensure macOS had these cases covered.

Preview is a solid macOS equivalent to feh. Preview is already macOS's default image viewer. A simple open '<>' would do the job, but if we'd like to make this command more portable, we can accomodate as follows:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-open-externally ()
  "Open file(s) externally."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Open externally"
   (if (eq system-type 'darwin)
       "open '<>'"
     "xdg-open '<>'")
   :silent-success t
   :utils "open"))

Special mention goes to Bozhidar Batsov's crux which achieves similar functionality via crux-open-with. crux provides a bunch of other useful functions. Some of my favourites being crux-duplicate-current-line-or-region, crux-transpose-windows, crux-delete-file-and-buffer, and crux-rename-buffer-and-file, but I digress.

Moving on to a dragon equivalent on macOS, I thought I had it covered via reveal-in-osx-finder or reveal-in-folder. Turns out, neither of these reveal multiple dired-selected files within Finder. At first, I thought this could be easily achieved by passing additional flags/params to macOS's open command, but it doesn't seem to be the case. Having said that, this Stack Overflow post, has a solution in Objective-C, which is where things got a little more interesting. You see, back in July I added multi-language support to dwim-shell-command and while it highlighted language flexibility, I hadn't yet taken advantage of this feature myself. That is, until today.

The Objective-C snippet from the Stack Overflow post can be written as a Swift one-liner. Ok I lie. It's actually two lines, counting the import, but you can see that this multi-language Emacs transition/integration is pretty easy to add.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-macos-reveal-in-finder ()
  "Reveal selected files in macOS Finder."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Reveal in Finder"
   "import AppKit
    NSWorkspace.shared.activateFileViewerSelecting([\"<<*>>\"].map{URL(fileURLWithPath:$0)})"
   :join-separator ", "
   :silent-success t
   :shell-pipe "swift -"))

<<*>> is the centrepiece of the snippet above. It gets instantiated with a list of files joined using the ", " separator.

NSWorkspace.shared.activateFileViewerSelecting(["/path/to/file1", "/path/to/file2"].map { URL(fileURLWithPath: $0) })

The proof of the pudding is of course in the eating, so ummm let's show it in action:

I should mention the webp animation above was also created using my trusty dwim-shell-commands-video-to-webp also backed by dwim-shell-command.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-video-to-webp ()
  "Convert all marked videos to webp(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert to webp"
   "ffmpeg -i '<>' -vcodec libwebp -filter:v fps=fps=10 -compression_level 3 -lossless 1 -loop 0 -preset default -an -vsync 0 '<>'.webp"
   :utils "ffmpeg"))

dwim-shell-command is available on melpa. What other uses can you find for it?

UPDATE: Most DWIM shell commands I use are available as part of dwim-shell-commands.el. See dwim-shell-command's install command line utilities.

Plain Org v1.5 released

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

If you haven't heard of Plain Org, it gives you access to org files on iOS while away from your beloved Emacs.

Hadn't had time to post, but v1.5 has been available on the App Store for a couple of weeks now. The update is mostly a bugfix release, primarily addressing inline editing issues that appeared on iOS 16, along with a few other changes:

Render form feeds at end of headings at all times.
Fixes new files not recognized by org-roam.
Fixes share sheet saving from cold launch.
Fixes inline editing on iOS 16.

I love org markup, but we (iPhone + org users) are a fairly niche bunch. If you're finding Plain Org useful, please help support this effort by getting the word out. Tell your friends, tweet, or blog about it. Or just support via the App Store :)

dwim-shell-command usages: pdftotext and scp

Sat, 01 Oct 2022 00:00:00 GMT

dwim-shell-command is a little Emacs package I wrote to enable crafting more reusable shell commands. I intended to use it as an async-shell-command alternative (and I do these days). The more surprising win was bringing lots of command-line utilities (sometimes with complicated invocations) and making them quickly accessible. I no longer need to remember their respective parameters, order, flags, etc.

I've migrated most one-liners and scripts I had to dwim-shell-command equivalents. They are available at dwim-shell-commands.el. Having said that, it's great to discover new usages from dwim-shell-command users.

Take u/TiMueller's Reddit comment, showcasing pdftotext. Neat utility I was unaware of. It does as it says on the tin and converts a pdf to text. Can be easily saved to your accessible repertoire with:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-pdf-to-txt ()
  "Convert pdf to txt."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "pdf to txt"
   "pdftotext -layout '<>' '<>.txt'"
   :utils "pdftotext"))

tareefdev wanted a quick command to secure copy remote files to a local directory. Though this use-case is already covered by Tramp, I suspect a DWIM command would make it a little more convenient (async by default). However, Tramp paths aren't usable from the shell unless we massage them a little. We can use dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files's :post-process-template to drop the "/ssh:" prefix.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-copy-remote-to-downloads ()
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Copy remote to local Downloads"
   "scp '<>' ~/Downloads/"
   :utils "scp"
   :post-process-template
   (lambda (script file)
     ;; Tramp file path start with "/ssh:". Drop it.
     (string-replace file
                     (string-remove-prefix "/ssh:" file)
                     script))))

dwim-shell-command is available on MELPA (531 downloads as of 2022-10-01).

\$ rm Important.txt (uh oh!)

Sat, 17 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Setting Emacs up to use your system trash can potentially save your bacon if you mistakenly delete a file, say from dired.

Unsurprisingly, the trash safety net also extends to other Emacs areas. For example, discarding files from Magit (via magit-discard) becomes a recoverable operation. As an eshell user, the trash can also help you recover from rm blunders.

You can enable macOS system trash in Emacs by setting trash-directory along with defining system-move-file-to-trash:

(setq trash-directory "~/.Trash")

;; See `trash-directory' as it requires defining `system-move-file-to-trash'.
(defun system-move-file-to-trash (file)
  "Use \"trash\" to move FILE to the system trash."
  (cl-assert (executable-find "trash") nil "'trash' must be installed. Needs \"brew install trash\"")
  (call-process "trash" nil 0 nil "-F"  file))

Cycling through window layouts (revisited)

Sun, 11 Sep 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Last year, I wrote a little script to cycle through window layouts via Hammerspoon. The cycling set I chose didn't stick, so here's another go.

function reframeFocusedWindow()
   local win = hs.window.focusedWindow()
   local maximizedFrame = win:screen():frame()
   maximizedFrame.x = maximizedFrame.x + 15
   maximizedFrame.y = maximizedFrame.y + 15
   maximizedFrame.w = maximizedFrame.w - 30
   maximizedFrame.h = maximizedFrame.h - 30

   local leftFrame = win:screen():frame()
   leftFrame.x = leftFrame.x + 15
   leftFrame.y = leftFrame.y + 15
   leftFrame.w = leftFrame.w / 2 - 15
   leftFrame.h = leftFrame.h - 30

   local rightFrame = win:screen():frame()
   rightFrame.x = rightFrame.w / 2
   rightFrame.y = rightFrame.y + 15
   rightFrame.w = rightFrame.w / 2 - 15
   rightFrame.h = rightFrame.h - 30

   if win:frame() == maximizedFrame then
     win:setFrame(leftFrame)
     return
   end

   if win:frame() == leftFrame then
     win:setFrame(rightFrame)
     return
   end

   win:setFrame(maximizedFrame)
end

hs.hotkey.bind({"alt"}, "F", reframeFocusedWindow)

Looping through layouts is done with a global key-binding of option f or, if familiar with a macOS keyboard, ⌥ f.

For those unfamiliar with Hammerspoon… If you're a tinkerer and a macOS user, you'd love Hammerspoon. Like elisp gluing all things Emacs, Hammerspoon uses Lua to glue all things macOS. For example, here's a stint at writing a narrowing utility for macOS using chooser.

dwim-shell-command with template prompts

Thu, 18 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Somewhat recently, I wanted to quickly create an empty/transparent png file. ImageMagick's convert has you covered here. Say you want a transparent 200x400 image, you can get it with:

convert -verbose -size 200x400 xc:none empty200x400.png

Great, I now know the one-liner for it. But because I'm in the mood of saving these as seamless command-line utils, I figured I should save the dwim-shell-command equivalent.

I wanted configurable image dimensions, so I used read-number together with format to create the templated command and fed it to dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files. Job done:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-make-transparent-png ()
  "Create a transparent png."
  (interactive)
  (let ((width (read-number "Width: " 200))
        (height (read-number "Height: " 200)))
    (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
     "Create transparent png"
     (format "convert -verbose -size %dx%d xc:none '<>'"
             width height width height)
     :utils "convert")))

The resulting dwim-shell-commands-make-transparent-png is fairly simple, but dwim-shell-command aims to remove friction so you're more inclined to save reusable commands. In this case, we can shift querying and formatting into the template.

<> can be interpreted as "ask the user for a value using the suggested prompt and default value."

With template queries in mind, dwim-shell-commands-make-transparent-png can be further reduced to essentially the interactive command boilerplate and the template itself:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-make-transparent-png ()
  "Create a transparent png."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Create transparent png"
   "convert -verbose -size <>x<> xc:none '<>x<>.png(u)>>'"
   :utils "convert"))

Note: Any repeated queries (same prompt and default) are treated as equal. That is, ask the user once and replace everywhere. If you'd like to request separate values, change either prompt or the default value.

Seamless command-line utils

Sun, 14 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Just the other day, I received a restaurant menu split into a handful of image files. I wanted to forward the menu to others but figured I should probably send it as a single file.

ImageMagick's convert command-line utility works great for this purpose. Feed it some images and it creates a pdf for you:

convert image1.png image2.png image3.png combined.pdf

Using convert for this purpose was pretty straightforward. I'm sure I'll use it again in a similar context, but what if I can make future usage more seamless? In the past, I would just make a note of usage and revisit when needed. Though this works well enough, it often requires some amount of manual work (looking things up, tweaking command, etc) if you happen to forget the command syntax.

I wanted common one-liners (or longer shell scripts) to be easily reusable and accessible from Emacs. Turns out, the dwim-shell-command experiment is working fairly well for this purpose. In addition to providing template expansion, it generally tries to do what I mean (focus when needed, reveal new files, rename buffers, etc).

Here's how I saved the convert command instance for future usage:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-join-as-pdf ()
  "Join all marked images as a single pdf."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Join as pdf"
   "convert -verbose '<<*>>' '<>'"
   :utils "convert"))

From now on, any time I'd like to join multiple files into a pdf, I can now select them all and invoke dwim-shell-commands-join-as-pdf.

In the saved command, '<<*>>' expands to either dired selected files or whatever file happens to be open in the current buffer. The buffer file isn't of much help for joining multiple items, but can be handy for other instances (say I want to convert current image to jpeg).

Moving on to '<>', we could have just written as joined.pdf, but wrapping it ensures the resulting file name is unique. That is, if joined.pdf already exists, write joined(1).pdf instead.

These kinds of command-line integrations are working well for me. Take the webp animation above, it was created by invoking dwim-shell-commands-video-to-webp on a .mov file. Easy peasy. While I can easily memorize the convert command for the pdf instance, I'm hopeless in the webp scenario:

ffmpeg -i '<>' -vcodec libwebp -filter:v fps=fps=10 -compression_level 3 -lossless 1 -loop 0 -preset default -an -vsync 0 '<>'.webp

While searching through command line history helps to quickly re-spin previous commands, it requires remembering the actual utility used for any particular action. On the other hand, wrapping with Emacs functions enables me to remember the action itself, using more memorable names. Also, fuzzy searching works a treat.

It's been roughly a month since I started playing around with this idea of wrapping command-line utilities more seamlessly. Since then, I've brought in a bunch of use-cases that are now quickly accessible (all in dwim-shell-commands.el):

dwim-shell-commands-audio-to-mp3
dwim-shell-commands-clipboard-to-qr
dwim-shell-commands-copy-to-desktop
dwim-shell-commands-copy-to-downloads
dwim-shell-commands-docx-to-pdf
dwim-shell-commands-download-clipboard-stream-url
dwim-shell-commands-drop-video-audio
dwim-shell-commands-epub-to-org
dwim-shell-commands-external-ip
dwim-shell-commands-files-combined-size
dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-clipboard-url
dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-clipboard-url-to-downloads
dwim-shell-commands-http-serve-dir
dwim-shell-commands-image-browse-location
dwim-shell-commands-image-exif-metadata
dwim-shell-commands-image-reverse-geocode-location
dwim-shell-commands-image-to-grayscale
dwim-shell-commands-image-to-icns
dwim-shell-commands-image-to-jpg
dwim-shell-commands-image-to-png
dwim-shell-commands-install-iphone-device-ipa
dwim-shell-commands-join-as-pdf
dwim-shell-commands-kill-gpg-agent
dwim-shell-commands-kill-process
dwim-shell-commands-macos-bin-plist-to-xml
dwim-shell-commands-macos-caffeinate
dwim-shell-commands-macos-hardware-overview
dwim-shell-commands-macos-open-with
dwim-shell-commands-macos-reveal-in-finder
dwim-shell-commands-macos-set-default-app
dwim-shell-commands-macos-share
dwim-shell-commands-macos-toggle-dark-mode
dwim-shell-commands-macos-toggle-display-rotation
dwim-shell-commands-make-transparent-png
dwim-shell-commands-move-to-desktop
dwim-shell-commands-move-to-downloads
dwim-shell-commands-open-clipboard-url
dwim-shell-commands-open-externally
dwim-shell-commands-pdf-password-protect
dwim-shell-commands-pdf-to-txt
dwim-shell-commands-ping-google
dwim-shell-commands-rename-all
dwim-shell-commands-reorient-image
dwim-shell-commands-resize-gif
dwim-shell-commands-resize-image
dwim-shell-commands-resize-video
dwim-shell-commands-speed-up-gif
dwim-shell-commands-speed-up-video
dwim-shell-commands-stream-clipboard-url
dwim-shell-commands-svg-to-png
dwim-shell-commands-unzip
dwim-shell-commands-url-browse
dwim-shell-commands-video-to-gif
dwim-shell-commands-video-to-optimized-gif
dwim-shell-commands-video-to-webp

What other use-cases would you consider? dwim-shell-command is available on melpa.

Update

2022-11-14 dwim-shell-commands.el list updated.

Emacs freebie: macOS emoji picker

Wed, 03 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I recently ran a little experiment to bring macOS's long-press-accents-like behavior to Emacs. What I forgot to mention is that macOS's character viewer just works from our beloved editor.

If you have a newer MacBook model, you can press the 🌐 key to summon the emoji picker (character viewer). You may need to set this key binding from macOS keyboard preferences.

I'm happy to take this Emacs freebie, kthxbye.

Edits:

Like other macOS apps, this dialog can be invoked via control-command-space (thanks mtndewforbreakfast). Note: you'd lose this ability if you (setq mac-command-modifier 'meta) in your config.
The 🌐 key is a feature on newer MacBook hardware and likely needs configuration (thanks Fabbi-).

dwim-shell-command video streams

Mon, 01 Aug 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I continue hunting for use-cases I can migrate to dwim-shell-command… After adding clipboard support (via []

id: cb ---) I found one more.

Copy URL from browser.
Invoke dwim-shell-commands-mpv-stream-clipboard-url.
Enjoy picture in picture from Emacs ;)

What's the secret sauce? Very little. Invoke the awesome mpv with a wrapping function using dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-mpv-stream-clipboard-url ()
  "Stream clipboard URL using mpv."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Streaming"
   "mpv --geometry=30%x30%+100%+0% \"<>\""
   :utils "mpv"
   :no-progress t
   :error-autofocus t
   :silent-success t))

The typical progress bar kinda got in the way, so I added a new option :no-progress to dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files, so it can be used for cases like this one.

An accentuated Emacs experiment (à la macOS)

Sat, 30 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

macOS has a wonderful input mechanism where you press and hold a key on your keyboard to display the accent menu. It's easy to internalize: long press "a" if you want to input "á".

On Emacs, C-x 8 ' a would be the equivalent, but it just didn't stick for me. Fortunately, there's an alternative, using dead keys. Mickey Petersen gives a wonderful introduction. Having said all this, I still longed for macOS's input mechanism.

Thanks to Christian Tietze's post, I discovered the accent package. While it doesn't handle press-and-hold, it does the heavy lifting of offering a menu with character options. If I could just bring that press-and-hold…

My initial attempt was to use key chords (via use-package):

(use-package accent
  :ensure t
  :chords (("aa" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("ee" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("ii" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("oo" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("uu" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("AA" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("EE" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("II" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("OO" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("UU" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("nn" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("NN" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("??" . ar/spanish-accent-menu)
           ("!!" . ar/spanish-accent-menu))
  :config
  (defun ar/spanish-accent-menu ()
    (interactive)
    (let ((accent-diacritics
           '((a (á))
             (e (é))
             (i (í))
             (o (ó))
             (u (ú ü))
             (A (Á))
             (E (É))
             (I (Í))
             (O (Ó))
             (U (Ú Ü))
             (n (ñ))
             (N (Ñ))
             (\? (¿))
             (! (¡)))))
      (ignore-error quit
        (accent-menu)))))

While it kinda works, "nn" quickly got in the way of my n/p magit navigation. Perhaps key chords are still an option for someone who doesn't need the "nn" chord, but being a Spanish speaker, I need that "ñ" from long "n" presses!

I'm now trying a little experiment using an after-change-functions hook to monitor text input and present the accent menu. I'm sure there's a better way (anyone with ideas?). For now, it gives me something akin to press-and-hold.

I'm wrapping the hook with a minor mode to easily enable/disable whenever needed. I'm also overriding accent-diacritics to only include the characters I typically need.

(use-package accent
  :ensure t
  :hook ((text-mode . accent-menu-mode)
         (org-mode . accent-menu-mode)
         (message-mode . accent-menu-mode))
  :config
  (setq accent-diacritics '((a (á))
                            (e (é))
                            (i (í))
                            (o (ó))
                            (u (ú ü))
                            (A (Á))
                            (E (É))
                            (I (Í))
                            (O (Ó))
                            (U (Ú Ü))
                            (n (ñ))
                            (N (Ñ))
                            (\? (¿))
                            (! (¡))))
  (defvar accent-menu-monitor--last-edit-time nil)

  (define-minor-mode accent-menu-mode
    "Toggle `accent-menu' if repeated keys are detected."
    :lighter " accent-menu mode"
    (if accent-menu-mode
        (progn
          (remove-hook 'after-change-functions #'accent-menu-monitor--text-change t)
          (add-hook 'after-change-functions #'accent-menu-monitor--text-change 0 t))
      (remove-hook 'after-change-functions #'accent-menu-monitor--text-change t)))

  (defun accent-menu-monitor--text-change (beginning end length)
    "Monitors text change BEGINNING, END, and LENGTH."
    (let ((last-edit-time accent-menu-monitor--last-edit-time)
          (edit-time (float-time)))
      (when (and (> end beginning)
                 (eq length 0)
                 last-edit-time
                 (not undo-in-progress)
                 ;; 0.27 seems to work for my macOS keyboard settings.
                 ;; Key Repeat: Fast | Delay Until Repeat: Short.
                 (< (- edit-time last-edit-time) 0.27)
                 (float-time (time-subtract (current-time) edit-time))
                 (accent-menu-monitor--buffer-char-string (1- beginning))
                 (seq-contains-p (mapcar (lambda (item)
                                           (symbol-name (car item)))
                                         accent-diacritics)
                                 (accent-menu-monitor--buffer-char-string beginning))
                 (string-equal (accent-menu-monitor--buffer-char-string (1- beginning))
                               (accent-menu-monitor--buffer-char-string beginning)))
        (delete-backward-char 1)
        (ignore-error quit
          (accent-menu)))
      (setq accent-menu-monitor--last-edit-time edit-time)))

  (defun accent-menu-monitor--buffer-char-string (at)
    (when (and (>= at (point-min))
               (< at (point-max)))
      (buffer-substring-no-properties at (+ at 1)))))

As a bonus, it ocurred to me that I could use the same press-and-hold to handle question marks in Spanish (from my UK keyboard).

dwim-shell-command improvements

Thu, 28 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Added a few improvements to dwim-shell-command.

Dired region

In DWIM style, if you happen to have a dired region selected, use region files instead. There's no need to explicitly mark them.

Clipboard (kill-ring) replacement

Use <> to substitute with clipboard content. This is handy for cloning git repos, using a URL copied from your browser.

git clone <>

This illustrates <> usage, but you may want to use dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-clipboard-url from dwim-shell-commands.el instead. It does the same thing internally, but makes the command more accessible.

(defun dwim-shell-commands-git-clone-clipboard-url ()
  "Clone git URL in clipboard to `default-directory'."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   (format "Clone %s" (file-name-base (current-kill 0)))
   "git clone <>"
   :utils "git"))

Counter replacement

Use <> to substitute with a counter. You can also use <<3n>> to start the counter at 3.

Handy if you'd like to consistently rename or copy files.

mv '<>' 'image(<>).png'

Can also use an alphabetic counter with <>. Like the numeric version, can use any letter to start the counter with.

mv '<>' 'image(<>).png'

Prefix counter

Use a prefix command argument on dwim-shell-commands to repeat the command a number of times. Combined with a counter, you can make multiple copies of a single file.

Optional error prompt

Set dwim-shell-command-prompt-on-error to nil to skip error prompts. Focus process buffers automatically instead.

Configurable prompt

By default, dwim-shell-command shows all supported placeholders. You can change that prompt to something shorter using dwim-shell-command-prompt.

⚠️ Use with care ⚠️

The changes are pretty fresh. Please use with caution (specially the counter support).

dwim-shell-command on Melpa

Sun, 24 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

<> gets replaced by a clipboard (kill ring) URL

My pull request to add dwim-shell-command to melpa has been merged. Soon, you'll be able to install directly from Milkypostman’s Emacs Lisp Package Archive.

dwim-shell-command is another way to invoke shell commands from our beloved editor. Why a different way? It does lots of little things for you, removing friction you didn't realise you had. You can check out the README, but you'll appreciate it much more once you try it out.

In addition, it's enabled me to bring lots of command-line tools into my Emacs config and make them highly accessible. You can see my usages over at dwim-shell-command-commands.el.

What kind of command-line tools? ffmpeg, convert, gifsycle, atool, qdpf, plutil, qrencode, du, sips, iconutil, and git (so far anyway). Below is a simple example, but would love to hear how you get to use it.

(defun dwim-shell-command-audio-to-mp3 ()
  "Convert all marked audio to mp3(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert to mp3"
   "ffmpeg -stats -n -i '<>' -acodec libmp3lame '<>.mp3'"
   :utils "ffmpeg"))

I've written about dwim-shell-command before:

Irreal's also covered it:

A lifehack for your shell

Sat, 16 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I'm a fan of the unzip command line utility that ships with macOS. I give it a .zip file and it unzips it for me. No flags or arguments to remember (for my typical usages anyway). Most importantly, I've fully internalized the unzip command into muscle memory, probably because of its perfect mnemonic.

But then there's .tar, .tar.gz, .tar.xz, .rar, and a whole world of compression archives, often requiring different tools, flags, etc. and I need to remember those too.

Can't remember where I got this "life hack" from, but it suggests something along the lines of…

::: center Once you find a lost item at home, place it in the first spot you looked. :::

Great, I'll find things quickly. Win.

Now, I still remember a couple of unarchiving commands from memory (looking at you tar xvzf), but I've noticed the first word that pops into mind when extracting is always unzip.

There's the great atool wrapper out there to extract all kinds of archives (would love to hear of others), but unlucky for me, its name never comes to mind as quickly as unzip does.

With "life hack" in mind, let's just create an unzip eshell alias to atool. Next time I need to unarchive anything, the first word that comes to mind (unzip!) will quickly get me on my way…

alias unzip 'atool --extract --explain $1'

Or if you prefer to add to your Emacs config:

(eshell/alias "unzip" "atool --extract --explain $1")

While I'm fan of Emacs eshell, it's not everyone's cup of tea. Lucky for us all, aliases are a popular feature across shells. Happy unzipping!

Bonus

Since I'm a keen on using "unzip" mnemonic everywhere in Emacs (not just my shell), I now have a DWIM shell-command for it:

(defun dwim-shell-command-unzip ()
  "Unzip all marked archives (of any kind) using `atool'."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Unzip" "atool --extract --explain '<>'"
   :utils "atool"))

UPDATE:

Lobste.rs has great comments. Thanks all:

Aliases missing on remote machines

Concerns about aliases not available on remote machines. Valid. Certainly brings challenges if you can't modify the environment on the remote machine. The severity would depend on how frequently you have to do this. Fortunately for me, it's infrequent.

Additionally, if accessing remote machine via eshell, this is a non-issue. You get to transparently bring most of your environment with you anyway.

Unzip keyword is overloaded

The alias is overloading the unzip command. I know. It's a little naughty. Going with it for now. I used to use "extract" (also in comments), which I still like but somehow "unzip" still wins my memory race. There's also "x" (nice option), which seems to originate from prezto. I could consider unzipp, unzip1, or some other variation.

Not sure how I missed this, but there's also an existing alias for atool: aunpack. Could be a great alternative.

Pause before extracting archives

Valid point. In my case, the pause typically happens before I invoke the alias.

Littering

If the archive didn't have a root dir, it can litter your current directory. Indeed a pain to clean up. For this, we can atool's --subdir param to always create subdirectory when extracting.

Alias to retrain

Neat trick: alias unzip = “echo ‘use atool’” to help retrain yourself. Reminds me of Emacs guru-mode.

atool alternatives

Nice to see other options suggested dtrx (comment), archiver (comment), unar (comment), bsdtar from libarchive (comment), unp, patool, and the tangentially related zgrep (comment).

Emacs zones to lift you up

Wed, 13 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

As I prune my Emacs config off, I came across a forgotten bit of elisp I wrote about 6 years ago. While it's not going to power up your Emacs fu, it may lift your spirits, or maybe just aid discovery of new words.

You see, I had forgotten about zone.el altogether: a fabulous package to tickle your heart. You can think of it as screensaver built into Emacs.

If the built-in zones don't do it for ya, check out the few on melpa (nyan, sl, and rainbow).

So, my nostalgic bit of elisp dates Jun 17 2016: a basic but functional zone (zone-words), displaying words from WordNet. Surely the package can use plenty of improvements (here's one), but hey this is Emacs and pretty much all existing code will run, no matter how old. In Emacs time, 2016 is practically yesterday!

Emacs: DWIM shell command (multi-language)

Sun, 10 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: dwim-shell-command is now available on melpa.

I keep on goofying around with dwim-shell-command and it's sibling dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files from dwim-shell-command.el.

In addition to defaulting to zsh, dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files now support other shells and languages. This comes in handy if you have snippets in different languages and would like to easily invoke them from Emacs. Multi-language support enables "using the best tool for the job" kinda thing. Or maybe you just happen to know how to solve a particular problem in a specific language.

Let's assume you have an existing Python snippet to convert files from csv to json. With dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files, you can invoke the Python snippet to operate on either dired or buffer files.

(defun dwim-shell-command-csv-to-json-via-python ()
  "Convert csv file to json (via Python)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert csv file to json (via Python)."
   "
import csv
import json
text = json.dumps({ \"values\": list(csv.reader(open('<>')))})
fpath = '<>.json'
with open(fpath , 'w') as f:
  f.write(text)"
   :shell-util "python"
   :shell-args "-c"))

Or, maybe you prefer Swift and already had a snippet for the same thing?

(defun dwim-shell-command-csv-to-json-via-swift ()
  "Convert csv file to json (via Swift)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert csv file to json (via Swift)."
   "
    import Foundation
    import TabularData
    let filePath = \"<>\"
    print(\"reading \\(filePath)\")
    let content = try String(contentsOfFile: filePath).trimmingCharacters(in: .whitespacesAndNewlines)
    let parsedCSV = content.components(separatedBy: CSVWritingOptions().newline).map{
      $0.components(separatedBy: \",\")
    }
    let jsonEncoder = JSONEncoder()
    let jsonData = try jsonEncoder.encode([\"value\": parsedCSV])
    let json = String(data: jsonData, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8)
    let outURL = URL(fileURLWithPath:\"<>.json\")
    try json!.write(to: outURL, atomically: true, encoding: String.Encoding.utf8)
    print(\"wrote \\(outURL)\")"
   :shell-pipe "swift -"))

You can surely solve the same problem in elisp, but hey it's nice to have options and flexibility.

png to icns (Emacs DWIM style)

Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: dwim-shell-command is now available on melpa.

Since writing a DWIM version of the shell-command, I've been having a little fun revisiting command line utilities I sometimes invoke from my beloved editor. In this instance, converting a png file to an icns icon. What's more interesting about this case is that it's not just a one-liner, but a short script in itself. Either way, it's just as easy to invoke from Emacs using dwim-shell-command--on-marked-files.

(defun dwim-shell-command-convert-image-to-icns ()
  "Convert png to icns icon."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert png to icns icon"
   "
    # Based on http://stackoverflow.com/questions/12306223/how-to-manually-create-icns-files-using-iconutil
    # Note: png must be 1024x1024
    mkdir <>.iconset
    sips -z 16 16 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/icon_16x16.png'
    sips -z 32 32 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/[email protected]'
    sips -z 32 32 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/icon_32x32.png'
    sips -z 64 64 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/[email protected]'
    sips -z 128 128 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/icon_128x128.png'
    sips -z 256 256 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/[email protected]'
    sips -z 256 256 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/[email protected]'
    sips -z 512 512 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/icon_512x512.png'
    sips -z 512 512 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/[email protected]'
    sips -z 1024 1024 '<>' --out '<>.iconset/[email protected]'
    iconutil -c icns '<>.iconset'"
   :utils '("sips" "iconutil")
   :extensions "png"))

Emacs: Password-protect current pdf (revisited)

Sat, 09 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: dwim-shell-command is now available on melpa.

With a recent look at writing DWIM shell commands, I've been revisiting my custom Emacs functions invoking command line utilities.

Take this post, for example, where I invoke qpdf via a elisp. Using the new dwim-shell-command--on-marked-files in dwim-shell-command.el, the code is stripped down to a bare minimum:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-pdf-password-protect ()
  "Password protect pdf."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Password protect pdf"
   (format "qpdf --verbose --encrypt '%s' '%s' 256 -- '<>' '<>_enc.<>'"
           (read-passwd "user-password: ")
           (read-passwd "owner-password: "))
   :utils "qpdf"
   :extensions "pdf"))

Compare the above dwim-shell-command--on-marked-files usage to my previous implementation:

(defun pdf-password-protect ()
  "Password protect current pdf in buffer or `dired' file."
  (interactive)
  (unless (executable-find "qpdf")
    (user-error "qpdf not installed"))
  (unless (equal "pdf"
                 (or (when (buffer-file-name)
                       (downcase (file-name-extension (buffer-file-name))))
                     (when (dired-get-filename nil t)
                       (downcase (file-name-extension (dired-get-filename nil t))))))
    (user-error "no pdf to act on"))
  (let* ((user-password (read-passwd "user-password: "))
         (owner-password (read-passwd "owner-password: "))
         (input (or (buffer-file-name)
                    (dired-get-filename nil t)))
         (output (concat (file-name-sans-extension input)
                         "_enc.pdf")))
    (message
     (string-trim
      (shell-command-to-string
       (format "qpdf --verbose --encrypt '%s' '%s' 256 -- '%s' '%s'"
               user-password owner-password input output))))))

This really changes things for me. I'll be more inclined to add more of these tiny integrations to lots of great command line utilities. Take this recent Hacker News post on ocrmypdf as an example. Their cookbook has lots of examples that can be easily used via dwim-shell-command--on-marked-files.

What command line utils would you use?

Emacs DWIM shell-command

Thu, 07 Jul 2022 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: dwim-shell-command is now available on melpa.

I've talked about DWIM before, where I bend Emacs to help me do what I mean. Emacs is also great for wrapping command-line one-liners with elisp, so I can quickly invoke commands without thinking too much about flags, arguments, etc.

I keep thinking the shell-command is ripe for plenty of enhancements using our DWIM fairydust.

Do what I mean how?

Smart template instantiation

I've drawn inspiration from dired-do-shell-command, which substitutes special characters like * and ? with marked files. I'm also drawing inspiration from org babel's noweb syntax to substitute <> (file path), <> (file path without extension), and <> (extension). My initial preference was to use something like $f, $fne, and $e, but felt they clashed with shell variables.

Operate on dired marked files

This is DWIM, so if we're visiting a dired buffer, the shell command should operate on all the marked files.

Operate on current buffer file

Similarly, if visiting a buffer with an associated file, operate on that file instead.

Automatically take me to created files

Did the command create a new file in the current directory? Take me to it, right away.

Show me output on error

I'm not usually interested in the command output when generating new files, unless there was an error of course. Offer to show it.

Show me output if no new files

Not all commands generate new files, so automatically show me the output for these instances.

Make it easy to create utilities

ffmpeg is awesome, but man I can never remember all the flags and arguments. I may as well wrap commands like these in a convenient elisp function and invoke via execute-extended-command, or my favorite counsel-M-x (with completion), bound to the vital M-x.

All those gifs you see in this post were created with dwim-shell-command-convert-to-gif, powered by the same elisp magic.

(defun dwim-shell-command-convert-to-gif ()
  "Convert all marked videos to optimized gif(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command--on-marked-files
   "Convert to gif"
   "ffmpeg -loglevel quiet -stats -y -i <> -pix_fmt rgb24 -r 15 <>.gif"
   :utils "ffmpeg"))

This makes wrapping one-liners a breeze, so let's do some more…

(defun dwim-shell-command-convert-audio-to-mp3 ()
  "Convert all marked audio to mp3(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert to mp3"
   "ffmpeg -stats -n -i '<>' -acodec libmp3lame '<>.mp3'"
   :utils "ffmpeg"))

(defun dwim-shell-command-convert-image-to-jpg ()
  "Convert all marked images to jpg(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert to jpg"
   "convert -verbose '<>' '<>.jpg'"
   :utils "convert"))

(defun dwim-shell-command-drop-video-audio ()
  "Drop audio from all marked videos."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Drop audio" "ffmpeg -i '<>' -c copy -an '<>_no_audio.<>'"
   :utils "ffmpeg"))

Make it spin ;)

Ok, not quite, but use Emacs's progress-reporter just for kicks.

Use it everywhere

dwim-shell-command covers my needs (so far anyway), so I'm binding it to existing bindings.

(use-package dwim-shell-command
  :bind
  ("M-!" . dwim-shell-command))

(use-package dired
  :bind (:map dired-mode-map
              ([remap dired-do-async-shell-command] . dwim-shell-command)
              ([remap dired-do-shell-command] . dwim-shell-command)
              ([remap dired-smart-shell-command] . dwim-shell-command)))

Bring those command line utilities

On the whole, this really changes things for me. I'll be more inclined to bring command line utilities to seamless Emacs usage. Take this recent Hacker News post on ocrmypdf as an example. Their cookbook has lots of examples that can be easily used via dwim-shell-command--on-marked-files. What command line utilities would you bring?

Where's the code?

UPDATE: dwim-shell-command is now available on melpa.

The code for dwim-shell-command.el is likely a bit rough still, but you can take a peek if interested. Keep in mind this is DWIM, tailored for what ✨I✨ mean. Some of the current behavior may not be your cup of tea, but this is Emacs. You can bend it to do what ✨you✨ mean. Happy Emacsing.

Emacs: Password-protect current pdf

Thu, 02 Jun 2022 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: Check out Password-protect current pdf (revisted) for a simpler version.

Every so often, I need to password-protect a pdf. On macOS, Preview has a simple solution, but I figured there must be a command line utility to make this happen. There are options, but qdf did the job just fine.

qpdf --verbose --encrypt USER-PASSWORD OWNER-PASSWORD KEY-LENGTH -- input.pdf output.pdf

So what does qpdf have to do with Emacs? Command-line utilities are easy to invoke from Emacs via shell-command (M-!), but I don't want to remember the command nor the parameters. I may as well add a function that does what I mean and password-protect either buffers or dired files.

(defun pdf-password-protect ()
    "Password protect current pdf in buffer or `dired' file."
    (interactive)
    (unless (executable-find "qpdf")
      (user-error "qpdf not installed"))
    (unless (equal "pdf"
                   (or (when (buffer-file-name)
                         (downcase (file-name-extension (buffer-file-name))))
                       (when (dired-get-filename nil t)
                         (downcase (file-name-extension (dired-get-filename nil t))))))
      (user-error "no pdf to act on"))
    (let* ((user-password (read-passwd "user-password: "))
           (owner-password (read-passwd "owner-password: "))
           (input (or (buffer-file-name)
                      (dired-get-filename nil t)))
           (output (concat (file-name-sans-extension input)
                           "_enc.pdf")))
      (message
       (string-trim
        (shell-command-to-string
         (format "qpdf --verbose --encrypt '%s' '%s' 256 -- '%s' '%s'"
                 user-password owner-password input output))))))

Plain Org v1.4 released

Sun, 24 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Plain Org v1.4 is now available on the App Store.

I was on a long flight recently 🦘, so I gave list and checkbox editing a little love. There's a couple of other minor improvements included.

If you haven't heard of Plain Org, it gives you access to org files on iPhone while away from your beloved Emacs.

On to v1.4 release notes…

Improved list/checkbox editing

Adding list or checkbox items is traditionally cumbersome via the iPhone's keyboard. This release adds new toolbar actions and smart return to simplify things.

Render form feed characters

Form feed characters are now rendered within expanded headings.

Note: There's a limitation. Form feed characters at the end of a heading aren't currently displayed.

Other

Increased all button tap areas in edit toolbar. This should hopefully improve interaction.

Plain Org v1.3 released

Fri, 15 Apr 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Plain Org v1.3 is now available on the App Store. The update receives a few features, bug fixes, and improvements.

If you haven't heard of Plain Org, it gives you access to org files on iPhone while away from your beloved Emacs.

On to v1.3 release notes…

Toggle recurring tasks

You can now toggle recurring tasks with either catchup <2022-04-15 Fri ++1d>, restart <2022-04-15 Fri .+1d>, or cumulate <2022-04-15 Fri +1d> repeaters.

Log state transitions

Fullscreen view

The navigation bar now hides on scroll. This can be enabled/disabled via View > Full Screen menu.

The previous screenshot text comes from Org Mode - Organize Your Life In Plain Text, a magnificent org resource.

Deadline and scheduled date rendered

In the past, SCHEDULED and DEADLINE were rendered (but only one of them at a time). Now both are rendered alongside each other (deadline has an orange tint).

Roundtripping fidelity

Many roundtripping fidelity improvements included in 1.3. Shoutout to u/Oerm who reported unnecessary formatting changes in unmodified areas and helped test all fixes.

Other bug fixes improvements

Disable raw text edit menu when file is not accessible.
Minor improvements to inline editing layouts (vertical height and drawers).
ABRT and HABIT now recognized as a popular keywords.
Improve state transition alignment to match org mode behaviour.
Fixes roundtripping state transition notes (leading to data loss).
Log creation from share sheet.
Increment DEADLINE and SCHEDULED, not just first found.
Roundtrip more whitespace in untouched areas.
Fixes org syntax inadvertently parsed within begin_src blocks (leading to data loss).

Plain Org v1.2.1 released

Sun, 27 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Plain Org v1.2.1 is now available on the App Store. The update receives minor features, bug fixes, and improvements.

If you haven't heard of Plain Org, it gives you access to org files on iPhone while away from your beloved Emacs.

I love org markup, but we (iPhone + org users) are a fairly niche userbase. If you're finding Plain Org useful, please help support this effort by getting the word out. Tell your friends, tweet, or blog about it.

On to v1.2.1 release notes…

Render LOGBOOK

State transitions and LOGBOOK drawers are now recognized and rendered as such.

Either of the following snippets are rendered as togglable LOGBOOK drawers.

* TODO Feed the fish
- State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2022-03-11 Fri 12:23]

* TODO Feed the cat
:LOGBOOK:
- State "DONE"       from "TODO"       [2022-03-11 Fri 12:23]
:END:

Add task to top/bottom

Up until now, tasks were always appended to the bottom of things. This didn't work so well if you like seeing recent items bubbling up to the top.

This version adds a new setting: Settings > Add new tasks to > Top/Bottom, giving you the choice.

Note: Top is the new default value, please change this setting if you'd like to keep the previous behaviour.

Checking for changes

Local file changes aren't always detected via state change notifications, so additional checks are now in place to offer reloading files.

Open inactive files

After adding new tasks via iOS's share sheet, if the item was added to a file other than the active one, offer to open that instead.

Other improvements

Color keyword red/green depending on #+TODO: position.
Round-trip planning order (SCHEDULED, CLOSED, DEADLINE).
Improve tag alignment to match org mode behaviour (best effort, sorry).
Improve vertical spacing prior to lists.
Improve share sheet reliability.
Fix opening local links from list items.
Fix indent for list items without previous content.
Fix race condition in adding TITLE and ID to new files.
Fix incorrect keyword color selection in search toolbar.
Fix menu inadvertently closing.
Fix menu tapping for iPad.

Emacs DWIM: swiper vs isearch vs phi-search

Sat, 26 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

I've talked about DWIM in the past, that wonderful Emacs ability to do what ✨I✨ mean.

Emacs being hyper-configurable, we can always teach it more things, so it can do exactly what we mean.

There are no shortages of buffer searching packages for Emacs. I'm a fan of Oleh Krehel's swiper, but before that, I often relied on the built-in isearch. Swiper is my default goto mechanism and have it bound to C-s (replacing the built-in isearch-forward).

Swiper services most needs until I start combining with other tools. Take keyboard macros and multiple cursors. Both wonderful, but neither can rely on swiper to do their thing. Ok, swiper does, but in a different way.

Rather than binding C-s to swiper, let's write a DWIM function that's aware of macros and multiple cursors. It must switch between swiper, isearch, and phi-search depending on what I want (search buffer, define macro, or search multiple cursors).

Let's also tweak swiper's behavior a little further and prepopulate its search term with the active region. Oh, and I also would like swiper to wrap around (see ivy-wrap). But only swiper, not other ivy utilities. I know, I'm picky, but that's the whole point of DWIM… so here's my function to search forward that does exactly what ✨I✨ mean:

(defun ar/swiper-isearch-dwim ()
  (interactive)
  ;; Are we using multiple cursors?
  (cond ((and (boundp 'multiple-cursors-mode)
              multiple-cursors-mode
              (fboundp  'phi-search))
         (call-interactively 'phi-search))
        ;; Are we defining a macro?
        (defining-kbd-macro
          (call-interactively 'isearch-forward))
        ;; Fall back to swiper.
        (t
         ;; Wrap around swiper results.
         (let ((ivy-wrap t))
           ;; If region is active, prepopulate swiper's search term.
           (if (and transient-mark-mode mark-active (not (eq (mark) (point))))
               (let ((region (buffer-substring-no-properties (mark) (point))))
                 (deactivate-mark)
                 (swiper-isearch region))
             (swiper-isearch))))))

The above snippet searches forward, but I'm feeling a little off-balance. Let's write an equivalent to search backwards. We can then bind it to C-r, also overriding the built-in isearch-backward.

(defun ar/swiper-isearch-backward-dwim ()
  (interactive)
  ;; Are we using multiple cursors?
  (cond ((and (boundp 'multiple-cursors-mode)
              multiple-cursors-mode
              (fboundp  'phi-search-backward))
         (call-interactively 'phi-search-backward))
        ;; Are we defining a macro?
        (defining-kbd-macro
          (call-interactively 'isearch-backward))
        ;; Fall back to swiper.
        (t
         ;; Wrap around swiper results.
         (let ((ivy-wrap t))
           ;; If region is active, prepopulate swiper's search term.
           (if (and transient-mark-mode mark-active (not (eq (mark) (point))))
               (let ((region (buffer-substring-no-properties (mark) (point))))
                 (deactivate-mark)
                 (swiper-isearch-backward region))
             (swiper-isearch-backward))))))

These may be on the hacky side of things, but hey… they do the job. If there are better/supported ways of accomplishing a similar thing, I'd love to hear about it.

Grandma's vanilla pound cake

Sat, 12 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

My grandmother Hilda used to bake this for us grandkids. I don't know the origin of the recipe, but my parents, aunts, and cousins, they all bake it too. I'm a big fan, but only get to eat it when visiting. Yesterday, I changed that. Finally baked it myself ø/

Ingredients

200g salted butter
2 cups (400 g) sugar
4 eggs
3 cups (375 g) plain flour
3 teaspoons baking powder
1 tablespoon (15 ml) vanilla extract
1 cup (250 ml) milk
2 tablespoons (30 ml) Málaga Virgen wine (port works too)

Prep

Ensure all ingredients are at room temperature before you start.
Preheat oven at 175C.
Separate egg yolks and whites. Keep both.
Consolidate liquids into a bowl (milk + wine + vanilla).
Consolidate sifted powders into a bowl (flour + baking powder).

Meringue

Beat egg whites into a snowy meringue. Set aside.

Mixer

Beat butter in the mixer until creamy (important).
Add sugar and mix thoroughly ensuring creamy consistency remains (important).
Mix yolks in thoroughly one by one.
Mix in the meringue.
You're done with the mixer.

Hand mixing

With a wooden spoon, alternate hand mixing the liquids and the powders. Start with liquids and end with powders.

Pour into mould

Pour the mix into a non-stick baking mould.

Bake

Bake in oven between 60 and 70 mins, but don’t be afraid to leave longer if needed. Mileage varies across ovens.
Use a cake tester after 60 minutes to decide how much longer to bake for (if needed).

Emacs: viewing webp images

Sat, 05 Mar 2022 00:00:00 GMT

There's a recent reddit post asking how to view webp images in Emacs. I didn't know the answer, but it's something I had wanted for some time. This post was a nice reminder to go and check things out. Was happy to contribute an answer.

Turns out, it's very simple. Just set image-use-external-converter and install relevant external tools.

(setq image-use-external-converter t)

I'm a use-package user, so I prefer to set with:

(use-package image
  :custom
  ;; Enable converting external formats (ie. webp) to internal ones.
  (image-use-external-converter t))

So what are the external tools needed? C-h v image-use-external-converter gives us the info we need:

If non-nil, create-image will use external converters for exotic formats.

Emacs handles most of the common image formats (SVG, JPEG, PNG, GIF and some others) internally, but images that don't have native support in Emacs can still be displayed if an external conversion program (like ImageMagick "convert", GraphicsMagick "gm" or "ffmpeg") is installed.

This variable was added, or its default value changed, in Emacs 27.1.

I happen to be a macOS user, so I install ImageMagick with:

brew install imagemagick

Emacs: Fuzzy search Apple's online docs

Mon, 21 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

When building software for the Apple ecosystem, Xcode is often the editor of choice. With Emacs being my personal preference, I rarely find other iOS devs with a similar mindset.

When I saw Mikael Konradsson's post describing his Emacs Swift development setup, I reached out to say hello. While exchanging tips and tricks, the topic of searching Apple's docs came up. It had been a while since I looked into this, so it was a great reminder to revisit the space.

Back in June 2020, I wrote a snippet to fuzzy search hackingwithswift.com, using Emacs's ivy completion framework. With a similar online API, we could also search Apple's docs. Turns out, there is and we can we can use it to search developer.apple.com from our beloved editor.

;;; counsel-apple-search.el -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-

(defun ar/counsel-apple-search ()
  "Ivy interface for dynamically querying apple.com docs."
  (interactive)
  (require 'request)
  (require 'json)
  (require 'url-http)
  (ivy-read "apple docs: "
            (lambda (input)
              (let* ((url (url-encode-url (format "https://developer.apple.com/search/search_data.php?q=%s" input)))
                     (c1-width (round (* (- (window-width) 9) 0.3)))
                     (c2-width (round (* (- (window-width) 9) 0.5)))
                     (c3-width (- (window-width) 9 c1-width c2-width)))
                (or
                 (ivy-more-chars)
                 (let ((request-curl-options (list "-H" (string-trim (url-http-user-agent-string)))))
                   (request url
                     :type "GET"
                     :parser 'json-read
                     :success (cl-function
                               (lambda (&key data &allow-other-keys)
                                 (ivy-update-candidates
                                  (mapcar (lambda (item)
                                            (let-alist item
                                              (propertize
                                               (format "%s   %s   %s"
                                                       (truncate-string-to-width (propertize (or .title "")
                                                                                             'face '(:foreground "yellow")) c1-width nil ?\s "…")
                                                       (truncate-string-to-width (or .description "") c2-width nil ?\s "…")
                                                       (truncate-string-to-width (propertize (string-join (or .api_ref_data.languages "") "/")
                                                                                             'face '(:foreground "cyan1")) c3-width nil ?\s "…"))
                                               'url .url)))
                                          (cdr (car data)))))))
                   0))))
            :action (lambda (selection)
                      (browse-url (concat "https://developer.apple.com"
                                          (get-text-property 0 'url selection))))
            :dynamic-collection t
            :caller 'ar/counsel-apple-search))

Plain Org v1.2 released

Sun, 13 Feb 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Although Plain Org v1.2 has been in the App Store for a little while, the release write-up was overdue, sorry. The update receives some new features and bugfixes.

If you haven't heard of Plain Org, it gives ya access to your org files on iOS while away from your beloved Emacs.

If you're finding Plain Org useful, please help support this effort by getting the word out. Tell your friends, tweet, or blog about it.

Ok, now on to what's included in the v1.2 release…

Edit heading sections inline

v1.0 introduced outline editing (for headings only). In v1.2, we can also edit section content. Press the return key multiple times to exit out section editing.

Filter by keyword/priority/tag

From the search dialog, you can now filter by keyboard, priority, and tag.

Render drawers and properties

Drawers are now rendered and can be expanded to view their content.

Open files via the Files app's "Share" sheet

From the Files app, you can now explicitly request launching files in Plain Org by using the "Share" menu.

Render LaTeX src blocks (experimental)

This one has its rough edges at the moment, so have to mark it [experimental]{.underline}, but… you can can now render #+begin_src latex blocks.

Insert title/id in new files

New files created via Plain Org automatically get #+TITLE: and :ID: inserted by default as follows:

#+TITLE: My favorite title
:PROPERTIES:
:ID:       7C845D38-8D80-41B5-BEB1-94F673807355
:END:

UPDATE: Sorry, this feature currently has a bug. You may not get these values inserted into your new document. Working on a fix.

Adding new tags quicker

Add tags quicker via the new + button.

Enable/disable sticky tags

Keywords, indent, and tags are maintained when adding new headings via outline editing. If you prefer disabling sticky tags, this can now be disabled.

Improved navigation bar

v1.2 makes the navigation bar feel more at home on your iPhone. It uses a large title which scrolls into the navigation bar.

Bugfixes

Fix table rendering for iPad width.
Fix image's horizontal padding.
Fix adding new tags on new headings.
Fix snapshotting bug resulting in Syncthing conflicts.
Fix tapping menu after presenting other dialogs.
Filter out parenthesis in file-local keywords like TODO(t).
Commit pending inline changes if search is requested.
Fix opening local links inside tables.
Roundtrip whitespace in empty headings.
Roundtrip trailing whitespace when raw-editing heading content.
Tapping on body content should not toggle expansion.

Happy New Year and forming new habits

Mon, 03 Jan 2022 00:00:00 GMT

Hacker News has a summary of Atomic Habits (the book). In my case, I really enjoyed reading the entire book. I liked its narrative, mixing [actionable]{.underline} and [concrete]{.underline} advice with personal stories and experiments.

After reading Atomic Habits during the first lockdown, I was excited to try out its actionables, specially tracking to keep me honest.

I tried a bunch of iOS apps, but wanted no friction, no tracking, no cloud, no social, no analytics, no account, etc. so eventually built Flat Habits (flathabits.com). Also wanted to own my habit data (as plain text), so I made sure Flat Habits stored its data locally as an org file.

I'm an Emacs nutter and can say the strength in habit tracking lies in removing daily friction from the tracking process itself. A quickly accessible mobile app can really help with that. For me, Emacs plays a less important role here. The plain text part is cherry on top (bringing piece of mind around lock-in). In my case, it's been months since I looked at the plain text file itself from an Emacs org buffer. The iOS app, on the other hand, gets daily usage.

As for forming lasting habits (the actual goal here)… it's been well over a year since I started running as a regular form of exercise. While reading Atomic Habits really changed how I think of habits, a tracker played a crucial part in the daily grind. I happen to have built a tracker that plays nice with Emacs.

It's a new year. If you're looking at forming new habits, you may want some inspiration and also practical and concrete guidance. The book Atomic Habits can help with that. You can decide on which apps and how to implement the tracking process later on. Pen and paper is also a viable option and there are plenty of templates you can download.

There's a surplus of habit-tracking apps on the app stores. I built yet another one for iOS, modeled after my needs.

Plain Org v1.1 released 🎄☃️

Sun, 12 Dec 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Plain Org v1.1 is now available on the App Store. The update receives new features and bugfixes.

If you're finding Plain Org useful, please help support this effort by getting the word out. Tell your friends, tweet, or blog about it.

What is Plain Org?

Ok, now on to what's included in the v1.1 release…

Compact mode

By default, Plain Org layout uses generous padding. The new option Menu -> View -> Compact mode packs more content into your screen.

Regroup active and inactive tasks

Regrouping tasks now bubbles active ones up. Similarly, inactive tasks drop to the bottom of their node. Changes are persisted to the org file.

Native table rendering

Tables are now rendered natively but also support displaying links and other formatting within cells.

Open local ID links

If your file provider supports granting access to folders, local ID links (ie. id:eb155a82-92b2-4f25-a3c6-0304591af2f9) can now be resolved and opened from Plain Org. Note that for ID links to resolve, other org files must live in either the same directory or a subdirectory.

Fill paragraphs

If your org paragraphs contain newlines optimizing for bigger screens, you can toggle Menu -> View -> Fill paragraph to optimize rendering for your iPhone. This rendering option makes no file modifications.

By the way, the previous screenshot text comes from Org Mode - Organize Your Life In Plain Text, a magnificent org resource.

Show/hide basic scheduling

Use the new Menu -> View -> Scheduling to toggle showing SCHEDULED or DEADLINE dates.

Show/hide tags

Similarly, the new Menu -> View -> Tags option toggles displaying tags.

Native list rendering

Lists are now rendered natively. With the exception of numbered cases, list items now share a common bullet icon. Description lists are also recognized and receive additional formatting when rendered.

- First list item
* Second list item
+ Third list item
1. Numbered list item
+ Term :: Description for term

Numbered checkboxes are now recognized and receive the same formatting and interaction as their non-numbered counterparts.

1. [ ] First checkbox
2. [X] Second checkbox
3. [X] Third checkbox

Reload current file

Plain Org may not be able to automatically reload files for some syncing providers. In those instances, use Menu -> Reload to explicitly request a reload.

Open .txt files

Although .org files are plain text files, they aren't always recognized by other text-editing apps. This release enables opening .txt files, so you can choose to render them in Plain Org, while giving you the option to edit elsewhere.

Bugfixes

Improve vertical whitespace handling.
Fixes rendering edge cases.
Fail gracefully when creating new files on unsupported cloud providers.
Prevent creating new files with redundant extensions.
File access improvements.
Replicates property spacing behaviour using Emacs's org-property-format default value.
Fixes keyword picker border rendering.
Improves rendering performance for large nodes.

Emacs bends again

Sun, 28 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT

While adding more rendering capabilities to Plain Org, it soon became apparent some sort of screenshot/snapshot testing was necessary to prevent regressing existing features. That is, we first generate a rendered snapshot from a given org snippet, followed by some visual inspection, right before we go and save the blessed snapshot (often referred to as golden) to our project. Future changes are validated against the golden snapshot to ensure rendering is still behaving as expected.

Let's say we'd like to validate table rendering with links, we can write a test as follows:

func testTableWithLinks() throws {
  assertSnapshot(
    matching: OrgMarkupText.make(
      """
      | URL                    | Org link    |
      |------------------------+-------------|
      | https://flathabits.com | [[https://flathabits.com][Flat Habits]] |
      | Regular text           | Here too    |
      |------------------------+-------------|
      """),
    as: .image(layout: .sizeThatFits))
}

The corresponding snapshot golden can be seen below.

This is all done rather effortlessly thanks to Point Free's wonderful swift-snapshot-testing utilities.

So what does any of this have to do with Emacs? You see, as I added more snapshot tests and made modifications to the rendering logic, I needed a quick way to visually inspect and override all goldens. All the main pieces were already there, I just needed some elisp glue to bend Emacs my way™.

First, I needed to run my Xcode builds from the command line. This is already supported via xcodebuild. Next, I needed a way to parse test execution data to extract failing tests. David House's xcodebuild-to-json handles this perfectly. What's left? Glue it all up with some elisp.

Beware, the following code snippet is packed with assumptions about my project, it's messy, surely has bugs, can be optimized, etc. But the important point here is that Emacs is such an amazing malleable power tool. Throw some elisp at it and you can to bend it to your liking. After all, it's [your]{.underline} editor.

And so here we are, I can now run snapshot tests from Emacs using my hacked up plainorg-snapshot-test-all function and quickly override (or ignore) all newly generated snapshots by merely pressing y/n keys. Oh, and our beloved web browser was also invited to the party. Press "d" to open two browser tabs if you'd like to take a closer look (not demoed below).

Success. Emacs bends again.

;;; -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-

(defun plainorg-snapshot-test-all ()
  "Invoke xcodebuild, compare failed tests screenshots side-to-side,
and offer to override them."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((project (cdr (project-current)))
         (json-tmp-file (make-temp-file "PlainOrg_Tests_" nil ".json"))
         (default-directory project))
    (unless (file-exists-p (concat project "PlainOrg.xcodeproj"))
      (user-error "Not in PlainOrg project"))
    (set-process-sentinel
     (start-process
      "xcodebuild"
      (with-current-buffer
          (get-buffer-create "*xcodebuild*")
        (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
          (erase-buffer))
        (current-buffer))
      "/usr/bin/xcodebuild"
      "-scheme" "PlainOrg" "-target" "PlainOrgTests" "-destination" "name=iPhone 13" "-quiet" "test")
     (lambda (p e)
       (with-current-buffer (get-buffer "*xcodebuild*")
         (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
           (insert (format "xcodebuild exit code: %d\n\n" (process-exit-status p)))))
       (when (not (eq 0 (process-exit-status p)))
         (set-process-sentinel
          (start-process
           "xcodebuild-to-json"
           "*xcodebuild*"
           "/opt/homebrew/bin/xcodebuild-to-json"
           "--derived-data-folder" (format "/Users/%s/Library/Developer/Xcode/DerivedData/"
                                           (user-login-name)) "--output" json-tmp-file)
          (lambda (p e)
            (with-current-buffer (get-buffer "*xcodebuild*")
              (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
                (insert (format "xcodebuild-to-json exit code: %d\n\n" (process-exit-status p)))))
            (when (= 0 (process-exit-status p))
              (with-current-buffer (get-buffer "*xcodebuild*")
                (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
                  (insert "Screenshot comparison started\n\n")))
              (plainorg--snapshot-process-json (get-buffer "*xcodebuild*") json-tmp-file)
              (with-current-buffer (get-buffer "*xcodebuild*")
                (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
                  (insert "\nScreenshot comparison finished\n"))
                (read-only-mode +1))))))))
    (switch-to-buffer-other-window "*xcodebuild*")))

(defun plainorg--snapshot-process-json (result-buffer json)
  "Find all failed snapshot tests in JSON and offer to override
 screenshots, comparing them side to side."
  (let ((hashtable (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*build json*")
                     (erase-buffer)
                     (insert-file-contents json)
                     (json-parse-buffer))))
    (mapc
     (lambda (item)
       (when (equal (gethash "id" item)
                    "SnapshotTests")
         (mapc
          (lambda (testCase)
            (when (and (gethash "failureMessage" testCase)
                       (string-match-p "Snapshot does not match reference"
                                       (gethash "failureMessage" testCase)))
              (let* ((paths (plainorg--snapshot-screenshot-paths
                             (gethash "failureMessage" testCase)))
                     (override-result (plainorg--snapshot-override-image
                                       "Expected screenshot"
                                       (nth 0 paths) ;; old
                                       "Actual screenshot"
                                       (nth 1 paths) ;; new
                                       (nth 0 paths))))
                (when override-result
                  (with-current-buffer result-buffer
                    (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
                      (insert override-result)
                      (insert "\n")))))))
          (gethash "testCases" item))))
     (gethash "classes" (gethash "details" hashtable)))))

(defun plainorg--snapshot-screenshot-paths (failure-message)
  "Extract a paths list from FAILURE-MESSAGE of the form:

failed - Snapshot does not match reference.

@−
\"/path/to/expected/screenshot.1.png\"
@+
\"/path/to/actual/screenshot.1.png\"

Newly-taken snapshot does not match reference.
"
  (mapcar
   (lambda (line)
     (string-remove-suffix "\""
                           (string-remove-prefix "\"" line)))
   (seq-filter
    (lambda (line)
      (string-prefix-p "\"" line))
    (split-string failure-message "\n"))))

(defun plainorg--snapshot-override-image (old-buffer old new-buffer new destination)
  (let ((window-configuration (current-window-configuration))
        (action)
        (result))
    (unwind-protect
        (progn
          (delete-other-windows)
          (split-window-horizontally)
          (switch-to-buffer (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create old-buffer)
                              (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
                                (erase-buffer))
                              (insert-file-contents old)
                              (image-mode)
                              (current-buffer)))
          (switch-to-buffer-other-window (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create new-buffer)
                                           (let ((inhibit-read-only t))
                                             (erase-buffer))
                                           (insert-file-contents new)
                                           (image-mode)
                                           (current-buffer)))
          (while (null result)
            (setq action (read-char-choice (format "Override %s? (y)es (n)o (d)iff in browser? "
                                                   (file-name-base old))
                                           '(?y ?n ?d ?q)))
            (cond ((eq action ?n)
                   (setq result
                         (format "Keeping old %s" (file-name-base old))))
                  ((eq action ?y)
                   (copy-file new old t)
                   (setq result
                         (format "Overriding old %s" (file-name-base old))))
                  ((eq action ?d)
                   (shell-command (format "open -a Firefox %s --args --new-tab" old))
                   (shell-command (format "open -a Firefox %s --args --new-tab" new)))
                  ((eq action ?q)
                   (set-window-configuration window-configuration)
                   (setq result (format "Quit %s" (file-name-base old)))))))
      (set-window-configuration window-configuration)
      (kill-buffer old-buffer)
      (kill-buffer new-buffer))
    result))

Plain Org has joined the chat (iOS)

Wed, 10 Nov 2021 00:00:00 GMT

The App Store is a crowded space when it come to markdown apps. A quick search yields a wonderful wealth of choice. Kinda overwhelming, but a great problem to have nonetheless.

For those of us with org as our markup of choice, the App Store is far less crowded. I wish we could fill more than a screen's worth of search results, so you know… I could show you another pretty gif scrolling through org results. For now, we'll settle on a single frame showcasing our 4 org options.

Beorg, MobileOrg, Flat Habits, and Orgro are all great options. Each with strengths of their own. Organice, while not on the App Store, is another option for those looking for a web alternative. Of these, I had already authored one of them. More on that in a sec… You see, about a year ago I wanted to play with Swift, SPM, and lsp itself. Also, having Swift code completion in Emacs via lsp-sourcekit sounded like a fun thing to try out, so I started using it while writing a Swift org parser.

While working on the parser, I happened to be reading Atomic Habits (awesome book btw)… It was also a great time to play around with SwiftUI, which by the way, is pretty awesome too. With Atomic Habits fresh in mind, org parser in one hand, and SwiftUI in the other, I built Flat Habits: a lightweight habit tracker powered by org.

I love being able to save habit data to plain text and easily track on my iPhone (via Flat Habits) or laptop (via Emacs). I wanted to extend similar convenience to org tasks, so I built Plain Org.

My previous post mentioned quickly adding new tasks and searching existing ones as Plain Org's driving goals. Of course, neither of those are as useful without automatic cloud syncing, so pluging into iOS's third party cloud support was a must-have.

With these baseline features in place, I started an alpha/beta group via TestFlight. Early Plain Org adopters have been wonderfully supportive, given lots of great feedback, and helped shape the initial feature set you see below.

There's plenty more that can be supported, but hey let's get v1 out the door. Gotta start somewhere.

Plain Org v1 features

View and edit your org mode tasks while on the go.
Beautifully rendered org markup.
Sync your org files using your favorite cloud provider.
Create new files.
Outline-style editing with toolbar
- Keywords
- Indent
- Priority
- Tags
- Formatting: bold, italic, underline, strikethrough, verbatim, and code.
Add links from Safari via share extension.
Add new tasks via Spotlight.
Reorder headings via drag/drop.
Checkboxes
- Interactive toggling.
- Quickly reset multiple checkboxes.
Follow local links.
Show inline images.
File-local keywords and visibility.
Filter open/closed tasks.
Show/hide stars.
Edit raw text.
Light/dark mode.

Plain Org joins the chat

Today Plain Org joins the likes of Beorg, MobileOrg, Flat Habits, and Orgro on the App Store.

This post was written in org mode.

Plain Org for iOS (a month later)

Sun, 19 Sep 2021 00:00:00 GMT

A month ago, I posted about my desire to bring org tasks/TODOs to iOS and make them quickly available from my iPhone.

Since then, I've received some great feedback, which I've been slowly chipping away at. My intent isn't so much to move my org workflow over to iOS, but to supplement Emacs while away from my laptop.

As of now, this is what the inline edit experience looks like:

If, like me, you prefer dark mode. The app's got ya covered:

Plain Org is not yet available on the App Store, but you can get a TestFlight invite if you send me an email address. Ping me on reddit, twitter, or email me at "plainorg" + "@" + "xenodium.com".

You can also check out progress over at the r/plainorg subreddit.

Org habits on iOS? Check! Tasks, you're next

Thu, 19 Aug 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I'm an org mode fan. This blog is powered by org. It's more of an accidental blog that started as a single org file keeping notes. I use org babel too. Oh and org habits. My never-ending list of TODOs is also powered by org. I manage all of this from Emacs and peek at TODOs using org agenda. This all works really well while I'm sitting in front of my laptop running Emacs.

But then I'm away from my laptop… and I need to quickly record habits on the go. I need it to be low-friction. Ssh'ing to an Emacs instance from a smartphone isn't an option. I'm an iPhone user, so whatever the solution, it should play nice with Emacs and org mode. I built Flat Habits for habit tracking and I'm fairly happy with the result. As of today, my longest-tracked habit is on a 452-day streak.

Moving on to org tasks/TODOs… I want something fairly frictionless while on the go. With Flat Habits as a stepping stone, I can now reuse some parts to build Plain Org. This new app should give me quick access to my tasks. The two driving goals are: quickly add new tasks and search existing ones while away from my laptop. Ok, maybe basic editing helps too. Oh and it should sync over cloud, of course.

I now have an early implementation of sorts, available on TestFlight. If you'd like to give it a try, send me an email address to receive the the invite. Ping me on reddit, twitter, or email me at "plainorg" + "@" + "xenodium.com".

Flat Habits 1.1 released

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Flat Habits 1.1 is now available on the App Store. Flat Habits is a habit tracker that’s mindful of your time, data, and privacy. It's powered by org plain text markup, enabling you to use your favorite editor (Emacs, Vim, VSCode, etc.) to poke at your habit data.

What's new?

This release implements a few of features requested by users.

Multiday weekly habits

This is the chunkiest addition and most requested feature. You can now select multiple days when scheduling weekly habits.

Historical management

Sometimes you forget to mark a habit done or make a mistake toggling one. Either way, you can now toggle any habit day from the calendar/streak view.

Long tap

Long tap shows you the editing option available for that day.

Short tap

Short tap typically toggles between "Done" and "Not done".

Where's today?

A few folks rightfully asked for today's date to be highlighted in the calendar view, and so we now have a red circle.

Improved error messages

Hopefully you don't run into issues, but if you do, I hope the app helps ya sort them out.

Bugfixes

Tapping on blur now dismisses habit edit dialog.
Future habits now longer editable.
Skipped habits no longer have a default tap action.
Undoing from streak/calendar view now refreshes correctly.
Undoing habit addition on iPad removes streak/calendar view.

macOS: Show in Finder / Show in Emacs

Sun, 11 Jul 2021 00:00:00 GMT

From Christian Tietze's Open macOS Finder Window in Emacs Dired, I learned about reveal-in-osx-finder. This is handy for the few times I want to transition from Emacs to Finder for file management. I say few times since Emacs's directory editor, dired, is just awesome. I've written about dired customizations here and here, but since dired is just another buffer, you can apply your Emacs magic like multiple cursors to batch rename files in an editable dired buffer.

To transition from macOS Finder to Emacs, Christian offers an Emacs interactive command that fetches Finder's location and opens a dired buffer via AppleScript. On a similar note, I learned from redditor u/pndc that Finder's proxy icons can be dragged over to Emacs, which handily drops ya into a dired buffer.

With these two solutions in mind, I looked into a third one to offer a context menu option in Finder to show the file in Emacs. This turned out to be fairly easy using Automator, which I've rarely used.

I created a flow that runs a shell script to "Show in Emacs", revealing the selected file or folder in an dired buffer. This is similar to Christian's solution, but invoked from Finder itself. The flow also uses dired-goto-file which moves the point (cursor) to the file listed under dired.

current_dir=$(dirname "$1")
osascript -e 'tell application "Emacs" to activate'
path/to/emacsclient --eval "(progn (dired \"$current_dir\") (dired-goto-file \"$1\"))"

As a bonus, I added an "Open in Emacs" option, which does as it says on the tin. Rather than show the file listed in a dired buffer, it gets Emacs to open it in your favorite major mode. This option is not technically needed since Finder already provides an "Open With" context menu, but it does remove a few click here and there.

osascript -e 'tell application "Emacs" to activate'
/Users/alvaro/homebrew/bin/emacsclient --eval "(find-file \"$1\")"

On a side note, Emacs defaults to creating new frames when opening files via "Open With" menu (or "open -a Emacs foo.txt"). I prefer to use my existing Emacs frame, which can be accomplished by setting ns-pop-up-frames to nil.

(setq ns-pop-up-frames nil)

Emacs: smarter search and replace

Sun, 27 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Not long ago, I made a note to go back and read Mac for Translators's Emacs regex with Emacs lisp post. The author highlights Emacs's ability to apply additional logic when replacing text during a search-and-replace session. It does so by leveraging elisp expressions.

Coincidentally, a redditor recently asked What is the simplest way to apply a math formula to all numbers in a buffer/region? Some of the answers also point to search and replace leveraging elisp expressions.

While I rarely need to apply additional logic when replacing matches, it's nice to know we have options available in our Emacs toolbox. This prompted me to check out replace-regexp's documentation (via M-x describe-function or my favorite M-x helpful-callable). There's lots in there. Go check its docs out. You may be pleasantly surprised by all the features packed under this humble function.

For instance, \& expands to the current match. Similarly, \#& expands to the current match, fed through string-to-number. But what if you'd like to feed the match to another function? You can use \, to signal evaluation of an elisp expression. In other words, you could multiply by 3 using \,(* 3 \#&) or inserting whether a number is odd or even with something like \,(if (oddp \#&) "(odd)" "(even)").

Take the following text:

We can label each value "(odd)" or "(even)" as well as multiply by 3, by invoking replace-regexp as follows:

M-x replace-regexp

[PCRE] Replace regex:

[-0-9.]+

Replace regex [-0-9.]+:

\& \,(if (oddp \#&) "(odd)" "(even)") x 3 = \,(* 3 \#&)

1 (odd) x 3 = 3
2 (even) x 3 = 6
3 (odd) x 3 = 9
4 (even) x 3 = 12
5 (odd) x 3 = 15
6 (even) x 3 = 18

It's worth noting that replace-regexp's cousin query-replace-regexp also handles all this wonderful magic.

Happy searching and replacing!

Previewing SwiftUI layouts in Emacs (revisited)

Sun, 20 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Back in May 2020, I shared a snippet to extend ob-swift to preview SwiftUI layouts using Emacs org blocks.

When I say extend, I didn't quite modify ob-swift itself, but rather advised org-babel-execute:swift to modify its behavior at runtime.

Fast-forward to June 2021 and Scott Nicholes reminded me there's still interest in org babel SwiftUI support. ob-swift seems a little inactive, but no worries there. The package offers great general-purpose Swift support. On the other hand, SwiftUI previews can likely live as a single-purpose package all on its own… and so I set off to bundle the rendering functionality into a new ob-swiftui package.

Luckily, org babel's documentation has a straightforward section to help you develop support for new babel languages. They simplified things by offering template.el, which serves as the foundation for your language implementation. For the most part, it's a matter of searching, replacing strings, and removing the bits you don't need.

The elisp core of ob-swiftui is fairly simple. It expands the org block body, inserts the expanded body into a temporary buffer, and finally feeds the code to the Swift toolchain for execution.

(defun org-babel-execute:swiftui (body params)
  "Execute a block of SwiftUI code in BODY with org-babel header PARAMS.
This function is called by `org-babel-execute-src-block'"
  (message "executing SwiftUI source code block")
  (with-temp-buffer
    (insert (ob-swiftui--expand-body body params))
    (shell-command-on-region
     (point-min)
     (point-max)
     "swift -" nil 't)
    (buffer-string)))

The expansion in ob-swiftui–expand-body is a little more interesting. It decorates the block's body, so it can become a fully functional and stand-alone SwiftUI macOS app. If you're familiar with Swift and SwiftUI, the code should be fairly self-explanatory.

From an org babel's perspective, the expanded code is executed whenever we press C-c C-c (or M-x org-ctrl-c-ctrl-c) within the block itself.

It's worthing mentioning that our new implementation supports two babel header arguments (results and view). Both extracted from params using map-elt and replaced in the expanded Swift code to enable/disable snapshotting or explicitly setting a SwiftUI root view.

(defun ob-swiftui--expand-body (body params)
  "Expand BODY according to PARAMS and PROCESSED-PARAMS, return the expanded body."
  (let ((write-to-file (member "file" (map-elt params :result-params)))
        (root-view (when (and (map-elt params :view)
                              (not (string-equal (map-elt params :view) "none")))
                     (map-elt params :view))))
    (format
     "
// Swift snippet heavily based on Chris Eidhof's code at:
// https://gist.github.com/chriseidhof/26768f0b63fa3cdf8b46821e099df5ff

import Cocoa
import SwiftUI
import Foundation

let screenshotURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: NSTemporaryDirectory(), isDirectory: true).appendingPathComponent(ProcessInfo.processInfo.globallyUniqueString + \".png\")
let preview = %s

// Body to run.
%s

extension NSApplication {
  public func run(_ view: V) {
    let appDelegate = AppDelegate(view)
    NSApp.setActivationPolicy(.regular)
    mainMenu = customMenu
    delegate = appDelegate
    run()
  }

  public func run(@ViewBuilder view: () -> V) {
    let appDelegate = AppDelegate(view())
    NSApp.setActivationPolicy(.regular)
    mainMenu = customMenu
    delegate = appDelegate
    run()
  }
}

extension NSApplication {
  var customMenu: NSMenu {
    let appMenu = NSMenuItem()
    appMenu.submenu = NSMenu()

    let quitItem = NSMenuItem(
      title: \"Quit \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processName)\",
      action: #selector(NSApplication.terminate(_:)), keyEquivalent: \"q\")
    quitItem.keyEquivalentModifierMask = []
    appMenu.submenu?.addItem(quitItem)

    let mainMenu = NSMenu(title: \"Main Menu\")
    mainMenu.addItem(appMenu)
    return mainMenu
  }
}

class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, NSWindowDelegate {
  var window = NSWindow(
    contentRect: NSRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 414 * 0.2, height: 896 * 0.2),
    styleMask: [.titled, .closable, .miniaturizable, .resizable, .fullSizeContentView],
    backing: .buffered, defer: false)

  var contentView: V

  init(_ contentView: V) {
    self.contentView = contentView
  }

  func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) {
    window.delegate = self
    window.center()
    window.contentView = NSHostingView(rootView: contentView)
    window.makeKeyAndOrderFront(nil)

    if preview {
      screenshot(view: window.contentView!, saveTo: screenshotURL)
      // Write path (without newline) so org babel can parse it.
      print(screenshotURL.path, terminator: \"\")
      NSApplication.shared.terminate(self)
      return
    }

    window.title = \"press q to exit\"
    window.setFrameAutosaveName(\"Main Window\")
    NSApp.activate(ignoringOtherApps: true)
  }
}

func screenshot(view: NSView, saveTo fileURL: URL) {
  let rep = view.bitmapImageRepForCachingDisplay(in: view.bounds)!
  view.cacheDisplay(in: view.bounds, to: rep)
  let pngData = rep.representation(using: .png, properties: [:])
  try! pngData?.write(to: fileURL)
}

// Additional view definitions.
%s
"
     (if write-to-file
         "true"
       "false")
     (if root-view
         (format "NSApplication.shared.run(%s())" root-view)
       (format "NSApplication.shared.run {%s}" body))
     (if root-view
         body
       ""))))

For rendering inline SwiftUI previews in Emacs, we rely on NSView's bitmapImageRepForCachingDisplay to capture an image snapshot. We write its output to a temporary file and piggyback-ride off org babel's :results file header argument to automatically render the image inline.

Here's ob-swiftui inline rendering in action:

When rendering SwiftUI externally, we're effectively running and interacting with the generated macOS app itself.

The two snippets give a general sense of what's needed to enable org babel to handle SwiftUI source blocks. Having said that, the full source and setup instructions are both available on github.

ob-swiftui is now available on melpa.

Blurring the lines between shell and editor

Sat, 19 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I recently tweeted that Vivek Haldar's 10-year old post rings true today just the same. He writes about the levels of Emacs proficiency. All 6 levels are insightful in their own right, but for the sake of this post, let's quote an extract from level 4. Shell inside Emacs:

"And then, you learned about it: M-x shell.

It was all just text. Why did you need another application for it? Why should only the shell prompt be editable? Why can’t I move my cursor up a few lines to where the last command spewed out its results? All these problems simply disappear when your shell (or shells) simply becomes another Emacs buffer, upon which all of the text manipulation power of Emacs can be brought to bear."

In other words, we aren't merely removing shell restrictions, but opening up possibilities…

Take Emacs eshell looping, for example. I use it so infrequently, I could never remember eshell's syntax. I would refer back to EmacsWiki's Eshell For Loop or Mastering Emacs's Mastering Eshell comments for a reminder. It finally dawned on me. I don't need to internalize this eshell syntax. I have YASnippet available like any other buffer. I could just type "for" and let YASnippet do the rest for me.

All I need is a tiny YASnippet:

#name : Eshell for loop
#key : for
# --
for f in ${1:*} { ${2:echo} "$f"; $3} $0

Want a gentle and succinct YASnippet intro? Check out Jake's YASnippet introduction video.

If you're a shell-mode user, YASnippet would have you covered in your favorite shell. The expansion snippet can be modified to a Bash equivalent, giving us the same benefit. We type "for" and let YASnippet expand and hop over arguments. Here's a Bash equivalent emphasizing the hopping a little more:

#name : bash for loop
#key : for
# --
for f in ${1:*}; do ${2:echo} $f; done $0

ps. Looks like vterm, term, or ansi-term work too. See Shane Mulligan's post: Use YASnippets in term and vterm in emacs.

xcodebuild's SPM support (Xcode 11)

Wed, 16 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Had been a while since I looked into generating Xcode projects from a Swift package. On my latest use of the generate-xcodeproj subcommand, I was greeted by a nice ~~warning~~ surprise…

swift package generate-xcodeproj

Xcode can handle Swift packages directly. Similarly, xcodebuild can handle them too. This isn't new. It's likely been available since Xcode 11. I just totally missed it.

Note: I've yet to dig into Xcode 13 beta, as Swift packages may already support the build/test features I was after in xcodebuild (like build/test on Catalyst).

In any case, on to xcodebuild… but let's first create a brand new Swift package.

Creating a Swift package library

mkdir FooBar && cd FooBar
swift package init --type library

List package schemes

We can use xcodebuild to list the available schemes.

xcodebuild -list

Show supported platform, architecture, etc

Similarly, we can list destinations supported for the schemes.

xcodebuild -showdestinations -scheme FooBar

macOS builds

Let's build for macOS, though let's first import UIKit into FooBar.swift. This ensures we get an expected failure when building for macOS.

import UIKit

struct FooBar {
  var text = "Hello, World!"
}

Now let's attempt to build it…

xcodebuild build -quiet -scheme FooBar -destination 'platform=macOS'

The failure expected as UIKit isn't available on your typical macOS builds.

macOS Catalyst builds

We do, however, have Catalyst available, so we can use its variant to build for macOS with UIKit support, and.. voilà!

xcodebuild build -quiet -scheme FooBar -destination 'platform=macOS,variant=Mac Catalyst' && echo \\o/

Emacs org block completion on melpa

Sun, 06 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

When enabled, the character "<" triggers company completion of org blocks.

I get the occasional ping to package the code from this post and publish it on melpa. Finally gave it a go. Moved the code here.

This was my first time publishing on melpa. The process was very smooth. Big thanks to melpa volunteers!

Emacs DWIM: do what ✨I✨ mean

Tue, 01 Jun 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Update: There's a DWIM follow-up for searching.

I was a rather puzzled the first time I spotted DWIM in an Emacs interactive command name. Don't think I remember what the command itself was, but what's important here is that DWIM stands for do what I mean.

I love DWIM interactive commands. They enable commands to be smarter and thus pack more functionality, without incurring the typical cognitive overhead associated with remembering multiple commands (or key bindings). The Emacs manual does a great job describing DWIM for the comment-dwim command:

The word “dwim” is an acronym for “Do What I Mean”; it indicates that this command can be used for many different jobs relating to comments, depending on the situation where you use it.

It's really great to find built-in DWIM-powered Emacs commands. Third-party packages often include them too. I typically gravitate towards these commands and bind them in my Emacs config. Examples being upcase-dwim, downcase-dwim, or mc/mark-all-dwim.

But what if the DWIM command doesn't exist or the author has written a command for what they mean? This is your editor, so you can make it do what you mean.

Take for example, org-insert-link, bound to C-c C-l by default. It's handy for inserting org mode links. I used it so frequently that I quickly internalized its key binding. Having said that, I often found myself doing some lightweight preprocessing prior to invoking org-insert-link. What if I can make org-insert-link do what I mean?

What do I mean?

Use URLs when in clipboard

If the URL is already in the clipboard, don't ask me for it. Just use it.

Use the region too

If I have a region selected and there's a URL in the clipboard, just sort it out without user interaction.

Automatically fetch titles

Automatically fetch URL titles from their HTML tag, but ask me for tweaks before insertion.

Fallback to org-insert-link

If my DWIM rules don't apply, fall back to using good ol' org-insert-link.

My most common use case here is when editing an existing link where I don't want neither its title nor URL automatically handled.

The code

This is your own DWIM command that does what you mean. Strive to write a clean implementation, but hey you can be forgiven for not handling all the cases that other folks may want or inlining more code than usual. The goal is to bend your editor a little, not write an Emacs package.

(defun ar/org-insert-link-dwim ()
  "Like `org-insert-link' but with personal dwim preferences."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((point-in-link (org-in-regexp org-link-any-re 1))
         (clipboard-url (when (string-match-p "^http" (current-kill 0))
                          (current-kill 0)))
         (region-content (when (region-active-p)
                           (buffer-substring-no-properties (region-beginning)
                                                           (region-end)))))
    (cond ((and region-content clipboard-url (not point-in-link))
           (delete-region (region-beginning) (region-end))
           (insert (org-make-link-string clipboard-url region-content)))
          ((and clipboard-url (not point-in-link))
           (insert (org-make-link-string
                    clipboard-url
                    (read-string "title: "
                                 (with-current-buffer (url-retrieve-synchronously clipboard-url)
                                   (dom-text (car
                                              (dom-by-tag (libxml-parse-html-region
                                                           (point-min)
                                                           (point-max))
                                                          'title))))))))
          (t
           (call-interactively 'org-insert-link)))))

Org web tools package

I showed how to write your own DWIM command, so you can make Emacs do what ✨you✨ mean. ar/org-insert-link-dwim was built for my particular needs.

Having said all of this, alphapapa has built a great package with helpers for the org web/link space. It doesn't do what I mean (for now anyway), but it may work for you: org-web-tools: View, capture, and archive Web pages in Org-mode[^2].

Emacs link scraping (2021 edition)

Fri, 28 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

A recent Hacker News post, Ask HN: Favorite Blogs by Individuals, led me to dust off my oldie but trusty command to extract comment links. I use it to dissect these wonderful references more effectively.

You see, I wrote this command back in 2015. We can likely revisit and improve. The enlive package continues to do a fine job fetching, parsing, and querying HTML. Let's improve my code instead… we can shed a few redundant bits and maybe use newer libraries and features.

Most importantly, let's improve the user experience by sanitizing and filtering URLs a little better.

We start by writing a function that looks for a URL in the clipboard and subsequently fetches, parses, and extracts all links found in the target page.

(require 'enlive)
(require 'seq)

(defun ar/scrape-links-from-clipboard-url ()
  "Scrape links from clipboard URL and return as a list. Fails if no URL in clipboard."
  (unless (string-prefix-p "http" (current-kill 0))
    (user-error "no URL in clipboard"))
  (thread-last (enlive-query-all (enlive-fetch (current-kill 0)) [a])
    (mapcar (lambda (element)
              (string-remove-suffix "/" (enlive-attr element 'href))))
    (seq-filter (lambda (link)
                  (string-prefix-p "http" link)))
    (seq-uniq)
    (seq-sort (lambda (l1 l2)
                (string-lessp (replace-regexp-in-string "^http\\(s\\)*://" "" l1)
                              (replace-regexp-in-string "^http\\(s\\)*://" "" l2))))))

Let's chat (current-kill 0) for a sec. No improvement from my previous usage, but let's just say building interactive commands that work with your current clipboard (or kill ring in Emacs terminology) is super handy (see clone git repo from clipboard).

Moving on to sanitizing and filtering URLs… Links often have trailing slashes. Let's flush them. string-remove-suffix to the rescue. This and other handy string-manipulating functions are built into Emacs since 24.4 as part of subr-x.el.

Next, we can keep http(s) links and ditch everything else. The end-goal is to extract links posted by users, so these are typically fully qualified external URLs. seq-filter steps up to the task, included in Emacs since 25.1 as part of the seq.el family. We remove duplicate links using seq-uniq and sort them via seq-sort. All part of the same package.

When sorting, we could straight up use seq-sort and string-lessp and nothing else, but it would separate http and https links. Let's not do that, so we drop http(s) prior to comparing strings in seq-sort's predicate. replace-regexp-in-string does the job here, but if you'd like to skip regular expressions, string-remove-prefix works just as well.

Yay, sorting no longer cares about http vs https:

https://andymatuschak.org
http://antirez.com
https://apenwarr.ca/log
...

With all that in mind, let's flatten list processing using thread-last. This isn't strictly necessary, but since this is the 2021 edition, we'll throw in this macro added to Emacs in 2016 as part of 25.1. Arthur Malabarba has a great post on thread-last.

Now that we've built out ar/scrape-links-from-clipboard-url function, let's make its content consumable!

The completing frameworks way

This is the 2021 edition, so power up your completion framework du jour and feed the output of ar/scrape-links-from-clipboard-url to our completion robots…

I'm heavily vested in ivy, but since we're using the built-in completing-read function, any completion framework like vertico, selectrum, helm, or ido should kick right in to give you extra powers.

(defun ar/view-completing-links-at-clipboard-url ()
  "Scrape links from clipboard URL and open all in external browser."
  (interactive)
  (browse-url (completing-read "links: "
                               (ar/scrape-links-from-clipboard-url))))

The auto-open way (use with caution)

Sometimes you just want to open every link posted in the comments and use your browser to discard, closing tabs as needed. The recent HN news instance wasn't one of these cases, with a whopping 398 links returned by our ar/scrape-links-from-clipboard-url.

Note: I capped the results to 5 in this gif/demo to prevent a Firefox tragedy (see seq-take).

In a case like Hacker News's, we don't want to surprise-attack the user and bomb their browser by opening a gazillion tabs, so let's give a little heads-up using y-or-n-p.

(defun ar/browse-links-at-clipboard-url ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((links (ar/scrape-links-from-clipboard-url)))
    (when (y-or-n-p (format "Open all %d links? " (length links)))
      (mapc (lambda (link)
              (browse-url link))
            links))))

The org way

My 2015 solution leveraged an org mode buffer to dump the fetched links. The org way is still my favorite. You can use whatever existing Emacs super powers you already have on top of the org buffer, including searching and filtering fueled by your favourite completion framework. I'm a fan of Oleh's swiper.

The 2021 implementation is mostly a tidy-up, removing some cruft, but also uses our new ar/scrape-links-from-clipboard-url function to filter and sort accordingly.

(require 'org)

(defun ar/view-links-at-clipboard-url ()
  "Scrape links from clipboard URL and dump to an org buffer."
  (interactive)
  (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*links*")
    (org-mode)
    (erase-buffer)
    (mapc (lambda (link)
            (insert (org-make-link-string link) "\n"))
          (ar/scrape-links-from-clipboard-url))
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (switch-to-buffer (current-buffer))))

Emacs + community + packages + your own glue = awesome

To power our 2021 link scraper, we've used newer libraries included in more recent versions of Emacs, leveraged an older but solid HTML-parsing package, pulled in org mode (the epicenter of Emacs note-taking), dragged in our favorite completion framework, and tickled our handy browser all by smothering the lot with some elisp glue to make Emacs do exactly what we want. Emacs does rock.

OCR bookmarks

Sun, 23 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

schappim/macOCR: Get any text on your screen into your clipboard..

gpg: decryption failed: No secret key (macOS)

Wed, 19 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

gpg: decryption failed: No secret key

OMG! Where's my secret key gone!?

But but but, gpg –list-secret-keys says they're there. Puzzled…

Ray Oei's Stack Overflow answer solved the mystery for me: pinentry never got invoked, so likely something's up with the agent… Killing (and thus restaring) the gpg-agent did the trick:

gpgconf --kill gpg-agent

Thank you internet stranger. Balance restored.

Emacs plus –with-native-comp

Mon, 17 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

I'm a big fan of Boris Buliga's Emacs Plus homebrew recipe for customizing and installing Emacs builds on macOS.

For a little while, I took a detour and built Emacs myself, so I could enable Andrea Corallo's fantastic native compilation. I documented the steps here. Though it was fairly straightforward, I did miss Emacs Plus's convenience.

I had been meaning to check back on Emacs Plus for native compilation support. Turns out, it was merged back in Dec 2020, and it works great!

Enabling native compilation is simple (just use –with-native-comp). As a bonus, you get all the Emacs Plus goodies. I'm loving –with-elrumo2-icon, enabling a spiffy icon to go with macOS Big Sur. –with-no-frame-refocus is also handy to avoid refocusing other frames when another one is closed.

In any case, here's the minimum needed to install Emacs Plus with native compilation support enabled:

brew tap d12frosted/emacs-plus
brew install emacs-plus@28 --with-native-comp

Sit tight. Homebrew will build and install some chunky dependencies (including gcc and libgccjit).

Note: Your init.el needs tweaking to take advantage of native compilation. See my previous post for how I set mine, or go straight to my config.

Cycling window layouts with hammerspoon

Sun, 02 May 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Back in January, Patrik Collison tweeted about Rectangle's Todo mode. Rectangle looks great. Although I've not yet adopted it, Todo mode really resonates with me. I've been achieving similar functionality with hammerspoon.

Here's a quick and dirty function to cycle through my window layouts:

function reframeFocusedWindow()
   local win = hs.window.focusedWindow()
   local maximizedFrame = win:screen():frame()
   maximizedFrame.x = maximizedFrame.x + 15
   maximizedFrame.y = maximizedFrame.y + 15
   maximizedFrame.w = maximizedFrame.w - 30
   maximizedFrame.h = maximizedFrame.h - 30

   local leftFrame = win:screen():frame()
   leftFrame.x = leftFrame.x + 15
   leftFrame.y = leftFrame.y + 15
   leftFrame.w = leftFrame.w - 250
   leftFrame.h = leftFrame.h - 30

   local rightFrame = win:screen():frame()
   rightFrame.x = rightFrame.w - 250 + 15
   rightFrame.y = rightFrame.y + 15
   rightFrame.w = 250 - 15 - 15
   rightFrame.h = rightFrame.h - 30

   -- Make space on right
   if win:frame() == maximizedFrame then
     win:setFrame(leftFrame)
     return
   end

   -- Make space on left
   if win:frame() == leftFrame then
     win:setFrame(rightFrame)
     return
   end

   win:setFrame(maximizedFrame)
end

A here's my ⌥-F binding to reframeFocusedWindow:

hs.hotkey.bind({"alt"}, "F", reframeFocusedWindow)

Flat Habits meets org agenda

Sat, 10 Apr 2021 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: Flat Habits now has its own page at flathabits.com.

Flat Habits v1.0.2 is out today, with habit-toggling now supported from the streak view.

Flat Habits runs on org, making it a great complement to Emacs and org agenda ø/

Flat Habits v1.0.1 (org import menu)

Tue, 23 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: Flat Habits now has its own page at flathabits.com.

Flat Habits v1.0.1 is now released and available in the App Store.

org import (import vs in-place)

We can now import org files from the menu. Importing gives ya the option to either import (copy into the app) or open in-place. The latter enables users to sync org files with other iOS apps or just open/edit from Emacs for the full org-mode/agenda experience.

Syncing with your desktop can be achieved by either iCloud or by enabling other providers in the Files app (after installing the likes of Google Drive, Dropbox, etc).

Please note that importing (copying into the app) is currently the recommended flow. Opening in-place and syncing is still fairly experimental, so please back up your org files regularly. If you do run into syncing issues, please get in touch.

Good luck with your habits!

Flat Habits for iOS (powered by org)

Wed, 17 Mar 2021 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: Flat Habits now has its own page at flathabits.com.

No friction. No social. No analytics. No account. No cloud. No lock-in.

So what is it?

An iOS app to help you form and track lasting habits.

Why an app?

Tracking and accountability may help you develop positive habits. A simple habit-tracking app should make this easy. I'm not a habits expert, but got inspired by James Clear's Atomic Habits. Read that book if you're interested in the topic.

I wanted a frictionless habit tracker that gets out of the way, so I built one to my taste.

Sounds like a lot of work?

You mean habit tracking? It's not. I tried to make the app simple and focused. Mark a habit done whenever you do it. It's really encouraging to see your daily streaks grow. I really don't want to break them.

What kind of habits?

Any recurring habit you'd like to form like exercise, water the plants, read, make your bed, recycle, call grandma, yoga, cleaning, drink water, meditate, take a nap, make your lunch, journal, laundry, push-ups, sort out the dryer filter, floz, take your vitamins, take your meds, eat salad, eat fruit, practice a language, practice an instrument, go to bed early…

So it's like a task/todo app?

Nope. This app focuses solely on habits. Unlike todos/tasks, habits must happen regularly. If you don't water the plants, they will die. If you don't exercise regularly, you won't get the health benefits. Keep your habits separate from that long list of todos. You know, that panic-inducing list you're too afraid to look at.

Where is my data stored?

On your iPhone as a plain text file (in org mode format). You can view, edit, or migrate your data at any time (use export from the menu). You may also save it to a shared location, so you can access it from multiple devices/apps. Some of us like to use our beloved text editors (Emacs, Vim, VSCode, etc.) to poke at habits.

Got more questions?

I may not have the answer, but I can try. Ping me at flathabits*at*xenodium.com.

Privacy policy

No personal data is sent to any server, as there is no server component to this app. There are neither third party integrations, accounts, analytics, nor trackers in this app. All your data is kept on your iPhone, unless you choose a cloud provider to sync or store your data. See your cloud provider's privacy policy for details on how they may handle it.

If you choose to send feedback by email, you have the option to review and attach logs to help diagnose issues. If you'd like an email thread to be deleted, just ask.

To join TestFlight as a beta tester, you likely gave your email address. If you'd like your email removed, just ask. Note that TestFlight has its own Terms Of Service.

Frictionless org habits on iOS

Sun, 21 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: Flat Habits now has its own page at flathabits.com.

I've been wanting org to keep track of my daily habits for a little while. The catalyst: reading James Clear's wonderful Atomic Habits (along with plenty of lock-down inspiration).

As much as I live in Emacs and org mode, it just wasn't practical enough to rely on my laptop for tracking habits. I wanted less friction, so I've been experimenting with building a toy app for my needs. Naturally, org support was a strict requirement, so I could always poke at it from my beloved editor.

I've been using the app every day with success. The habits seem to be sticking, but equally important, it's been really fun to join the fabulous world of Emacs/Org with iOS/SwiftUI.

This is all very experimental[^3] and as mentioned on reddit (follow-up here) and twitter, the app isn't available on the App Store. I may consider publishing if there's enough interest, but in the mean time, you can reach out and install via TestFlight.

Send me an email address to flathabits*at*xenodium.com for a TestFlight invite.

2021-03-12 Update: Now with iOS Files app/sync integration

If you can sync your org file with your iPhone (ie. Drive/Dropbox/iCloud), and list it in the Files app, you should be able to open/edit[^4] with Flat Habits (that's the name now). With iOS Files integration, you should be able to sync your habits between your iPhone and your funky editor powering org mode[^5].

Symbolicating iOS crashes

Sat, 20 Feb 2021 00:00:00 GMT

export DEVELOPER_DIR=$(xcode-select --print-path)
/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/SharedFrameworks/DVTFoundation.framework/Versions/A/Resources/symbolicatecrash crashlog.crash MyFoo.app.dSYM

Emacs: mu4e icons

Sat, 23 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Recently spotted mu4e-marker-icons, which adds mu4e icons using all-the-icons.

Although I'm not currently using all-the-icons, it did remind me to take a look at mu4e's built-in variables to spiff up my email. It's pretty simple. Find the icons you like and set them as follows:

(setq mu4e-headers-unread-mark    '("u" . "📩 "))
(setq mu4e-headers-draft-mark     '("D" . "🚧 "))
(setq mu4e-headers-flagged-mark   '("F" . "🚩 "))
(setq mu4e-headers-new-mark       '("N" . "✨ "))
(setq mu4e-headers-passed-mark    '("P" . "↪ "))
(setq mu4e-headers-replied-mark   '("R" . "↩ "))
(setq mu4e-headers-seen-mark      '("S" . " "))
(setq mu4e-headers-trashed-mark   '("T" . "🗑️"))
(setq mu4e-headers-attach-mark    '("a" . "📎 "))
(setq mu4e-headers-encrypted-mark '("x" . "🔑 "))
(setq mu4e-headers-signed-mark    '("s" . "🖊 "))

Luxembourg travel bookmarks

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Hiking in Luxembourg - Mullerthal Trail.

South Africa travel bookmarks

Sat, 02 Jan 2021 00:00:00 GMT

Blyde River Canyon, South Africa: The Complete Guide.

Swift package code coverage (plus Emacs overlay)

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

While playing around with Swift package manager, I had a quick look into code coverage options. Luckily, coverage reporting and exporting are supported out of the box (via llvm-cov).

Ensure tests are invoked as follows:

swift test --enable-code-coverage

A high level report can be generated with:

xcrun llvm-cov report .build/x86_64-apple-macosx/debug/FooPackageTests.xctest/Contents/MacOS/FooPackageTests \
      -instr-profile=.build/x86_64-apple-macosx/debug/codecov/default.profdata -ignore-filename-regex=".build|Tests"

llvm-cov can export as lcov format:

xcrun llvm-cov export -format="lcov" .build/x86_64-apple-macosx/debug/FooPackageTests.xctest/Contents/MacOS/FooPackageTests -instr-profile=.build/x86_64-apple-macosx/debug/codecov/default.profdata -ignore-filename-regex=".build|Tests" > coverage.lcov

With the report in lcov format, we can look for an Emacs package to visualize coverage in source files. Found coverlay.el to require minimal setup. I was interested in highlighting only untested areas, so I set tested-line-background-color to nil:

(use-package coverlay
  :ensure t
  :config
  (setq coverlay:tested-line-background-color nil))

After installing coverlay, I enabled the minor mode via M-x coverlay-minor-mode, invoked M-x coverlay-watch-file to watch coverage.lcov for changes, and voilà!

Hiking bookmarks

Tue, 29 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

A growing list of long distance hikes around the world (Hacker News).

Patience

Mon, 28 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Via Orange Book, a reminder to myself:

In investing, patience is rewarded.
In growing a talent, patience is rewarded.
In building a business, patience is rewarded.
In love and friendships, patience is rewarded.
Patience = success

I feel like there's an Emacs lesson somewhere in there…

Chess bookmarks

Sat, 26 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

40 Coolest neighbourhoods in the world

Sun, 20 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Via TimeOut's 40 Coolest Neighbourhoods in the World Right Now:

Esquerra de l’Eixample, Barcelona
Downtown, Los Angeles
Sham Shui Po, Hong Kong
Bedford-Stuyvesant, New York
Yarraville, Melbourne
Wedding, Berlin
Shaanxi Bei Lu/Kangding Lu, Shanghai
Dennistoun, Glasgow
Haut-Marais, Paris
Marrickville, Sydney
Verdun, Montreal
Kalamaja, Tallinn
Hannam-dong, Seoul
Bonfim, Porto
Ghosttown, Oakland
Chula-Samyan, Bangkok
Alvalade, Lisbon
Noord, Amsterdam
Centro, São Paulo
Holešovice, Prague
Lavapiés, Madrid
Opebi, Lagos
Narvarte, Mexico City
Uptown, Chicago
Little Five Points, Atlanta
Wynwood, Miami
Phibsboro, Dublin
Nørrebro, Copenhagen
Bugis, Singapore
Gongguan, Taipei
Soho, London
Binh Thanh, Ho Chi Minh City
Melville, Johannesburg
Kabutocho, Tokyo
Porta Venezia, Milan
Taman Paramount, Kuala Lumpur
Allston, Boston
Bandra West, Mumbai
Arnavutköy, Istanbul
Banjar Nagi, Ubud

Emacs: Rotate my macOS display

Sat, 05 Dec 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Every so often, I rotate my monitor (vertical vs horizontal) for either work or to watch a movie. macOS enables changing the display rotation via a dropdown menu (under Preferences > Displays > Rotation) where you can pick between Standard, 90°, 180°, and 270°. That's all fine, but what I'd really like is a quick way to toggle between my preferred two choices: Standard and 270°.

Unsurprisingly, I'd also like to invoke it as an interactive command via Emacs's M-x (see Emacs: connect my Bluetooth speaker). With narrowing frameworks like ivy, helm, and ido, invoking these commands is just a breeze.

Turns out, this was pretty simple to accomplish, thanks to Eric Nitardy's fb-rotate command line utility. All that's left to do is wrap it in a tiny elisp ~~function~~ hack, add the toggling logic, and voilà!

The screen capture goes a little funky when rotating the display, but you get the idea. It works better in person :)

…and here's the snippet:

(defun ar/display-toggle-rotation ()
  (interactive)
  (require 'cl-lib)
  (cl-assert (executable-find "fb-rotate") nil
             "Install fb-rotate from https://github.com/CdLbB/fb-rotate")
  ;; #  Display_ID    Resolution  ____Display_Bounds____  Rotation
  ;; 2  0x2b347692    1440x2560      0     0  1440  2560    270    [main]
  ;; From fb-rotate output, get the `current-rotation' from Column 7, row 1 zero-based.
  (let ((current-rotation (nth 7 (split-string (nth 1 (process-lines "fb-rotate" "-i"))))))
    (call-process-shell-command (format "fb-rotate -d 1 -r %s"
                                        (if (equal current-rotation "270")
                                            "0"
                                          "270")))))

Emacs: Clone git repo from clipboard

Sun, 29 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Cloning git repositories is a pretty common task. For me, it typically goes something like:

Copy git repo URL from browser.
Drop to Emacs eshell.
Change current directory.
Type "git clone ".
Paste git repo URL.
Run git command.
Change directory to cloned repo.
Open dired.

No biggie, but why go through the same steps every time? We can do better. We have a hyper malleable editor, so let's get it to grab the URL from clipboard and do its thing.

shell-command or async-shell-command can help in this space, but require additional work: change location, re-type command, what if directory already exists… This is Emacs, so we can craft the exact experience we want. I did take inspiration from shell-command to display the process buffer correctly (git progress, control codes, etc.) and landed on the following experience:

;; -*- lexical-binding: t -*-

(defun ar/git-clone-clipboard-url ()
  "Clone git URL in clipboard asynchronously and open in dired when finished."
  (interactive)
  (cl-assert (string-match-p "^\\(http\\|https\\|ssh\\)://" (current-kill 0)) nil "No URL in clipboard")
  (let* ((url (current-kill 0))
         (download-dir (expand-file-name "~/Downloads/"))
         (project-dir (concat (file-name-as-directory download-dir)
                              (file-name-base url)))
         (default-directory download-dir)
         (command (format "git clone %s" url))
         (buffer (generate-new-buffer (format "*%s*" command)))
         (proc))
    (when (file-exists-p project-dir)
      (if (y-or-n-p (format "%s exists. delete?" (file-name-base url)))
          (delete-directory project-dir t)
        (user-error "Bailed")))
    (switch-to-buffer buffer)
    (setq proc (start-process-shell-command (nth 0 (split-string command)) buffer command))
    (with-current-buffer buffer
      (setq default-directory download-dir)
      (shell-command-save-pos-or-erase)
      (require 'shell)
      (shell-mode)
      (view-mode +1))
    (set-process-sentinel proc (lambda (process state)
                                 (let ((output (with-current-buffer (process-buffer process)
                                                 (buffer-string))))
                                   (kill-buffer (process-buffer process))
                                   (if (= (process-exit-status process) 0)
                                       (progn
                                         (message "finished: %s" command)
                                         (dired project-dir))
                                     (user-error (format "%s\n%s" command output))))))
    (set-process-filter proc #'comint-output-filter)))

Comment on reddit or twitter.

Updates

Added lexical binding.
Checks clipboard for ssh urls also.

Pulled pork recipe

Mon, 23 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Made pulled pork a couple of times. Freestyled a bit. No expert here, but result was yummie.

Grind/blend spices

2 teaspoons smoked paprika
2 teaspoons cumin seeds
2 teaspoons whole pepper corn mix
2 teaspoons chilly flakes

If spices are whole, grind or blend them. Set aside.

Optionally: Substitute 1 teaspoon of paprika with chipotle pepper.

Mix into a paste

2 tablespoons honey
1 teaspoon of dijon mustard

Mix the honey, mustard, and previous spices into a paste.

Rub the mix in

Rub mix thoroughly into the pork shoulder.

Bake (1 hour)

Place in a pot (lid off) and bake in the oven for 1 hour at 200 °C.

Add liquids

1/2 cup of water.
4 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.

Add liquids to pot.

Bake (3-5 hours)

Bake between 3 to 5 hours 150 °C. Check every hour or two. Does the meat fall easily when spread with two forks? If so, you're done.

Pull apart

Use two forks to pull the meat apart.

Zettelkasten bookmarks

Sun, 01 Nov 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Battlestation bookmarks

Wed, 28 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs: chaining org babel blocks

Tue, 27 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Recently wanted to chain org babel blocks. That is, aggregate separate source blocks and execute as one combined block.

I wanted the chaining primarily driven through header arguments as follows:

#+name: block-0
#+begin_src swift
  print("hello 0")
#+end_src

#+name: block-1
#+begin_src swift :include block-0
  print("hello 1")
#+end_src

#+RESULTS: block-1
: hello 0
: hello 1

I didn't find the above syntax and behaviour supported out of the box (or didn't search hard enough?). Fortunately, this is our beloved and malleable editor, so we can always bend it our way! Wasn't quite sure how to go about it, so I looked at other babel packages for inspiration. ob-async was great for that.

Turns out, advicing org-babel-execute-src-block did the job:

(defun adviced:org-babel-execute-src-block (&optional orig-fun arg info params)
  (let ((body (nth 1 info))
        (include (assoc :include (nth 2 info)))
        (named-blocks (org-element-map (org-element-parse-buffer)
                          'src-block (lambda (item)
                                       (when (org-element-property :name item)
                                         (cons (org-element-property :name item)
                                               item))))))
    (while include
      (unless (cdr include)
        (user-error ":include without value" (cdr include)))
      (unless (assoc (cdr include) named-blocks)
        (user-error "source block \"%s\" not found" (cdr include)))
      (setq body (concat (org-element-property :value (cdr (assoc (cdr include) named-blocks)))
                         body))
      (setf (nth 1 info) body)
      (setq include (assoc :include
                           (org-babel-parse-header-arguments
                            (org-element-property :parameters (cdr (assoc (cdr include) named-blocks)))))))
    (funcall orig-fun arg info params)))

(advice-add 'org-babel-execute-src-block :around 'adviced:org-babel-execute-src-block)

Before I built my own support, I did find that noweb got me most of what I needed, but required sprinkling blocks with placeholder references.

Combining :noweb and :prologue would have been a great match, if only prologue did expand the noweb reference. I'm sure there's an alternative I'm missing. Either way, it was fun to poke at babel blocks and build my own chaining support.

Emacs: quote wrap all in region

Sun, 25 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

As I find myself moving more shell commands into Emacs interactive commands to create a Swift package/project, enrich dired's featureset, or search/play Music (macOS), I often need to take a single space-separated string, make an elisp list of strings, and feed it to functions like process-lines. No biggie, but I thought it'd be a fun little function to write: take the region and wrap all items in quotes. As a bonus, made it toggable.

(defun ar/toggle-quote-wrap-all-in-region (beg end)
  "Toggle wrapping all items in region with double quotes."
  (interactive (list (mark) (point)))
  (unless (region-active-p)
    (user-error "no region to wrap"))
  (let ((deactivate-mark nil)
        (replacement (string-join
                      (mapcar (lambda (item)
                                (if (string-match-p "^\".*\"$" item)
                                    (string-trim item "\"" "\"")
                                  (format "\"%s\"" item)))
                              (split-string (buffer-substring beg end)))
                      " ")))
    (delete-region beg end)
    (insert replacement)))

Emacs: org block complete and edit

Sun, 18 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

I quickly got used to Emacs org block company completion. I did, however, almost always found myself running org-edit-special immediately after inserting completion. I use C-c ' for that. That's all fine, but it just felt redundant.

Why not automatically edit the source block in corresponding major mode after completion? I think I can also get used to that!

Or maybe the automatic approach is too eager? There's also a middle ground: ask immediately after.

Or maybe I don't want either in the end? Time will tell, but I now have all three options available:

(defcustom company-org-block-edit-mode 'auto
  "Customize whether edit mode, post completion was inserted."
  :type '(choice
          (const :tag "nil: no edit after insertion" nil)
          (const :tag "prompt: ask before edit" prompt)
          (const :tag "auto edit, no prompt" auto)))

The new option is now in the company-org-block snippet with my latest config.

Emacs: create a Swift package/project

Sun, 11 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Been playing around with Swift Package Manager (SPM). Creating a new Swift package (ie. project) is pretty simple.

To create a library package, we can use the following:

swift package init --type library

Alternatively, to create a command-line utility use:

swift package init --type executable

Turns out, there are a few options: empty, library, executable, system-module, manifest.

With a little elisp, we can write a completing function to quickly generate a Swift package/project without the need to drop to the shell.

Bonus: I won't have to look up SPM options if I ever forget them.

(defun ar/swift-package-init ()
  "Execute `swift package init', with optional name and completing type."
  (interactive)
  (let* ((name (read-string "name (default): "))
         (type (completing-read
                "project type: "
                ;; Splits "--type empty|library|executable|system-module|manifest"
                (split-string
                 (nth 1 (split-string
                         (string-trim
                          (seq-find
                           (lambda (line)
                             (string-match "--type" line))
                           (process-lines "swift" "package" "init" "--help")))
                         "   "))
                 "|")))
         (command (format "swift package init --type %s" type)))
    (unless (string-empty-p name)
      (append command "--name " name))
    (shell-command command))
  (dired default-directory)
  (revert-buffer))

Improved Ctrl-p/Ctrl-n macOS movement

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

macOS supports many Emacs bindings (out of the box). You can, for example, press C-p and C-n to move the cursor up and down (whether editing text in Emacs or any other macOS app). Jacob Rus's Customizing the Cocoa Text System offers a more in-depth picture and also shows how to customize global macOS keybindings (via DefaultKeyBinding.dict).

In addition to moving Emacs point (cursor) up/down using C-p/C-n, I've internalized the same bindings to select an option from a list. Good Emacs examples of these are company mode and ivy.

Vertical cursor movement using Emacs bindings works well in most macOS apps, including forms and text boxes in web pages. However, selecting from a completion list doesn't quite work as expected. Although the binding is technically handled, it moves the cursor within the text widget, ignoring the suggested choices.

Atif Afzal's Use emacs key bindings everywhere has a solution for the ignored case. He uses Karabiner Elements to remap c-p and c-n to arrow-up and arrow-down.

It's been roughly a week since I started using the Karabiner remapping, and I've yet to find a case where a web page (or any other macOS app) did not respond to c-p and c-n to move selection from a list.

My ~/.config/karabiner/karabiner.json configuration is as follows:

{
    "global": {
        "check_for_updates_on_startup": true,
        "show_in_menu_bar": true,
        "show_profile_name_in_menu_bar": false
    },
    "profiles": [
        {
            "complex_modifications": {
                "parameters": {
                    "basic.simultaneous_threshold_milliseconds": 50,
                    "basic.to_delayed_action_delay_milliseconds": 500,
                    "basic.to_if_alone_timeout_milliseconds": 1000,
                    "basic.to_if_held_down_threshold_milliseconds": 500,
                    "mouse_motion_to_scroll.speed": 100
                },
                "rules": [
                    {
                        "description": "Ctrl+p/Ctrl+n to arrow up/down",
                        "manipulators": [
                            {
                                "from": {
                                    "key_code": "p",
                                    "modifiers": {
                                        "mandatory": [
                                            "control"
                                        ]
                                    }
                                },
                                "to": [
                                    {
                                        "key_code": "up_arrow"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "conditions": [
                                    {
                                        "type": "frontmost_application_unless",
                                        "bundle_identifiers": [
                                            "^org\\.gnu\\.Emacs"
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ],
                                "type": "basic"
                            },
                            {
                                "from": {
                                    "key_code": "n",
                                    "modifiers": {
                                        "mandatory": [
                                            "control"
                                        ]
                                    }
                                },
                                "to": [
                                    {
                                        "key_code": "down_arrow"
                                    }
                                ],
                                "conditions": [
                                    {
                                        "type": "frontmost_application_unless",
                                        "bundle_identifiers": [
                                            "^org\\.gnu\\.Emacs"
                                        ]
                                    }
                                ],
                                "type": "basic"
                            }
                        ]
                    }
                ]
            },
            "devices": [],
            "fn_function_keys": [],
            "name": "Default profile",
            "parameters": {
                "delay_milliseconds_before_open_device": 1000
            },
            "selected": true,
            "simple_modifications": [],
            "virtual_hid_keyboard": {
                "country_code": 0,
                "mouse_key_xy_scale": 100
            }
        }
    ]
}

Bonus (C-g to exit)

Pressing Esc often dismisses or cancels macOS windows, menus, etc. This is also the case for web pages. As an Emacs user, I'm pretty used to pressing C-g to cancel, quit, or exit things. With that in mind, mapping C-g to Esc is surprisingly useful outside of Emacs. Here's the relevant Karabiner C-g binding for that:

{
    "description": "Ctrl+G to Escape",
    "manipulators": [
        {
            "description": "emacs like escape",
            "from": {
                "key_code": "g",
                "modifiers": {
                    "mandatory": [
                        "left_control"
                    ]
                }
            },
            "to": [
                {
                    "key_code": "escape"
                }
            ],
            "conditions": [
                {
                    "type": "frontmost_application_unless",
                    "bundle_identifiers": [
                        "^org\\.gnu\\.Emacs"
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "conditions": [
                {
                    "type": "frontmost_application_unless",
                    "bundle_identifiers": [
                        "^org\\.gnu\\.Emacs"
                    ]
                }
            ],
            "type": "basic"
        }
    ]
}

ps. Note to self: Lennart's blog has notes on the topic but for linux.

UPDATE: Ensure bindings are only active when Emacs is [not]{.underline} active.

Basmati rice pudding recipe

Sun, 04 Oct 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Combine in a pot

2/3 cup of basmati rice
400 ml of coconut milk
4 cups of milk [^6]
3 tablespoons of honey [^7]
1/4 teaspoon of crushed cardamom seeds [^8]
1/8 teaspoon of salt

Simple. Combine all ingredients in a pot.

Boil and simmer

Bring ingredients to a boil and simmer at low heat for 45 minutes. Stir occasionally.

Mix in butter

1 tablespoon of butter.

Turn stove off, add a tablespoon of butter, and mix in.

Serve warm or cold

After mixing in the butter, the rice pudding is done. You can serve warm or cold.

Garnish (optional)

Pistachios
Cinnamon

Optionally garnish with either pistachios or cinnamon (or both).

Adding images to pdfs (macOS)

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

The macOS Preview app does a great job inserting signatures to existing pdfs. I was hoping it could overlay images just as easily. Doesn't look like it's possible, without exporting/reimporting to image formats and losing pdf structure. Did I miss something?

In any case, I found formulatepro. Dormant at Google Code Archive, but also checked in to github. With a tiny patch, it builds and runs on Catalina. One can easily insert an image via "File > Place Image…".

DIY bookmarks

Sun, 27 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Skiing bookmarks

Thu, 24 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

7 far-flung European ski resorts - Lonely Planet.

Emacs: search/play Music (macOS)

Sat, 19 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

While trying out macOS's Music app to manage offline media, I wondered if I could easily search and control playback from Emacs. Spoiler alert: yes it can be done and fuzzy searching music is rather gratifying.

Luckily, the hard work's already handled by pytunes, a command line interface to macOS's iTunes/Music app. We add ffprobe and some elisp glue to the mix, and we can generate an Emacs media index.

Indexing takes roughly a minute per 1000 files. Prolly suboptimal, but I don't intend to re-index frequently. For now, we can use a separate process to prevent Emacs from blocking, so we can get back to playing tetris from our beloved editor:

(defun musica-index ()
  "Indexes Music's tracks in two stages:
1. Generates \"Tracks.sqlite\" using pytunes (needs https://github.com/hile/pytunes installed).
2. Caches an index at ~/.emacs.d/.musica.el."
  (interactive)
  (message "Indexing music... started")
  (let* ((now (current-time))
         (name "Music indexing")
         (buffer (get-buffer-create (format "*%s*" name))))
    (with-current-buffer buffer
      (delete-region (point-min)
                     (point-max)))
    (set-process-sentinel
     (start-process name
                    buffer
                    (file-truename (expand-file-name invocation-name
                                                     invocation-directory))
                    "--quick" "--batch" "--eval"
                    (prin1-to-string
                     `(progn
                        (interactive)
                        (require 'cl-lib)
                        (require 'seq)
                        (require 'map)

                        (message "Generating Tracks.sqlite...")
                        (process-lines "pytunes" "update-index") ;; Generates Tracks.sqlite
                        (message "Generating Tracks.sqlite... done")

                        (defun parse-tags (path)
                          (with-temp-buffer
                            (if (eq 0 (call-process "ffprobe" nil t nil "-v" "quiet"
                                                    "-print_format" "json" "-show_format" path))
                                (map-elt (json-parse-string (buffer-string)
                                                            :object-type 'alist)
                                         'format)
                              (message "Warning: Couldn't read track metadata for %s" path)
                              (message "%s" (buffer-string))
                              (list (cons 'filename path)))))

                        (let* ((paths (process-lines "sqlite3"
                                                     (concat (expand-file-name "~/")
                                                             "Music/Music/Music Library.musiclibrary/Tracks.sqlite")
                                                     "select path from tracks"))
                               (total (length paths))
                               (n 0)
                               (records (seq-map (lambda (path)
                                                   (let ((tags (parse-tags path)))
                                                     (message "%d/%d %s" (setq n (1+ n))
                                                              total (or (map-elt (map-elt tags 'tags) 'title) "No title"))
                                                     tags))
                                                 paths)))
                          (with-temp-buffer
                            (prin1 records (current-buffer))
                            (write-file "~/.emacs.d/.musica.el" nil))))))
     (lambda (process state)
       (if (= (process-exit-status process) 0)
           (message "Indexing music... finished (%.3fs)"
                    (float-time (time-subtract (current-time) now)))
         (message "Indexing music... failed, see %s" buffer))))))

Once media is indexed, we can feed it to ivy for that narrowing-down fuzzy-searching goodness! It's worth mentioning the truncate-string-to-width function. Super handy for truncating strings to a fixed width and visually organizing search results in columns.

(defun musica-search ()
  (interactive)
  (cl-assert (executable-find "pytunes") nil "pytunes not installed")
  (let* ((c1-width (round (* (- (window-width) 9) 0.4)))
         (c2-width (round (* (- (window-width) 9) 0.3)))
         (c3-width (- (window-width) 9 c1-width c2-width)))
    (ivy-read "Play: " (mapcar
                        (lambda (track)
                          (let-alist track
                            (cons (format "%s   %s   %s"
                                          (truncate-string-to-width
                                           (or .tags.title
                                               (file-name-base .filename)
                                               "No title") c1-width nil ?\s "…")
                                          (truncate-string-to-width (propertize (or .tags.artist "")
                                                                                'face '(:foreground "yellow")) c2-width nil ?\s "…")
                                          (truncate-string-to-width
                                           (propertize (or .tags.album "")
                                                       'face '(:foreground "cyan1")) c3-width nil ?\s "…"))
                                  track)))
                        (musica--index))
              :action (lambda (selection)
                        (let-alist (cdr selection)
                          (process-lines "pytunes" "play" .filename)
                          (message "Playing: %s [%s] %s"
                                   (or .tags.title
                                       (file-name-base .filename)
                                       "No title")
                                   (or .tags.artist
                                       "No artist")
                                   (or .tags.album
                                       "No album")))))))

(defun musica--index ()
  (with-temp-buffer
    (insert-file-contents "~/.emacs.d/.musica.el")
    (read (current-buffer))))

The remaining bits are straigtforward. We add a few interactive functions to control playback:

(defun musica-info ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((raw (process-lines "pytunes" "info")))
    (message "%s [%s] %s"
             (string-trim (string-remove-prefix "Title" (nth 3 raw)))
             (string-trim (string-remove-prefix "Artist" (nth 1 raw)))
             (string-trim (string-remove-prefix "Album" (nth 2 raw))))))

(defun musica-play-pause ()
  (interactive)
  (cl-assert (executable-find "pytunes") nil "pytunes not installed")
  (process-lines "pytunes" "play")
  (musica-info))

(defun musica-play-next ()
  (interactive)
  (cl-assert (executable-find "pytunes") nil "pytunes not installed")
  (process-lines "pytunes" "next"))

(defun musica-play-next-random ()
  (interactive)
  (cl-assert (executable-find "pytunes") nil "pytunes not installed")
  (process-lines "pytunes" "shuffle" "enable")
  (let-alist (seq-random-elt (musica--index))
    (process-lines "pytunes" "play" .filename))
  (musica-info))

(defun musica-play-previous ()
  (interactive)
  (cl-assert (executable-find "pytunes") nil "pytunes not installed")
  (process-lines "pytunes" "previous"))

Finally, if we want some convenient keybindings, we can add something like:

(global-set-key (kbd "C-c m SPC") #'musica-play-pause)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c m i") #'musica-info)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c m n") #'musica-play-next)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c m p") #'musica-play-previous)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c m r") #'musica-play-next-random)
(global-set-key (kbd "C-c m s") #'musica-search)

Hooray! Controlling music is now an Emacs keybinding away: ø/

comments on twitter.

UPDATE1: Installing pytunes with pip3 install pytunes didn't just work for me. Instead, I cloned and installed as:

git clone https://github.com/hile/pytunes
pip3 install file:///path/to/pytunes
pip3 install pytz
brew install libmagic

UPDATE2: Checked in to dot files.

Cheese cake recipe (no crust)

Sat, 12 Sep 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Preheat oven

Preheat oven at 175°C.

Ingredients at room temperature

Ensure the cream cheese, sour cream, and eggs are at room temperature before starting.

Mix cream cheese

900g of cream cheese

Mix the cream cheese thoroughly.

Mix sugar

240g of sugar

Add half the sugar. Mix in thoroughly. Add second half and mix.

Mix sour cream, corn flour, and vanilla.

100g sour cream
40g corn flour
1tbsp vanilla bean paste

Add the three ingredients and mix well.

Mix eggs

3 eggs
1 egg yolk

Add the eggs and mix for 30 seconds.

Mix by hand

Finish mixing thoroughly by hand, using a wooden spoon.

Prepare pan

Springform pan
Parchment paper

A springform pan works best here. Wrap its plate with parchment paper and lock it in place.

Pour mix

Strainer

Pour the mix through a strainer and into the prepared pan.

Rest mix

Let the mix rest in the pan for 10 minutes to let air bubbles out.

Bake

Bake for an 1 hour 10 minutes. Maybe add another 10 minutes (or more) if surface is still pale. Turn the oven off, leave door half open, and let it sit for 20 minutes.

Cool off

Take out and let it cool off to room temperature.

Refrigerate

Refrigerate for 4 hours (or overnight) before removing the sides of the pan.

Eat!

Nom nom. Yum yum.

Bonus (topping)

I winged this one and it worked out well. Heated up frozen berries with some honey and used it as topping. The whole combo was pretty tasty.

Faster macOS dock auto-hide

Fri, 28 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Via Marcin Swieczkowski's Upgrading The OSX Dock, change default to make macOS's dock auto-hide faster:

defaults write com.apple.dock autohide-time-modifier -float 0.2; killall Dock

Smarter Swift snippets

Tue, 25 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Jari Safi published a wonderful Emacs video demoing python yasnippets in action. The constructor snippet, automatically setting ivars, is just magical. I wanted it for Swift!

I took a look at the [[init]{.underline}]{.underline} snippet from Jorgen Schäfer's elpy. It uses elpy-snippet-init-assignments to generate the assignments.

With small tweaks, we can get the same action going on for Swift ø/

init.yasnippet:

# -*- mode: snippet -*-
# name: init with assignments
# key: init
# --
init(${1:, args}) {
  ${1:$(swift-snippet-init-assignments yas-text)}
}
$0

.yas-setup.el:

(defun swift-snippet-init-assignments (arg-string)
  (let ((indentation (make-string (save-excursion
                                    (goto-char start-point)
                                    (current-indentation))
                                  ?\s)))
    (string-trim (mapconcat (lambda (arg)
                              (if (string-match "^\\*" arg)
                                  ""
                                (format "self.%s = %s\n%s"
                                        arg arg indentation)))
                            (swift-snippet-split-args arg-string)
                            ""))))

(defun swift-snippet-split-args (arg-string)
  (mapcar (lambda (x)
            (if (and x (string-match "\\([[:alnum:]]*\\):" x))
                (match-string-no-properties 1 x)
              x))
          (split-string arg-string "[[:blank:]]*,[[:blank:]]*" t)))

Swift package manager build for iOS

Sun, 23 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

While playing around with Swift package manager, it wasn't immediately obvious how to build for iOS from the command line. The default behaviour of invoking swift build is to build for the host. In my case, macOS. In any case, this was it:

swift build -Xswiftc "-sdk" -Xswiftc "/Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Developer/Platforms/iPhoneSimulator.platform/Developer/SDKs/iPhoneSimulator13.0.sdk" -Xswiftc "-target" -Xswiftc "x86_64-apple-ios13.0-simulator"

ps. Can get the SDK path with:

xcrun --sdk iphonesimulator --show-sdk-path

QR code bookmarks

Sun, 23 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Trying out gccemacs on macOS

Sun, 16 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: I'm no longer using these steps. See Emacs plus –with-native-comp for an easier alternative.

Below are the instructions I use to build Andrea Corallo's gccemacs on macOS. It is based on Allen Dang's handy instructions plus some changes of my own.

Install gcc and libgccjit via homebrew

brew install gcc libgccjit

Save configure script

Create configure-gccemacs.sh

#!/bin/bash

set -o nounset
set -o errexit

# Configures Emacs for building native comp support
# http://akrl.sdf.org/gccemacs.html

readonly GCC_DIR="$(realpath $(brew --prefix libgccjit))"
[[ -d $GCC_DIR ]] ||  { echo "${GCC_DIR} not found"; exit 1; }

readonly SED_DIR="$(realpath $(brew --prefix gnu-sed))"
[[ -d $SED_DIR ]] ||  { echo "${SED_DIR} not found"; exit 1; }

readonly GCC_INCLUDE_DIR=${GCC_DIR}/include
[[ -d $GCC_INCLUDE_DIR ]] ||  { echo "${GCC_INCLUDE_DIR} not found"; exit 1; }

readonly GCC_LIB_DIR=${GCC_DIR}/lib/gcc/10
[[ -d $GCC_LIB_DIR ]] ||  { echo "${GCC_LIB_DIR} not found"; exit 1; }

export PATH="${SED_DIR}/libexec/gnubin:${PATH}"
export CFLAGS="-O2 -I${GCC_INCLUDE_DIR}"
export LDFLAGS="-L${GCC_LIB_DIR} -I${GCC_INCLUDE_DIR}"
export LD_LIBRARY_PATH="${GCC_LIB_DIR}"
export DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH="${GCC_LIB_DIR}"

echo "Environment"
echo "-----------"
echo PATH: $PATH
echo CFLAGS: $CFLAGS
echo LDFLAGS: $LDFLAGS
echo DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH: $DYLD_FALLBACK_LIBRARY_PATH
echo "-----------"

./autogen.sh

./configure \
     --prefix="$PWD/nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS" \
     --enable-locallisppath="${PWD}/nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS" \
     --with-mailutils \
     --with-ns \
     --with-imagemagick \
     --with-cairo \
     --with-modules \
     --with-xml2 \
     --with-gnutls \
     --with-json \
     --with-rsvg \
     --with-native-compilation \
     --disable-silent-rules \
     --disable-ns-self-contained \
     --without-dbus

Make it executable

chmod +x configure-gccemacs.sh

Clone Emacs source

git clone --branch master https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs gccemacs

Configure build

cd gccemacs
../configure-gccemacs.sh

Native lisp compiler found?

Verify native lisp compiler is found:

Does Emacs have native lisp compiler?                   yes

Build

Put those cores to use. Find out how many you got with:

sysctl hw.logicalcpu

Ok so build with:

make -j4 NATIVE_FAST_BOOT=1
cp -r lisp nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/Resources/
cp -r native-lisp nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents
make install

Note: Using NATIVE_FAST_BOOT=1 significantly improves build time (totalling between 20-30 mins, depending on your specs). Without it, the build can take hours.

The macOS app build (under nextstep/Emacs.app) is ready, but read on before launching.

Remove ~/emacs.d

You likely want to start with a clean install, byte-compiling all packages with the latest Emacs version. In any case, rename ~/emacs.d (for backup?) or remove ~/emacs.d.

init.el config

Ensure exec-path includes the script's "–prefix=" value, LIBRARY_PATH points to gcc's lib dir, and finally set comp-deferred-compilation. I wrapped the snippet in my exec-path-from-shell config, but setting early in init.el should be enough.

(use-package exec-path-from-shell
  :ensure t
  :config
  (exec-path-from-shell-initialize)
  (if (and (fboundp 'native-comp-available-p)
           (native-comp-available-p))
      (progn
        (message "Native comp is available")
        ;; Using Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/bin since it was compiled with
        ;; ./configure --prefix="$PWD/nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS"
        (add-to-list 'exec-path (concat invocation-directory "bin") t)
        (setenv "LIBRARY_PATH" (concat (getenv "LIBRARY_PATH")
                                       (when (getenv "LIBRARY_PATH")
                                         ":")
                                       ;; This is where Homebrew puts gcc libraries.
                                       (car (file-expand-wildcards
                                             (expand-file-name "~/homebrew/opt/gcc/lib/gcc/*")))))
        ;; Only set after LIBRARY_PATH can find gcc libraries.
        (setq comp-deferred-compilation t))
    (message "Native comp is *not* available")))

Launch Emacs.app

You're good to go. Open Emacs.app via finder or shell:

open nextstep/Emacs.app

Deferred compilation logs

After setting comp-deferred-compilation (in init.el config section), .elc files should be asyncronously compiled. Function definition should be updated to native compiled equivalent.

Look out for an Async-native-compile-log buffer. Should have content like:

Compiling .emacs.d/elpa/moody-20200514.1946/moody.el...
Compiling .emacs.d/elpa/minions-20200522.1052/minions.el...
Compiling .emacs.d/elpa/persistent-scratch-20190922.1046/persistent-scratch.el...
Compiling .emacs.d/elpa/which-key-20200721.1927/which-key.el...
...

Can also check for .eln files:

find ~/.emacs.d -iname *.eln | wc -l

UPDATE1: Added Symlink Emacs.app/Contents/eln-cache section for update 11.

UPDATE2: Noted using NATIVE_FAST_BOOT makes the build much faster.

UPDATE3: Removed symlinks and copied content instead. This simplifies things. Inspired by Ian Wahbe's build-emacs.sh.

UPDATE4: Removed homebrew recipe patching. Thanks to Dmitry Shishkin's instructions.

UPDATE5: Use new flag –with-native-compilation and master branch.

SwiftUI macOS desk clock

Sun, 02 Aug 2020 00:00:00 GMT

For time display, I've gone back and forth between an always-displayed macOS's menu bar to an auto-hide menu bar, and letting Emacs display the time. Neither felt great nor settled.

With some tweaks, Paul Hudson's How to use a timer with SwiftUI, led me to build a simple desk clock. Ok, let's not get fancy. It's really just an always-on-top floating window, showing a swiftUI label, but hey I like the minimalist feel ;)

Let's see if it sticks around or it gets in the way… Either way, here's standalone snippet. Run with swift deskclock.swift.

import Cocoa
import SwiftUI

let application = NSApplication.shared
let appDelegate = AppDelegate()
NSApp.setActivationPolicy(.regular)
application.delegate = appDelegate
application.mainMenu = NSMenu.makeMenu()
application.run()

struct ClockView: View {
  @State var time = "--:--"

  let timer = Timer.publish(every: 1, on: .main, in: .common).autoconnect()

  var body: some View {
    GeometryReader { geometry in

      VStack {
        Text(time)
          .onReceive(timer) { input in
            let formatter = DateFormatter()
            formatter.dateFormat = "HH:mm"
            time = formatter.string(from: input)
          }
          .font(.system(size: 40))
          .padding()
      }.frame(width: geometry.size.width, height: geometry.size.height)
        .background(Color.black)
        .cornerRadius(10)
        .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, maxHeight: .infinity)
    }
  }
}

extension NSWindow {
  static func makeWindow() -> NSWindow {
    let window = NSWindow(
      contentRect: NSRect.makeDefault(),
      styleMask: [.closable, .miniaturizable, .resizable, .fullSizeContentView],
      backing: .buffered, defer: false)
    window.level = .floating
    window.setFrameAutosaveName("everclock")
    window.collectionBehavior = [.canJoinAllSpaces, .stationary, .ignoresCycle, .fullScreenPrimary]
    window.makeKeyAndOrderFront(nil)
    window.isMovableByWindowBackground = true
    window.titleVisibility = .hidden
    window.backgroundColor = .clear
    return window
  }
}

class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate {
  var window = NSWindow.makeWindow()
  var hostingView: NSView?

  func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) {
    hostingView = NSHostingView(rootView: ClockView())
    window.contentView = hostingView
    NSApp.activate(ignoringOtherApps: true)
  }
}

extension NSRect {
  static func makeDefault() -> NSRect {
    let initialMargin = CGFloat(60)
    let fallback = NSRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 100, height: 150)

    guard let screenFrame = NSScreen.main?.frame else {
      return fallback
    }

    return NSRect(
      x: screenFrame.maxX - fallback.width - initialMargin,
      y: screenFrame.maxY - fallback.height - initialMargin,
      width: fallback.width, height: fallback.height)
  }
}

extension NSMenu {
  static func makeMenu() -> NSMenu {
    let appMenu = NSMenuItem()
    appMenu.submenu = NSMenu()

    appMenu.submenu?.addItem(
      NSMenuItem(
        title: "Quit \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processName)",
        action: #selector(NSApplication.terminate(_:)), keyEquivalent: "q"
      ))

    let mainMenu = NSMenu(title: "Main Menu")
    mainMenu.addItem(appMenu)
    return mainMenu
  }
}

Mending bookmarks

Thu, 30 Jul 2020 00:00:00 GMT

12 Great Sewing Tips and Tricks ! Best great sewing tips and tricks #7 - YouTube.

ffmpeg bookmarks

Wed, 17 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Black lives matter (BLM) bookmarks

Sun, 14 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Dogs bookmarks

Sun, 14 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

All You Need to Know About Romanian Rescue Dogs.

Emacs, search hackingwithswift.com

Sat, 06 Jun 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Paul Hudson authors excellent Swift material at hackingwithswift.com. I regularly land on the site while searching for snippets from the browser. I was wondering if I could search for snippets directly from Emacs.

Turns out, hackingwithswift uses a JSON HTTP request for querying code examples. With this in mind, we can use ivy-read like Oleh Krehel's counsel-search and search for Swift snippets from our favorite editor:

(require 'request)
(require 'json)

(defun ar/counsel-hacking-with-swift-search ()
  "Ivy interface to query hackingwithswift.com."
  (interactive)
  (ivy-read "hacking with swift: "
            (lambda (input)
              (or
               (ivy-more-chars)
               (let ((request-curl-options (list "-H" (string-trim (url-http-user-agent-string)))))
                 (request
                   "https://www.hackingwithswift.com/example-code/search"
                   :type "GET"
                   :params (list
                            (cons "search" input))
                   :parser 'json-read
                   :success (cl-function
                             (lambda (&key data &allow-other-keys)
                               (ivy-update-candidates
                                (mapcar (lambda (item)
                                          (let-alist item
                                            (propertize .title 'url .url)))
                                        data)))))
                 0)))
            :action (lambda (selection)
                      (browse-url (concat "https://www.hackingwithswift.com"
                                          (get-text-property 0 'url selection))))
            :dynamic-collection t
            :caller 'ar/counsel-hacking-with-swift-search))

Preview SwiftUI layouts using Emacs org blocks

Sat, 23 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

✨ UPDATE: The snippets in this post are outdated. See ob-swiftui for better SwiftUI babel support. ✨

Chris Eidhof twitted a handy snippet that enables quickly bootstrapping throwaway SwiftUI code. It can be easily integrated into other tools for rapid experimentation.

Being a SwiftUI noob, I could use some SwiftUI integration with my editor of choice. With some elisp glue and a small patch, Chris's snippet can be used to generate SwiftUI inline previews using Emacs org babel. This is particularly handy for playing around with SwiftUI layouts.

We can piggyback ride off zweifisch's ob-swift by advicing org-babel-execute:swift to inject the org source block into the bootstrapping snippet. We also add a hook to org-babel-after-execute-hook to automatically refresh the inline preview.

If you're a use-package user, the following snippet should make things fairly self-contained (if you have melpa set up already).

(use-package org
  :hook ((org-mode . org-display-inline-images))
  :config

  (use-package ob
    :config

    (use-package ob-swift
      :ensure t
      :config
      (org-babel-do-load-languages 'org-babel-load-languages
                                   (append org-babel-load-languages
                                           '((swift     . t))))

      (defun ar/org-refresh-inline-images ()
        (when org-inline-image-overlays
          (org-redisplay-inline-images)))

      ;; Automatically refresh inline images.
      (add-hook 'org-babel-after-execute-hook 'ar/org-refresh-inline-images)

      (defun adviced:org-babel-execute:swift (f &rest args)
        "Advice `adviced:org-babel-execute:swift' enabling swiftui header param."
        (let* ((body (nth 0 args))
               (params (nth 1 args))
               (swiftui (cdr (assoc :swiftui params)))
               (output))
          (when swiftui
            (assert (or (string-equal swiftui "preview")
                        (string-equal swiftui "interactive"))
                    nil ":swiftui must be either preview or interactive")
            (setq body (format
                        "
import Cocoa
import SwiftUI
import Foundation

let screenshotURL = URL(fileURLWithPath: NSTemporaryDirectory(), isDirectory: true).appendingPathComponent(ProcessInfo.processInfo.globallyUniqueString + \".png\")
let preview = %s

NSApplication.shared.run {
  %s
}

extension NSApplication {
  public func run(@ViewBuilder view: () -> V) {
    let appDelegate = AppDelegate(view())
    NSApp.setActivationPolicy(.regular)
    mainMenu = customMenu
    delegate = appDelegate
    run()
  }
}

extension NSApplication {
  var customMenu: NSMenu {
    let appMenu = NSMenuItem()
    appMenu.submenu = NSMenu()

    let quitItem = NSMenuItem(
      title: \"Quit \(ProcessInfo.processInfo.processName)\",
      action: #selector(NSApplication.terminate(_:)), keyEquivalent: \"q\")
    quitItem.keyEquivalentModifierMask = []
    appMenu.submenu?.addItem(quitItem)

    let mainMenu = NSMenu(title: \"Main Menu\")
    mainMenu.addItem(appMenu)
    return mainMenu
  }
}

class AppDelegate: NSObject, NSApplicationDelegate, NSWindowDelegate {
  var window = NSWindow(
    contentRect: NSRect(x: 0, y: 0, width: 414 * 0.2, height: 896 * 0.2),
    styleMask: [.titled, .closable, .miniaturizable, .resizable, .fullSizeContentView],
    backing: .buffered, defer: false)

  var contentView: V

  init(_ contentView: V) {
    self.contentView = contentView
  }

  func applicationDidFinishLaunching(_ notification: Notification) {
    window.delegate = self
    window.center()
    window.contentView = NSHostingView(rootView: contentView)
    window.makeKeyAndOrderFront(nil)

    if preview {
      screenshot(view: window.contentView!, saveTo: screenshotURL)
      // Write path (without newline) so org babel can parse it.
      print(screenshotURL.path, terminator: \"\")
      NSApplication.shared.terminate(self)
      return
    }

    window.setFrameAutosaveName(\"Main Window\")
    NSApp.activate(ignoringOtherApps: true)
  }
}

func screenshot(view: NSView, saveTo fileURL: URL) {
  let rep = view.bitmapImageRepForCachingDisplay(in: view.bounds)!
  view.cacheDisplay(in: view.bounds, to: rep)
  let pngData = rep.representation(using: .png, properties: [:])
  try! pngData?.write(to: fileURL)
}
"
                        (if (string-equal swiftui "preview")
                            "true"
                          "false")
                        body))
            (setq args (list body params)))
          (setq output (apply f args))
          (when org-inline-image-overlays
            (org-redisplay-inline-images))
          output))

      (advice-add #'org-babel-execute:swift
                  :around
                  #'adviced:org-babel-execute:swift))))

~~Snippet also at github gist and included in my emacs config~~.

UPDATE: See ob-swiftui for a better version of babel SwiftUI support.

Once the snippet is evaluated, we're ready to use in an org babel block. We introduced the :swiftui header param to switch between inline static preview and interactive mode.

To try out an inline preview, create a new org file (eg. swiftui.org) and a source block like:

#+begin_src swift :results file :swiftui preview
  VStack(spacing: 10) {
      HStack(spacing: 10) {
        Rectangle().fill(Color.yellow)
        Rectangle().fill(Color.green)
      }
      Rectangle().fill(Color.blue)
      HStack(spacing: 10) {
        Rectangle().fill(Color.green)
        Rectangle().fill(Color.yellow)
      }
    }
    .frame(maxWidth: .infinity, maxHeight: .infinity)
#+end_src

#+results:

Place the cursor anywhere inside the source block (#+begin_src/#+end_src) and press C-c C-c (or M-x org-ctrl-c-ctrl-c).

To run interactively, change the :swiftui param to interactive and press C-c C-c (or M-x org-ctrl-c-ctrl-c). When running interactively, press "q" (without ⌘) to quit the Swift app.

comments on twitter.

Update

Tweaked the snippet to make it more self-contained and made the steps more reproducible. Need to work out how to package things to make them more accessible. May be best to contribute as a patch to ob-swift and we can avoid the icky advice-add.
Thanks to Chris Eidhof for PNG support (instead of TIFF). Also TIL Swift's print has got a terminator param.

Open Emacs elfeed links in the background

Fri, 22 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Christopher Wellons's elfeed is a wonderful Emacs rss reader. In Mike Zamansky's Using Emacs 72 - Customizing Elfeed video, he highlights a desire to open elfeed entries in the background. That is, open the current rss entry (or selected entries) without shifting focus from Emacs to your browser. This behaviour is somewhat analogous to ⌘-clicking/ctrl-clicking on multiple links in the browser without losing focus.

I've been wanting elfeed to open links in the background for some time. Zamansky's post was a great nudge to look into it. He points to the relevant elfeed-search-browse-url function, re-implemented to suit his needs. In a similar spirit, I wrote a function to open the current rss entry (or selected entries) in the background.

I'm running macOS, so I took a look at [browse-url-default-macosx-browser](https://github.com/emacs-mirror/emacs/blob/d714aa753b744c903d149a1f6c69262d958c313e/lisp/net/browse-url.el#L1018 I ) to get an idea of how URLs are opened. Simple. It let's macOS handle it via the "open" command, invoked through start process. Looking at open's command-line options, we find –background which "does not bring the application to the foreground."

open --background http://xenodium.com

"b" is already bound to elfeed-search-browse-url, so in our snippet we'll bind "B" to our new background function, giving us some flexibility:

(use-package elfeed
  :ensure t
  :bind (:map elfeed-search-mode-map
              ("B" . ar/elfeed-search-browse-background-url))
  :config
  (defun ar/elfeed-search-browse-background-url ()
    "Open current `elfeed' entry (or region entries) in browser without losing focus."
    (interactive)
    (let ((entries (elfeed-search-selected)))
      (mapc (lambda (entry)
              (assert (memq system-type '(darwin)) t "open command is macOS only")
              (start-process (concat "open " (elfeed-entry-link entry))
                             nil "open" "--background" (elfeed-entry-link entry))
              (elfeed-untag entry 'unread)
              (elfeed-search-update-entry entry))
            entries)
      (unless (or elfeed-search-remain-on-entry (use-region-p))
        (forward-line)))))

Maybe xdg-open does a similar thing on linux (I've not looked). Ping me if you have a linux solution and I can update the function.

Happy Emacsing.

ps. I noticed elfeed uses browse-url-generic if elfeed-search-browse-url's is invoked with a prefix. Setting browse-url-generic-program and browse-url-generic-args to use background options may be a more generic solution. For now, a custom function does the job.

comments on twitter.

Enrich Emacs dired's batching toolbox

Mon, 11 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Update

I now use dwim-shell-command, which reduces the logic to:

(defun dwim-shell-commands-image-to-jpg ()
  "Convert all marked images to jpg(s)."
  (interactive)
  (dwim-shell-command-on-marked-files
   "Convert to jpg"
   "convert -verbose '<>' '<>.jpg'"
   :utils "convert"))

Original post

Shell one-liners are super handy for batch-processing files. Say you'd like to convert a bunch of images from HEIC to jpg, you could use something like:

for f in *.HEIC ; do convert "$f" "${f%.*}.jpg"; done

Save the one-liner (or memorize it) and pull it from your toolbox next time you need it. This is handy as it is, but Emacs dired is just a file-management powerhouse. Its dired-map-over-marks function is just a few elisp lines away from enabling all sorts of batch processing within your dired buffers.

Dired already enables selecting and deselecting files using all sorts of built-in mechanisms (dired-mark-files-regexp, find-name-dired, etc) or wonderful third-party packages like Matus Goljer's dired-filters.

Regardless of how you selected your files, here's a snippet to run ImageMagick's convert on a bunch of selected files:

;;; -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-

(defun ar/dired-convert-image (&optional arg)
  "Convert image files to other formats."
  (interactive "P")
  (assert (or (executable-find "convert") (executable-find "magick.exe")) nil "Install imagemagick")
  (let* ((dst-fpath)
         (src-fpath)
         (src-ext)
         (last-ext)
         (dst-ext))
    (mapc
     (lambda (fpath)
       (setq src-fpath fpath)
       (setq src-ext (downcase (file-name-extension src-fpath)))
       (when (or (null dst-ext)
                 (not (string-equal dst-ext last-ext)))
         (setq dst-ext (completing-read "to format: "
                                        (seq-remove (lambda (format)
                                                      (string-equal format src-ext))
                                                    '("jpg" "png")))))
       (setq last-ext dst-ext)
       (setq dst-fpath (format "%s.%s" (file-name-sans-extension src-fpath) dst-ext))
       (message "convert %s to %s ..." (file-name-nondirectory dst-fpath) dst-ext)
       (set-process-sentinel
        (if (string-equal system-type "windows-nt")
            (start-process "convert"
                           (generate-new-buffer (format "*convert %s*" (file-name-nondirectory src-fpath)))
                           "magick.exe" "convert" src-fpath dst-fpath)
          (start-process "convert"
                         (generate-new-buffer (format "*convert %s*" (file-name-nondirectory src-fpath)))
                         "convert" src-fpath dst-fpath))
        (lambda (process state)
          (if (= (process-exit-status process) 0)
              (message "convert %s ✔" (file-name-nondirectory dst-fpath))
            (message "convert %s ❌" (file-name-nondirectory dst-fpath))
            (message (with-current-buffer (process-buffer process)
                       (buffer-string))))
          (kill-buffer (process-buffer process)))))
     (dired-map-over-marks (dired-get-filename) arg))))

The snippet can be shorter, but wouldn't be as friendly. We ask users to provide desired image format, spawn separate processes (avoids blocking Emacs), and generate a basic report. Also adds support for Windows.

BEWARE

The snippet isn't currently capping the number of processes, but hey we can revise in the future…

Update

Thanks to Philippe Beliveau for pointing out a bug in snippet (now updated) and changes to make it Windows compatible.

Banana oats pancakes recipe

Sat, 09 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Blend

Ripe banana.
2 Eggs.
1/3 cup instant oats.
1/2 teaspoon baking powder.

Really is this easy. Add all ingredients and blend.

Cook

Medium to low heat. Cook for 3 minutes. Flip. Cook for 1 minute. You're done.

Emacs: connect my Bluetooth speaker

Wed, 06 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Connecting and disconnecting bluetooth devices on macOS is fairly simple: use the menu bar utility.

But could we make it quicker from our beloved editor?

Turns out with a little elisp glue, we can fuzzy search our Bluetooth devices and toggle connections. We can use Oleh Krehel's ivy-read for fuzzy searching and Felix Lapalme's nifty BluetoothConnector to list devices and toggle Bluetooth connections.

As a bonus, we can make it remember the last selected device, so you can quickly toggle it again.

(defun ar/ivy-bluetooth-connect ()
  "Connect to paired bluetooth device."
  (interactive)
  (assert (string-equal system-type "darwin")
          nil "macOS only. Sorry :/")
  (assert (executable-find "BluetoothConnector")
          nil "Install BluetoothConnector from https://github.com/lapfelix/BluetoothConnector")
  (ivy-read "(Dis)connect: "
            (seq-map
             (lambda (item)
               (let* ((device (split-string item " - "))
                      (mac (nth 0 device))
                      (name (nth 1 device)))
                 (propertize name
                             'mac mac)))
             (seq-filter
              (lambda (line)
                ;; Keep lines like: af-8c-3b-b1-99-af - Device name
                (string-match-p "^[0-9a-f]\\{2\\}" line))
              (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*BluetoothConnector*")
                (erase-buffer)
                ;; BluetoothConnector exits with 64 if no param is given.
                ;; Invoke with no params to get a list of devices.
                (unless (eq 64 (call-process "BluetoothConnector" nil (current-buffer)))
                  (error (buffer-string)))
                (split-string (buffer-string) "\n"))))
            :require-match t
            :preselect (when (boundp 'ar/misc-bluetooth-connect--history)
                         (nth 0 ar/misc-bluetooth-connect--history))
            :history 'ar/misc-bluetooth-connect--history
            :caller 'ar/toggle-bluetooth-connection
            :action (lambda (device)
                      (start-process "BluetoothConnector"
                                     (get-buffer-create "*BluetoothConnector*")
                                     "BluetoothConnector" (get-text-property 0 'mac device) "--notify"))))

comments on twitter.

Duti: changing default macOS apps

Sat, 02 May 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Future self example, setting mpv.io to open all aiff files on macOS:

duti -s io.mpv aiff

Neapolitan pizza recipe

Sun, 26 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Full disclosure: I'm a complete noob at making pizza. It's my second pizza, but hey, it was tasty and fun to make! Making pizza at home is not as far-fetched as I initially thought.

UPDATES:

I've made this recipe a couple of times. Made two improvements worth mentioning.

Flan tin / quiche pan

My first pizzas were rectangular, matching the baking tray shape, but I really wanted round pies. I found a quiche pan at home and gave that a try. Worked pretty well. The dish bottom comes up, which is pretty handy.

Double baking

Bake in two stages:

Bake the pizza for 6 minutes (without the mozarella) at bottom of oven.
Add mozzarella and make for 4 minutes at top of the oven.

Recipe

Ok, on to the recipe now…

Dissolve the yeast

7g of yeast.
325ml of lukewarm water.

Dissolve the yeast in the lukewarm water.

Mixing the dough

500g of flour.
1 teaspoon of salt.

Gradually add flour to the yeast and water mix, using the bottom of a spoon to work it until smooth (no lumps). The dough will be very sticky at first. Stay faithful to the spoon. It'll work. BBC's How to make pizza like a Neapolitan master has a great demo. I followed the dough technique.

Kneading the dough

Sprinkle some flour on the table and knead the dough (punch, stretch, and fold many times) from previous step. Eventually, the dough will hold its shape.

Make 4 balls

Roll the dough into a cylinder and cut into 4 pieces. Make 4 balls.

Make the tomato sauce

500g of passata.
3 cloves of garlic.

I love garlic. Who doesn't? Slice the garlic finely and combine with the passata in a class jar. Shake it a little. Garlic and passata. That's your sauce.

Cover for 2 hours

Place the 4 dough balls into a container and cover with a damp cloth for 2 hours. You can make 4 pizzas.

*Rookie mistake: I should have used a bigger container. The balls grew and merged.

Preheat oven

Preheat the oven at 250°C.

Stretch base

Sprinkle more flour on table prior to shaping the dough. Place ball on table, flatten. Flip over, flatten again. Gradually stretch until you have the shape and thickness desired.

Place base on baking tray

Semolina
Aluminium foil

Line up the tray with some aluminium foil. Before transferring the base on to the baking tray, sprinkle semolina (or breadcrumbs) on the foil (it helps prevent the dough from sticking).

Toppings

Tomato sauce.
Salt.
Olive oil.
Parmesan cheese.
125g of Mozzarella cheese.
Fresh basil.

Spread some of the tomato sauce with a spoon. Sprinkle salt, olive oil, and parmesan cheese. Break the mozzarella into pieces and spread throughout. Add some basil leaves. Your basic margherita pizza is now ready for the oven.

Bake pizza

Place the tray in the oven for 10 minutes. This worked for my oven, which goes up to 250°C. Either way, keep an eye on it.

Post baking toppings

Anchovies.

Controversial, but I really like anchovies. Add them post-baking and you're good to go. Enjoy your pizza.

Helpful references

Oatmeal cookie recipe

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

I combined elements from two recipes: 3 Ingredient oatmeal cookies (The Food Medic), Amy's Healthy Banana Oatmeal Raisin Cookies (Amy's Healthy Baking) and added my own touches.

Preheat oven

Preheat the oven at 180°C.

Mash bananas

2 medium ripe bananas.

Mash until bananas have no significant lumps.

Mix most ingredients (except oats)

4 tablespoons crunchy peanut butter.
1/2 teaspoon of ground cinnamon.
1/2 teaspoon of ground cardamom.
1/4 teaspoon of vanilla.
1/3 cup raisins.

Add the peanut butter, cinnamon, cardamom, and vanilla into the mashed bananas. Mix well. Add raisins and mix a little further to spread them out.

Add oats

1 3/4 cups of oats.

Add the oats to the mix in a few rounds to ensure its evenly mixed.

Flattened balls in tray

Make balls, place on baking tray, and gently flatten. They'll be on the chunky side.

Note: They won't spread as much as traditional cookies.

Bake for 15 mins

Bake for about 15 minutes or until golden.

Let cool off and enjoy

Wait a little and nom nom nom…

ps. Full recipe source in org file.

TIL (today I learned) bookmarks

Tue, 21 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

mu/mu4e 1.4 released

Sun, 19 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

mu/mu4e 1.4 is out. About a week ago, I built and installed its pre-release version (1.3.10) and noted build steps on macOS. It's been working great for me. Today, I updated to 1.4.

I was keen to try the new release out. I had been experiencing a short delay immediately after syncing/indexing mail. An initial investigation pointed to contact syncing, but I didn't dig further. The 1.4 release notes had a promising entry:

In many cases, `mu4e' used to receive all contacts after each indexing operation; this was slow for some users, so we have updated this to only get the contacts that have changed since the last round.

After upgrading. The delay is gone for me ø/

Note: there are a few config tweaks needed for the 1.4 upgrade, but these are well-documented in the release notes. For me, it primarily consisted of:

Swapping elisp mu4e-maildir var for mu init –maildir path/to/local/IMAP.
Swapping elisp mu4e-user-mail-address-list for mu init –my-address [email protected] –my-address [email protected].
Disabling mu4e-maildirs-extension (not yet compatible with mu 1.4). No issues here, since I hardly ever look at the mu4e-main buffer. I have global binding to my unread messages that looks a little something like this:

(defun ar/mu4e-view-unread-messages ()
  (interactive)
  (mu4e-headers-search-bookmark (concat "flag:unread AND "
                                        "flag:unread AND "
                                        "NOT flag:trashed AND "
                                        "(maildir:/box1/INBOX OR "
                                        "maildir:/box2/INBOX)")))

comments on twitter.

Libya travel bookmarks

Tue, 14 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

The city of Ghadames on the edge of the Saharan desert.

Trimming videos with ffmpeg

Tue, 07 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Via Bernd Verst's Trim Videos Instantly:

Start time + duration

ffmpeg -ss hh:mm:ss.msec -i in.mpeg -c copy -map 0 -t hh:mm:ss.msec out.mpeg

Start time + end time

ffmpeg -ss hh:mm:ss.msec -i in.mpeg -c copy -map 0 -to hh:mm:ss.msec out.mpeg

Emacs's counsel-M-x meets multiple cursors

Mon, 06 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

I'm a fan of Magnar Sveen's multiple cursors Emacs implementation. It's just so fun to use and works very well with commands bound to my favorite keys.

Every now and then I'd like to execute extended commands on all cursors, but they have no keys bound to them. If you're an ivy/counsel fan like me (and all packages by Abo Abo), you use counsel-M-x to invoke commands. However, counsel-M-x doesn't support multiple cursors out of the box. Luckily, this is Emacs and we can fix that…

Back in December 2019, I made a note to revisit u/snippins1987's weekly tip to pair helm-M-x with multiple cursors. Finally got back to it. With a few changes, we can also make the snippet work with counsel-M-x ø/.

(defun adviced:counsel-M-x-action (orig-fun &rest r)
  "Additional support for multiple cursors."
  (apply orig-fun r)
  (let ((cmd (intern (car r))))
    (when (and (boundp 'multiple-cursors-mode)
               multiple-cursors-mode
               cmd
               (not (memq cmd mc--default-cmds-to-run-once))
               (not (memq cmd mc/cmds-to-run-once))
               (or mc/always-run-for-all
                   (memq cmd mc--default-cmds-to-run-for-all)
                   (memq cmd mc/cmds-to-run-for-all)
                   (mc/prompt-for-inclusion-in-whitelist cmd)))
      (mc/execute-command-for-all-fake-cursors cmd))))

(advice-add #'counsel-M-x-action
            :around
            #'adviced:counsel-M-x-action)

Portland travel bookmarks

Sun, 05 Apr 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Powell’s Books | The World’s Largest Independent Bookstore.

String inflection Emacs package

Sun, 29 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

string-inflection (by Akira Ikeda) is a nifty package to cycle through string case styles: camel, snake, kebab… The package includes a handful of cycling functions for different languages (Ruby, Python and Java), but it's easy to mix and match to roll your own. For now, I'm binding C-M-j to string-inflection-cycle, which is an alias to string-inflection-ruby-style-cycle.

(use-package string-inflection
  :ensure t
  :bind (:map prog-mode-map
              ("C-M-j" . string-inflection-cycle)))

comments on twitter

Turkey travel bookmarks

Sat, 28 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Tomb of Amyntas - Wikipedia.

Dal Makhani (black lentils) recipe

Wed, 25 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Soak beans (overnight)

1 cup of rajmah (kidney beans).
2 cups of sabut urad (black lentils).

Place the beans in a bowl with plenty of water. The beans will soak it up so ensure there's enough.

Cooking the beans

3 liters of water.
1 cinamon stick.
1 tablespoon of turmeric.
2 bay leaves.

Drain the beans and combine new ingredients into a pot. Bring to a boil and simer for 1.5 hours. Check beans aren't firm (give 'em a try'). If so extend another 15-30 mins.

Prepare paste

1 4 cm piece of ginger.
1 large onion.
6 garlic cloves.
2 tomatoes.

Put through blender (with choppin pulse) or food processor until you get a paste.

Golden paste

Paste.
3 tablespoons of butter.
1 tablespoon of cumin seeds.
1 tablespoon of coriander powder.
1 tablespoon of chilly powder (or less to make milder).
1 fresh red hot pepper (find one with medium heat level) chopped.
1 tablespoon of cumin powder.
1/4 cup of water.
3/4 tablespoon of salt.

Heat up the butter (medium heat) and brown the cumin seeds (maybe 30 seconds). Add the paste from previous step. Cook for about 4 minutes or until golden. Add the remaining ingredients in step (except water) and cook for another 30 seconds. Add the water and salt and mix to make more fluid and remove from heat.

Tying it all together

1 tablespoon of panchpuram (cumin, fenugreek, mistard, and fennel seeds).
300 ml of double cream.

Combine the cooked beans, golden paste, and seeds. Simmer for about 15 minutes. Add the cream and cook for about 2 minutes. You are effectively done.

Garnish (optional)

You can serve and optionally garnish with some chopped coriander. Recommended.

Serve with

Basmati rice, rotis, buttered buns, or even corn tortillas (unorthodox, but hey).

Modern Emacs lisp libraries

Sat, 21 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Quickly finding related built-in elisp functions (without prefixes) can sometimes take a little poking around.

Some modern and predictable built-in exceptions I now reach out to are:

map.el for key/values, alists, hash-tables and arrays (built-in as of Emacs 25.1).
seq.el for sequence manipulation functions (built-in as of Emacs 25.1).
subr-x.el has a handful of string functions (built-in as of Emacs 24.4).
let-alist.el wonderful syntax for alists, great for json (built-in as of Emacs 25.1).

If you don't mind reaching out to third-party libs (you likely have some of these already installed), here are some modern, predictable, and well-documented ones that always get me out of trouble:

s.el string manipulation.
f.el file/path handling.
dash.el for lists.
ht.el for hashtables.
ts.el for date and time.

I'm happy with built-ins like map.el, seq.el, and let-alist.el. subr-x.el is also pretty nice, although not as full-featured as third-party s.el.

Am I missing out on other modern built-ins or third-party libraries?

UPDATE: Added a handful of newly discovered libraries plus suggestions by Daniel Martín (thanks!). Not tried any of these myself.

rtree.el binary tree that stores ranges (Built-in).
ov.el simple way to manipulate overlay.
Toby Cubitt's libraries (heap, overlays, queue, avl-tree, trie, dict-tree, etc).
shadchen.el pattern-matching.
m-buffer.el buffers.
esxml.el xml and html.
a.el associative structures.
asoc.el association list library.
yk-color.el linear RGB color manipulation.

comments on twitter

Emacs smartparens auto-indent

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

While I do most editing in Emacs, I use Xcode every now and then. I like Xcode's pair matching (of brackets) combined with its auto-indent.

While the wonderful smartparens gives Emacs pair-matching powers, it doesn't automatically indent between pairs (out of the box anyway).

Luckily, smartparens does provide sp-local-pair, which enables us to achieve a similar goal.

With a short snippet, we can autoindent between {}, [], and () when pressing return in-between.

(defun indent-between-pair (&rest _ignored)
  (newline)
  (indent-according-to-mode)
  (forward-line -1)
  (indent-according-to-mode))

(sp-local-pair 'prog-mode "{" nil :post-handlers '((indent-between-pair "RET")))
(sp-local-pair 'prog-mode "[" nil :post-handlers '((indent-between-pair "RET")))
(sp-local-pair 'prog-mode "(" nil :post-handlers '((indent-between-pair "RET")))

comments on twitter

Solarpunk bookmarks

Fri, 20 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

sqlite bookmarks

Tue, 10 Mar 2020 00:00:00 GMT

covid-19 bookmarks

Wed, 26 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Security bookmarks

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Nix bookmarks

Sat, 15 Feb 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Plants bookmarks

Fri, 10 Jan 2020 00:00:00 GMT

Fixing Honeywell CM927's dead screen

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

My Honeywell CM927 thermostat's screen had been getting progressively worse over the last year. As of late, the screen was of little use.

A random search yielded the Honeywell CM927 LCD screen fail - common? thread, with a promising comment by Phil:

"Strip the unit and remove the circuit board (just a few plastic clips, no screws). Remove the LCD assembly from the circuit board (more plastic clips and an eight pin push connection). Removed the LCD unit from the clear plastic housing (more plastic clips). Finally heat up the plastic ribbon where it is stuck to the circuit board (hair dryer will do trick) and then firmly press it onto the circuit board… probably worth doing this several times; in effect you are remating the ribbon to the circuit board by softening the adhesive. Put it all back together and it should be working again."

Phil's instructions were great. There's also a super handy video by El Tucan, also linked by Stevie.

Success ø/

Heating up the plastic ribbon and pressing it onto the circuit board did the trick for me. Took a few tries for all segments to appear, but the screen is looking great again.

Thank you Internet strangers! :)

SwiftUI bookmarks

Sun, 29 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Studying for Life in the UK test

Tue, 17 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Today, I passed the Life in the UK test. Wasn't quite sure how to study for it. During my commutes, I listened to the Life in the UK 2019 Test audio book.

A friend recommended lifeintheuktestweb.co.uk. Overall, I found their practice tests very useful. Taking a bunch tests helped me internalize the material.

Took some notes along the way (mostly data with years attached) and dumped it into an org table. This helped me form a mental timeline.

NOTE: These tables alone are not comprehensive enough to prepare for the exam. You'll need to know additional information without dates attached.

Events

Year Event

2012 Diamond Jubilee 1999 Scottish Parliament formed 1973 UK joins the EU ø/ 1972 Mary Peters wins Gold medal (pentathlon) 1957 Treaty of Rome signed (March 25) 1950 UK signs European Convention of Human Rights 1949 Ireland become a republic 1947 Granted independence India, Pakistan and Ceylon (Sri Lanka) 1945 Clement Attlee elected 1945 Alexander Fleming discovers penicillin 1945 WWII ends 1944 Butler Act (free secondary education England/Wales) 1940 Battle of Britain 1939 Germany invades Poland 1930s Turing Machine 1936 BBC first regular television service 1932 First television broadcast 1930 British Film Studios Fluorish 1928 Women/men with same voting age 1918 WWI ends (November 11, 11am) 1903 Emmeline Pankhurst Women’s Social and Political Union (suffragettes) 1902 Motor-car racing in UK 1896 First film shown publicly 1899-1902 The Boer War (South Africa) 1870-1914 120000 Russian and Polish Jews fled to Britain to escape prosecution 1853-1856 Crimean War 1851 Great Exhibition (showcased Crystal Palance) 1837 Queen Victoria becomes queen (at 18) 1833 Emancipation Act (abolished slavery throughout British Emprire) 1832 The Reform Act (increase number of people with voting rights) 1776 North American colonies want out (don't tax us without representation) 1745 Bonnie Prince Charlie gets support by clansmen from Scottish highlands 1714 Queen Ann dies, George I becomes King 1689 Bill of rights (limit rights of kings) 1688 William of Orange invades England (proclaims king) 1680-1720 Huguenots refugees came to England (from France) 1695 Free press (newspapers) established 1679 Habeas Corpus Act (right to trial) 1649-1660 Cromwell rules republic for 11 years (Charles I executed) 1642 English Civil war (Cavaliers vs Roundheads) 1606 Union flag created 1588 English beat Spanish Armada 1348 Black death (third population die) 1314 Battle of Bannockburn: Robert the Bruce (Scottish King) beats English invasion 1284 Statute of Rhuddlan (Wales joins Crown, by King Edward I) 1215 Magna Carta created 1066 Norman Conquest (Saxon King Harold killed by William I) 300-400 AD Christians appear in Britain 789 AD Vikings first visit Britain and raid coastal towns 6000 years ago Farmers come to Britain

Population

Year Population

2010 > 62 million 2005 < 60 million 1998 57 million 1951 50 million 1901 40 million 1851 20 million 1700 5 million 1600 > 4 million

Georgia travel bookmarks

Sun, 01 Dec 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Abandoned Georgia.

Wizard zines comics in Emacs eshell

Sun, 24 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Over at wizardzines.com, Julia Evans authors wonderful zines on topics like git, networking, linux, command-line utilities, and others. Some zines are paid. Some are free. No affiliation here, just a fan.

A little while ago, Julia tweeted about a utility she's building to view her original comics on similar topics. I instantly thought it'd be a fun tool to implement for Emacs eshell.

Since then, I subscribed to wizardzines.com/saturday-comics and received a few comics (awk, tar, and bash tricks). I saved them locally (using topic name and dropping file extensions).

ls -1 ~/Downloads/wizardzines-comics/

awk bash tar

By no means battle-tested, but here's an elisp snippet defining the ecomic command. It displays inlined comics in the handy eshell.

(require 'eshell)
(require 'iimage)

(defvar wizardzines-comics-path "~/Downloads/wizardzines-comics")

(defun eshell/ecomic (&rest args)
  "Display command comic in ARGS.
Note: ensure comic images live in `wizardzines-comics-path', named with
command name and no extension."
  (eshell-eval-using-options
   "ecomic" args
   '((?h "help" nil nil "show this usage screen")
     :external "ecomic"
     :show-usage
     :usage "COMMAND

Show COMMAND comic from Julia Evans' https://wizardzines.com/saturday-comics")
   (let* ((command (nth 0 (eshell-stringify-list (eshell-flatten-list args))))
          (image-fpath (concat (file-name-as-directory
                                (expand-file-name wizardzines-comics-path))
                               command)))
     (unless (file-exists-p image-fpath)
       (error "comic: \"%s\" not found :-(" command))
     (eshell-buffered-print "\n")
     (add-text-properties 0 (length image-fpath)
                          `(display ,(create-image image-fpath)
                                    modification-hooks
                                    (iimage-modification-hook))
                          image-fpath)
     (eshell-buffered-print image-fpath)
     (eshell-flush))))

comments on twitter

Updates

Tweaked title.

Emacs counsel default search switches

Thu, 21 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Following up from Enhanced Emacs searching with counsel switches, rather than remembering silver searcher and ripgrep switches, we can use counsel's ivy-initial-inputs-alist to set these up as default visible switches.

(push '(counsel-ag . "--file-search-regex '' -- ") ivy-initial-inputs-alist)
(push '(counsel-rg . "--glob '**' -- ") ivy-initial-inputs-alist)

The default switches stay out of the way in typical searches, but can be easily modified to include (or exclude) results matching specific file names.

comments on twitter

Enhanced Emacs searching with counsel switches

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The counsel family of Emacs search commands are great for searching the filesystem. More specifically, counsel-rg, counsel-ag, and counsel-pt, which use the popular ripgrep, silver searcher, and platinum searcher utilities.

counsel-rg is my default searcher. It returns results quickly, with live updates as I tweak the search query.

Up until recently, my queries typically matched text in files only. This works great, but every so often I wished I could amend the query to include (or exclude) results matching specific file names. Turns out, you can prepend the search query with additional switches using the "–" separator.

The switches are usually utility-specific, but if we wanted to keep results from file names matching a glob, we can prepend the ripgrep query with something like "–glob Make* –" or the shorter version "-g Make* –".

rg: -g Make* – install

Emacs org block company completion

Sun, 10 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE: This is now available on melpa.

Back in 2015, I bound the "<" key to a hydra for quickly inserting org blocks. The idea came from Oleg's post on org-mode block templates in Hydra. The suggested binding settled in my muscle memory without much effort.

Fast forward to Febrary 2019. I replaced the hydra with org-insert-structure-template when org-try-structure-completion was removed from org mode. No biggie, as I kept the same binding to "<" and hardly noticed the change.

Since my primary use-case for easy templates is inserting source blocks, I was keen to expedite choosing the source language as well as inserting the source block itself.

Writing a small company mode completion backend fits my primary use-case pretty well.

The company backend looks as follow (Warning: Snippet needs Org v9.2).

Note: This code is not up to date. Install via melpa or see its repository.

(require 'map)
(require 'org)
(require 'seq)

(defvar company-org-block-bol-p t "If t, detect completion when at
begining of line, otherwise detect completion anywhere.")

(defvar company-org--regexp "<\\([^ ]*\\)")

(defun company-org-block (command &optional arg &rest ignored)
  "Complete org babel languages into source blocks."
  (interactive (list 'interactive))
  (cl-case command
    (interactive (company-begin-backend 'company-org-block))
    (prefix (when (derived-mode-p 'org-mode)
              (company-org-block--grab-symbol-cons)))
    (candidates (company-org-block--candidates arg))
    (post-completion
     (company-org-block--expand arg))))

(defun company-org-block--candidates (prefix)
  "Return a list of org babel languages matching PREFIX."
  (seq-filter (lambda (language)
                (string-prefix-p prefix language))
              ;; Flatten `org-babel-load-languages' and
              ;; `org-structure-template-alist', join, and sort.
              (seq-sort
               #'string-lessp
               (append
                (mapcar #'prin1-to-string
                        (map-keys org-babel-load-languages))
                (map-values org-structure-template-alist)))))

(defun company-org-block--template-p (template)
  (seq-contains (map-values org-structure-template-alist)
                template))

(defun company-org-block--expand (insertion)
  "Replace INSERTION with actual source block."
  (delete-region (point) (- (point) (1+ ;; Include "<" in length.
                                     (length insertion))))
  (if (company-org-block--template-p insertion)
      (company-org-block--wrap-point insertion
                                     ;; May be multiple words.
                                     ;; Take the first one.
                                     (nth 0 (split-string insertion)))
    (company-org-block--wrap-point (format "src %s" insertion)
                                   "src")))

(defun company-org-block--wrap-point (begin end)
  "Wrap point with block using BEGIN and END.  For example:
#+begin_BEGIN
  |
#+end_END"
  (insert (format "#+begin_%s\n" begin))
  (insert (make-string org-edit-src-content-indentation ?\s))
  ;; Saving excursion restores point to location inside code block.
  (save-excursion
    (insert (format "\n#+end_%s" end))))

(defun company-org-block--grab-symbol-cons ()
  "Return cons with symbol and t whenever prefix of < is found.
For example: \" (\"e\" . t)"
  (when (looking-back (if company-org-block-bol-p
                          (concat "^" company-org--regexp)
                        company-org--regexp)
                      (line-beginning-position))
    (cons (match-string-no-properties 1) t)))

To use, add the backend enable company-mode in org-mode:

(add-to-list 'company-backends 'company-org-block)
(company-mode +1)

Updates

Removed language-specific header logic (use org-babel-default-header-args instead).
Also completes non-source block templates from org-structure-template-alist.
Source in my dot files.
Removed unnecessary binding. Just add company backend as usual.
Thanks to Takaaki Ishikawa for suggesting `org-edit-src-content-indentation'.
Thanks to Thomas Kobber for highlighting incompatibility with older org versions.

IRC bookmarks

Fri, 08 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Awesome IRC.

A more reusable Emacs shell-command history

Sun, 03 Nov 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Cameron Desautel has a great post on Working Faster in Emacs by Reading the "Future", highlighting M-n's usefulness for inserting minibuffer default values.

Invoking M-n in shell-command's prompt is handy for quickly getting the current buffer's file name. This works great for one-off shell commands like "chmod +x script.sh" or "tidy -xml -i -m data.xml". Unfortunately, these commands aren't easily reusable from shell-command's minibuffer history, since it'll keep hardcoded file names.

There's likely existing built-in functionality or a more elaborate package for this, but advising read-shell-command enables us to write more reusable commands like "chmod +x $f" or "tidy -xml -i -m $f". We merely replace $f with (buffer-file-name), and let everything else continue as usual.

(defun ar/adviced-read-shell-command (orig-fun &rest r)
  "Advice around `read-shell-command' to replace $f with buffer file name."
  (let ((command (apply orig-fun r)))
    (if (string-match-p "\\$f" command)
        (replace-regexp-in-string "\\$f"
                                  (or (buffer-file-name)
                                      (user-error "No file file visited to replace $f"))
                                  command)
      command)))

(advice-add 'read-shell-command
            :around
            'ar/adviced-read-shell-command)

It's worth mentioning that searching minibuffer history is pretty simple when leveraging counsel to fuzzy search (via counsel-minibuffer-history, bound to C-r by default).

On a final note, searching minibuffer history for cache hits is way more useful with richer history content. Be sure to save minibuffer history across Emacs sessions and increase shell-command-history using the built-in savehist-mode.

(use-package savehist
  :custom
  (savehist-file "~/.emacs.d/savehist")
  (savehist-save-minibuffer-history t)
  (history-length 10000)
  (savehist-additional-variables
   '(shell-command-history))
  :config
  (savehist-mode +1))

Taiwan travel bookmarks

Sun, 20 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs swiper and multiple cursors

Thu, 10 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs swiper is awesome. I bound swiper-isearch to C-s. Also a big fan of multiple cursors. I use it regularly (it's fun).

I had totally missed Ole's post back in 2015: A simple multiple-cursors extension to swiper. Turns out, swiper has multiple cursors support out of the box (bound to C-7 by default). Yay!

UPDATE: Thanks to irreal's post, please remember to add swiper-mc to mc/cmds-to-run-once list (or things won't work as expected). This typically happens interactively when you invoke C-7 the first time around. Make sure you answer "n" when you see a prompt like:

If you happen to choose "y" by mistake, take a look at ~/.emacs.d/.mc-lists.el to correct it. Remove swiper-mc from mc/cmds-to-run-for-all and add it to mc/cmds-to-run-once. Invoke m-x eval-buffer to reset the values and you're good to go.

Speeding up gifs with gifsycle

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Drop frames and speed gif up with gifsycle (via How to remove every second frame from an animated gif?):

gifsicle -U in.gif `seq -f "#%g" 0 3 398` -O2 -o out.gif

ps. 398 is the total number of frames, which you can get with:

identify in.gif

Spam blacklisting with Emacs org babel

Tue, 08 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Some email provider accept regular expressions to blacklist additional spam. My blacklist is long and tedious to update, but hey… Emacs org babel can simplify things here.

It's way easier to maintain a blacklist (with no regex) using an org table.

Blacklist

#+name: spam-entries
| .spammy                |
| [email protected] |
| henryzeespammer.com    |
| yumspam.com            |

and subsequently use org babel (elisp snippet) to generate the regex.

Regex gen

#+begin_src emacs-lisp :var rows=spam-entries
  (require 'dash)
  (require 's)

  (concat "^"
          (s-join "|"
                  (mapcar (lambda (entry)
                            (setq entry (regexp-quote
                                         (s-trim entry)))
                            (assert (s-present? entry))
                            (cond
                             ;; Blacklist email address: [email protected]
                             ((s-contains-p "@" entry)
                              (format "(%s)" entry))
                             ;; Blacklist top-level domain: .spammy
                             ((s-starts-with-p "\\." entry)
                              (format "([^.]*%s)" entry))
                             ;; Blacklist domain: @spammer.spammy
                             (t
                              (format "(.*@%s)" entry))))
                          (-sort
                           'string<
                           (-map (lambda (row)
                                   (nth 0 row))
                                 rows))))
          "$")

#+end_src

#+RESULTS:
: ^([^.]*\.spammy)|(dodgyfella@hotmail\.com)|(.*@henryzeespammer\.com)|(.*@yumspam\.com)$

UPDATE: Tweaked elisp and regex (but not animation) also found John Bokma's post: Blacklisting domains with Postfix.

Rewriting dates with Emacs multiple cursors

Sun, 06 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Needed to rewrite the date format in a couple of csv columns. Emacs multiple cursors helps here, but needed a function to parse and reformat the dates themselves.

I can likely reformat dates using the built-in parse-time-string and format-time-string functions, but hey why not give the ts.el library a try…

(defun ar/region-to-timestamp ()
  "Convert date like \"29 Apr 2019\" to \"2019-04-29\"."
  (interactive)
  (let ((date (ts-parse (buffer-substring
                         (region-beginning)
                         (region-end)))))
    (delete-region (region-beginning)
                   (region-end))
    (insert (ts-format "%Y-%m-%d" date))))

Bound the new function to a temporary keybinding, so I can invoke from multiple cursors:

(bind-key "M-q" #'ar/region-to-timestamp)

and voilà!

Show/hide Emacs dired details in style

Sat, 05 Oct 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs dired is a powerful directory browser/editor. By default, it shows lots of handy file and directory details.

I typically prefer hiding file and directory details until I need them. The built-in dired-hide-details-mode makes this easy with the "(" key toggle. Coupled with Steve Purcell's diredfl (for coloring), it strikes a great user experience.

With a short snippet, you can also show/hide dired details in style:

(use-package dired
  :hook (dired-mode . dired-hide-details-mode)
  :config
  ;; Colourful columns.
  (use-package diredfl
    :ensure t
    :config
    (diredfl-global-mode 1)))

UPDATE: Thanks to Daniel Martín, who pointed me to dired-git-info. This package adds git logs to dired file and directory details.

Binding dired-git-info-mode to ")" is a nice complement to dired-hide-details-mode's "(" binding.

(use-package dired-git-info
    :ensure t
    :bind (:map dired-mode-map
                (")" . dired-git-info-mode)))

Bulk buying bookmarks

Sun, 29 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Real foods.

Speeding up Emacs tramp via ControlMaster

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Via Florian Margaine's Eshell config, I discovered ssh's ControlMaster. It enables sharing multiple sessions over a single network connection. This has the benefit of speeding up Emacs TRAMP.

In your ~/.ssh/config add:

Host *
    ControlPath ~/.ssh/master-%h:%p
    ControlMaster auto
    ControlPersist 10m

csv bookmarks

Sun, 01 Sep 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Slovakia travel bookmarks

Sat, 10 Aug 2019 00:00:00 GMT

High Tatras mountains (wonderful hikes).

Thumbnailing pdf page

Sun, 14 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

If you ever need to thumbnail a pdf page, imagemagick has got you covered. For example, to thumbnail page 3, you can use:

convert path/to/input.pdf[2] path/to/output.png

convert -resize 10000x10000 path/to/input.pdf[2] path/to/output.png
convert: FailedToExecuteCommand `'gs' -sstdout=%stderr -dQUIET -dSAFER -dBATCH -dNOPAUSE -dNOPROMPT -dMaxBitmap=500000000 -dAlignToPixels=0 -dGridFitTT=2 '-sDEVICE=pngalpha' -dTextAlphaBits=4 -dGraphicsAlphaBits=4 '-r72x72' -dFirstPage=3 -dLastPage=3 '-sOutputFile=/var/folders/2y/nj_s07ms7l5gfsffh89_79zm0000gn/T/magick-30950xzlPsgqGUwtA%d' '-f/var/folders/2y/nj_s07ms7l5gfsffh89_79zm0000gn/T/magick-30950jpGyui82uGOQ' '-f/var/folders/2y/nj_s07ms7l5gfsffh89_79zm0000gn/T/magick-30950cuDVTNjArshs'' (1) @ error/pdf.c/InvokePDFDelegate/292.

However, I had the error above (missing gs), resolved by installing ghostscript.

brew install ghostscript

Outdoor bookmarks

Fri, 12 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The Seven Principles of Leave No Trace.

gnuplot bookmarks

Sun, 07 Jul 2019 00:00:00 GMT

gnu global, ctags, and Emacs setup

Tue, 04 Jun 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Universal ctags (newer)

I'm now using universal ctags, as recommended by counsel-etags.

From universal ctag's Building on Mac OS:

brew tap universal-ctags/universal-ctags
brew install --HEAD universal-ctags

.ctags

--langdef=swift
--langmap=swift:+.swift

--kinddef-swift=v,variable,variables
--kinddef-swift=f,function,functions
--kinddef-swift=s,struct,structs
--kinddef-swift=c,class,classes
--kinddef-swift=p,protocol,protocols
--kinddef-swift=e,enum,enums
--kinddef-swift=t,typealias,typealiases

--regex-swift=/(var|let)[ \t]+([^:=]+).*$/\2/v/
--regex-swift=/func[ \t]+([^\(\)]+)\([^\(\)]*\)/\1/f/
--regex-swift=/struct[ \t]+([^:\{]+).*$/\1/s/
--regex-swift=/class[ \t]+([^:\{]+).*$/\1/c/
--regex-swift=/protocol[ \t]+([^:\{]+).*$/\1/p/
--regex-swift=/enum[ \t]+([^:\{]+).*$/\1/e/
--regex-swift=/(typealias)[ \t]+([^:=]+).*$/\2/v/

Exuberant ctags (older/buggy?)

Install gnu global (ensure homebrew uses –with-exuberant-ctags flag).

brew install global
brew install ctags
pip install pygments

.ctags

--langdef=swift
--langmap=swift:.swift
--regex-swift=/[[:<:]]class[[:>:]][[:space:]]+([[:alnum:]_]+)/\1/c,class/
--regex-swift=/[[:<:]]enum[[:>:]][[:space:]]+([[:alnum:]_]+)/\1/e,enum/
--regex-swift=/[[:<:]]func[[:>:]][[:space:]]+([[:alnum:]_]+)/\1/f,function/
--regex-swift=/[[:<:]]protocol[[:>:]][[:space:]]+([[:alnum:]_]+)/\1/P,protocol/
--regex-swift=/[[:<:]]struct[[:>:]][[:space:]]+([[:alnum:]_]+)/\1/s,struct/
--regex-swift=/[[:<:]]typealias[[:>:]][[:space:]]+([[:alnum:]_]+)/\1/t,typealias/

.globalrc

default:\
    :tc=pygments:

ctags:\
    :tc=exuberant-ctags:

exuberant-ctags|plugin-example|setting to use Exuberant Ctags plug-in parser:\
    :tc=common:\
    :ctagscom=ctags:\
    :ctagslib=$libdir/gtags/exuberant-ctags.la:\
    :langmap=Swift\:.swift:\
    :gtags_parser=Swift\:$ctagslib:

pygments:\
    :tc=pygments-parser:

pygments-parser|Pygments plug-in parser:\
    :langmap=Swift\:.swift:\
    :gtags_parser=Swift\:$pygmentslib:\
    :langmap=Common-Lisp\:.cl.lisp.el:\
    :gtags_parser=Common-Lisp\:$pygmentslib:\
    :langmap=Python\:.py.pyw.sc.tac.sage:\
    :gtags_parser=Python\:$pygmentslib:\
    :langmap=Ruby\:.rb.rbw.rake.gemspec.rbx.duby:\
    :gtags_parser=Ruby\:$pygmentslib:\
    :langmap=Objective-C++\:.mm.hh:\
    :gtags_parser=Objective-C++\:$pygmentslib:\
    :langmap=Objective-C\:.m.h:\
    :gtags_parser=Objective-C\:$pygmentslib:\
    :ctagscom=ctags:\
    :pygmentslib=$libdir/gtags/pygments-parser.la:\
    :tc=common:

common:\
    :skip=build/,HTML/,HTML.pub/,tags,TAGS,ID,y.tab.c,y.tab.h,gtags.files,cscope.files,cscope.out,cscope.po.out,cscope.in.out,SCCS/,RCS/,CVS/,CVSROOT/,{arch}/,autom4te.cache/,*.orig,*.rej,*.bak,*~,#*#,*.swp,*.tmp,*_flymake.*,*_flymake,*.o,*.a,*.so,*.lo,*.zip,*.gz,*.bz2,*.xz,*.lzh,*.Z,*.tgz,*.min.js,*min.css:

(use-package counsel-gtags
  :ensure t
  :commands counsel-gtags-mode
  :bind (:map
         counsel-gtags-mode-map
         ("M-." . counsel-gtags-dwim)
         ("M-," . counsel-gtags-go-backward))
  :hook ((swift-mode . counsel-gtags-mode)
         (swift-mode . ggtags-mode)))

;; Needs .ctags and .globalrc in $HOME.
(use-package ggtags
  :ensure t
  :commands ggtags-mode)

Helpful references

https://github.com/osdakira/dotfiles/blob/395640726d669674496a8035458840f0742e54a5/gtags.conf https://github.com/NicholasTD07/dotfiles/blob/e66eb05b408fbcb0d47994fc8a0a79bf438b9e03/.globalrc https://github.com/NicholasTD07/dotfiles/blob/master/.ctags https://github.com/sg2002/gtags.conf-tutorial/blob/master/gtags.conf https://aozsky.com/swift/swift_ide

mu4e as macOS mail composer

Wed, 29 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Via Using Emacs as Default Mailer on macOS, a tiny script to handle mailto: links.

From //Script Editor/, save following script as Application (MailOnEmacs.app). From Mail.app, Preferences -> Default email reader and chosse MailOnEmacs.app.

on open location myurl
        tell application "Emacs" to activate
        set text item delimiters to {":"}
        do shell script "/path/to/emacsclient --eval '(browse-url-mail \"" & myurl & "\")'"
end open location

New sudo user snippet

Sun, 26 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

I don't add linux sudoers frequently enough. Always looking it up. Keeping snippet.

adduser -m -d /home/ 
passwd 
usermod -aG sudo

Plotting ledger reports in org

Fri, 24 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

My ledger file

Save path to my.ledger in ledger-file block.

#+name: ledger-file
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
"my.ledger"
#+end_src

gnuplot terminal (png or qt)

Select gnuplot terminal. Using png to output images, but qt is handy too for interactive chart inspection.

Use png for inline or qt for interactive
#+name: gnuplot-term
#+begin_src emacs-lisp
"png"
#+end_src

Monthly Income and Expenses

Generate income report.

#+name: income-data
#+begin_src bash :results table :noweb yes
  ledger -f <<>> -j reg ^Income -M --collapse --plot-amount-format="%(format_date(date, \"%Y-%m-%d\")) %(abs(quantity(scrub(display_amount))))\n"
#+end_src

Generate expenses report.

#+name: expenses-data
#+begin_src sh :results table :noweb yes
  ledger -f <<>> -j reg ^Expenses -M --collapse
#+end_src

Plot income vs expenses.

set terminal myterm size 3500,1500
set style data histogram
set style histogram clustered gap 1
set style fill transparent solid 0.4 noborder
set xtics nomirror scale 0 center
set ytics add ('' 0) scale 0
set border 1
set grid ytics
set title "Monthly Income and Expenses"
set ylabel "Amount"
plot income using 2:xticlabels(strftime('%b', strptime('%Y-%m-%d', strcol(1)))) title "Income" linecolor rgb "light-salmon", '' using 0:2:2 with labels left font "Courier,8" rotate by 15 offset -4,0.5 textcolor linestyle 0 notitle, expenses using 2 title "Expenses" linecolor rgb "light-green", '' using 0:2:2 with labels left font "Courier,8" rotate by 15 offset 0,0.5 textcolor linestyle 0 notitle

Changing MAC address in org

Tue, 21 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Via Minko Gechev's tweet. Saving in an org block, just because…

changeMAC() {
    local mac=$(openssl rand -hex 6 | sed 's/\(..\)/\1:/g; s/.$//')
    ifconfig en0 ether $mac
    ifconfig en0 down
    ifconfig en0 up
    echo "Your new physical address is $mac"
}

changeMAC

#+RESULTS:

Your new physical address is b4:b2:f8:77:bb:87

ps. Also see Execute org blocks as root.

Charting bookmarks

Fri, 17 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Building swift-format

Sat, 11 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Trying out Google's swift-format. Build with:

git clone -b swift-5.2-branch https://github.com/apple/swift-format.git
cd swift-format
swift build

.build/x86_64-apple-macosx/debug/swift-format --help

OVERVIEW: Format or lint Swift source code.

USAGE: swift-format [options]  ...

OPTIONS:
  --configuration         The path to a JSON file containing the configuration of the linter/formatter.
  --in-place, -i          Overwrite the current file when formatting ('format' mode only).
  --mode, -m              The mode to run swift-format in. Either 'format', 'lint', or 'dump-configuration'.
  --recursive, -r         Recursively run on '.swift' files in any provided directories.
  --version, -v           Prints the version and exists
  --help                  Display available options

POSITIONAL ARGUMENTS:
  filenames or paths      One or more input filenames

UPDATE: Now uses swift-5.2-branch (for Xcode 11.4), according to Matching swift-format to Your Swift Version.

Ledger query snippets

Mon, 06 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Expenses paid in cash between two dates

ledger -f my.ledger reg "^Expenses" and expr 'any(account=~/Assets:Cash:Wallet/)' -b 02/19 -e 04/09

Bank account income between two dates

ledger -f my.ledger reg "^Assets:Bank:Acme" and expr "amount > 0" -b 02/19 -e 04/09

Formatting reg output

ledger -f my.ledger reg "^Assets:Bank:Acme" --format="%(payee) %(amount)\n"

Batch file renaming with counsel, find-dired, and wdired

Sat, 04 May 2019 00:00:00 GMT

The first time I saw wdired in action, it blew my mind. wdired makes dired (directory editor) buffers writeable, so you can edit them like any other Emacs buffer. You can subsequently use all your favorite file-editing tricks to rename files (amongst other things). You can see it in action at the end of Emacs Rocks episode 16.

When combining find-dired with wdired, one can easily find matching files and quickly batch rename them using something like multiple cursors or keyboard macros. I've been a fan of the find-dired -> dired-toggle-read-only -> mc/mark-all-like-this workflow for quite some time, but I always wished I could adjust find-dired queries a little quicker by getting immediate feedback.

Completion frontends like ivy and helm are perfect for getting this kind of immediate feedback. Peeking into ivy's counsel source, I borrowed some ideas to glue counsel-style narrowing on a find command, which I can easily translate to a writeable dired buffer for all that joyful-mutiple-cursor-editing experience.

The code for ar/counsel-find is a little rough but can be found at here.

VPS bookmarks

Fri, 26 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Svelte bookmarks

Mon, 22 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Mark region, indent, restore location

Tue, 16 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

When I'm not using an automatic code formatter (ie. clang-format, gofmt, etc.), I often find myself using Emacs region marking commands like mark-defun, er/expand-region, and mark-whole-buffer prior to pressing , which is bound to indent-for-tab-command.

This is all working as expected: the selection gets indented and the point is left in the current location.

Say we have the following snippet we'd like to indent.

Mark region with C-M-h (mark-defun)

Indent with (indent-for-tab-command)

We're done. The selected function is now indented as expected.

But… I always wished the point returned to the location prior to initiating the region-marking command, in this case mark-defun.

In short, I wish the point had ended in the following location.

I'm not aware of an existing package that helps with this, so here's a tiny minor mode (divert-mode) to help with restoring point location after indenting a region. The diverted-events variable can be used to track specific region selecting commands and associate breadcrumb functions to replace the point location as needed.

;;; diverted.el --- Identify temporary diversions and automatically
;;; move point back to original location.

;;; Commentary:
;; Automatically come back to a original location prior to diversion.


;;; Code:

(require 'cl)
(require 'seq)

(defstruct diverted-event
  from ;; Initial function (eg. 'mark-defun)
  to ;; Follow-up function (eg. 'indent-for-tab-command)
  breadcrumb)

(defvar diverted-events
  (list
   (make-diverted-event :from 'mark-defun
                        :to 'indent-for-tab-command
                        :breadcrumb (lambda ()
                                      (diverted--pop-to-mark-command 2)))
   (make-diverted-event :from 'er/expand-region
                        :to 'indent-for-tab-command
                        :breadcrumb (lambda ()
                                      (diverted--pop-to-mark-command 2)))
   (make-diverted-event :from 'mark-whole-buffer
                        :to 'indent-for-tab-command
                        :breadcrumb (lambda ()
                                      (diverted--pop-to-mark-command 2))))
  "Diversion events to look for.")

(defun diverted--resolve (symbol)
  "Resolve SYMBOL to event."
  (seq-find (lambda (event)
              (equal symbol
                     (diverted-event-from event)))
            diverted-events))

(defun diverted--pop-to-mark-command (n)
  "Invoke `pop-to-mark-command' N number of times."
  (dotimes (_ n)
    (pop-to-mark-command)))

(defun diverted--advice-fun (orig-fun &rest r)
  "Get back to location prior to diversion using advice around `diverted-events' (ORIG-FUN and R)."
  (let ((recognized-event (diverted--resolve last-command)))
    (when recognized-event
      (funcall (diverted-event-breadcrumb recognized-event))
      (message "Breadcrumbed prior to `%s'"
               (diverted-event-from recognized-event)))))

(defun diverted-mode-enable ()
  "Enable diverted-mode."
  (interactive)
  (diverted-mode-disable)
  (mapc (lambda (event)
          (advice-add (diverted-event-to event)
                      :after
                      'diverted--advice-fun)
          (message "Looking for `%s' after `%s' diversions."
                   (diverted-event-to event)
                   (diverted-event-from event)))
        diverted-events)
  (message "diverted-mode enabled"))

(defun diverted-mode-disable ()
  "Disable diverted-mode."
  (interactive)
  (mapc (lambda (event)
          (advice-remove (diverted-event-to event)
                         'diverted--advice-fun)
          (message "Ignoring `%s' after `%s' diversions."
                   (diverted-event-to event)
                   (diverted-event-from event)))
        diverted-events)
  (message "diverted-mode disabled"))

(define-minor-mode diverted-mode
  "Detect temporary diversions and restore point location."
  :init-value nil
  :lighter " diverted"
  :global t
  (if diverted-mode
      (diverted-mode-enable)
    (diverted-mode-disable)))

(provide 'diverted)

;;; diverted.el ends here

UPDATE(2019-04-20): Source on github.

Wider web bookmarks

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Compound interest calculations

Sun, 14 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Saving Tony Bedford's python snippets for calculating compound interest. Really just an excuse to fire up Emacs and play with org babel.

t = 20 # years
r = 0.07 # rate
pv = 200000.00 # present value
fv = pv * (1+r)**t # future value
print("Pension of %.2f at %d%% will be worth %.2f in %d years" % (pv, 100 * r, fv, t))

#+RESULTS:

Pension of 200000.00 at 7% will be worth 773936.89 in 20 years

t = 20 # years
r = 0.07 # rate
pv = 200000.00 # present value
n = 1
fv = pv * (1 + r/n)**(n*t) # future value
print ("First formula calculates final value to: %.2f" % fv)

fv = pv * (1 + r/n)**(n*1) # year 1 only
print("Year %d: %.2f" % (1, fv))
for i in range (2, t+1):
    fv = fv * (1 + r/n)**(n*1) # Calculate one year at a time
    print("Year %d: %.2f" % (i, fv))

First formula calculates final value to: 773936.89
Year 1: 214000.00
Year 2: 228980.00
Year 3: 245008.60
Year 4: 262159.20
Year 5: 280510.35
Year 6: 300146.07
Year 7: 321156.30
Year 8: 343637.24
Year 9: 367691.84
Year 10: 393430.27
Year 11: 420970.39
Year 12: 450438.32
Year 13: 481969.00
Year 14: 515706.83
Year 15: 551806.31
Year 16: 590432.75
Year 17: 631763.04
Year 18: 675986.46
Year 19: 723305.51
Year 20: 773936.89

Building mu/mu4e on macOS

Thu, 11 Apr 2019 00:00:00 GMT

I've now built Emacs's mu/mu4e releases a handful of times on macOS. These are the steps, so I don't forget.

1.4

Updated steps for building mu/mu4e 1.4:

brew install gmime
export CPPFLAGS="-I$(brew --prefix)/Cellar/gmime/3.2.3/include -I$(brew --prefix)/include"
export LDFLAGS=-L$(brew --prefix)/Cellar/gmime/3.2.3/lib
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(brew --prefix)/Cellar/gmime/3.2.3/lib/pkgconfig:$(brew --prefix)/opt/libffi/lib/pkgconfig
export EMACS=/Applications/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs
./configure --prefix=$(~/local)
make install

1.2

Recently built Emacs's mu/mu4e 1.2.0 from source on macOS. Steps:

brew install gmime
export CPPFLAGS=-I$(brew --prefix)/Cellar/gmime/3.2.3/include
export LDFLAGS=-L$(brew --prefix)/Cellar/gmime/3.2.3/lib
export PKG_CONFIG_PATH=$(brew --prefix)/Cellar/gmime/3.2.3/lib/pkgconfig:$(brew --prefix)/opt/libffi/lib/pkgconfig
./configure --prefix=$(~/local) --disable-dependency-tracking
make install

UPDATE(2019-04-16): Another approach at Irreal's Mu/mu4e 1.2 Available.

Reading spreadsheets with python/pandas

Sat, 30 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Via Daily python tip, a snippet to read xls files in python. This will come in handy. Saving for future.

Get set up with:

pip install pandas
pip install xlrd

Read with:

import pandas
xlf = pandas.ExcelFile("sheet.xlsx")
print xlf.sheet_names

[u'my sheet']

Inserting numbers with Emacs multiple cursors

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

TIL that multiple cursor's mc/insert-numbers enables you to quickly enter increasing numbers for each cursor. I have mc/insert-numbers bound to # in region-bindings-mode-map. By default, sequence starts at 0, but invoking mc/insert-numbers with prefix enables you to quickly change that.

Came in handy when numbering an org table:

Brazil travel bookmarks

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

UXUA Casa Hotel and Spa in Trancoso, Brazil.

Bath travel bookmarks

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Beas Vintage Tea Rooms (Yelp).

Half marathon training

Sun, 17 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

From https://assets.bupa.co.uk/~/media/images/healthmanagement/pdfs/half-marathon-beginner.pdf

Starting from week 4:

Week Monday Tuesday Wednesday Thursday Friday Saturday Sunday

4 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 40 mins cross Rest (03/24) 60 mins 6.7 km 5.1 Km - - 41:51 m 30:00 m 61.3 Kg 60.8 Kg 5 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 40 mins interval Rest (03/31) 11 Km 11.9 Km - 5.99 Km 11.0 Km 80:00 m 40 m 60:08 m 6 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 40 mins interval/cross Rest (04/07) 13 Km 7 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 40 mins interval Rest (04/14) 60 mins 8 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 50 mins interval/cross Rest (04/21) 16 Km 9 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 50 mins interval Rest (04/28) 8 Km 10 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 40 mins interval/cross Rest (05/05) 19 Km 11 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 40 mins interval Rest (05/12) 10 Km 12 Rest 40 mins easy 30 mins tempo Rest 50 mins easy Rest (05/19) Race

No Emacs frame refocus on macOS

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

This one's been bugging me for a while. On macOS, Emacs automatically focuses (raises) other frames when one is closed.

This has the unfortunate side-effect that I could be moved from one macOS desktop/space to another when closing an Emacs frame.

Finally managed do something about it. Since I install Emacs on macOS via homebrew, a ~~small patch on emacs-plus recipe~~ small patch on emacs-plus recipe did the job.

UPDATE: Pull request merged in d12frosted/emacs-plus.

The ~~patch~~ patch has been merged into d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus. To use:

brew tap d12frosted/emacs-plus
brew install emacs-plus --without-spacemacs-icon --with-no-frame-refocus

Balance restored.

Checksums on linux/macOS

Sat, 16 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

MD5

md5 file

SHA-1

shasum -a 1 file

SHA-256

shasum -a 256 file

Language server protocol (LSP) bookmarks

Tue, 12 Mar 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Copy from desktop to mobile via QR code

Sun, 24 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Marcin Borkowski has a nice tip to quickly copy text or URLs between desktop and mobile using QR codes.

Wrote a little elisp to do a similar thing using the clipboard via Emacs:

(defun ar/misc-clipboard-to-qr ()
  "Convert text in clipboard to qrcode and display within Emacs."
  (interactive)
  (let ((temp-file (concat (temporary-file-directory) "qr-code")))
    (if (eq 0 (shell-command (format "qrencode -s10 -o %s %s"
                                     temp-file
                                     (shell-quote-argument (current-kill 0)))
                             "*qrencode*"))
        (switch-to-buffer (find-file-noselect temp-file t))
      (error "Error: Could not create qrcode, check *qrencode* buffer"))))

ps. Encoding your WiFi access point password into a QR code shows how to encode WiFi access point passwords:

qrencode -o wifi.png "WIFI:T:WPA;S:;P:;;"

More comprehensively:

SSID=SSID_GOES_HERE
pwgen -s 63 > 00wifi.txt
qrencode -o 00wifi.png "WIFI:T:WPA;S:${SSID};P:$(cat 00wifi.txt);;"

Parsing dates in Go

Tue, 19 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Ensure the reference time ("Mon Jan 2 15:04:05 -0700 MST 2006") is used in layout string.

For example:

package main

import (
        "fmt"
        "time"
)

func main() {
        goodLayout := "January 2 2006"
        if t, err := time.Parse(goodLayout, "March 10 2019"); err != nil {
                    fmt.Printf("%s\n", err)
        } else {
                    fmt.Printf("%v\n", t)
        }

        badLayout := "January 2 2009"
        if t, err := time.Parse(badLayout, "March 10 2019"); err != nil {
                    fmt.Printf("%s\n", err)
        } else {
                    fmt.Printf("%v\n", t)
        }
}

#+RESULTS:

2019-03-10 00:00:00 +0000 UTC
parsing time "March 10 2019" as "January 2 2009": cannot parse "19" as "009"

Life in the UK bookmarks

Wed, 13 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

C language bookmarks

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

LittlevGL - Open-source Embedded GUI Library.

Video editing bookmarks

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Icons bookmarks

Sun, 10 Feb 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Salt beef recipe

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

How to make salt beef (use 1.8kg brisket instead) and brining a brisket (celery and peppercorns) both from The Guardian were recommended by a friend.

Geneva travel bookmarks

Sun, 27 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

La Buvette des Bains, Restaurants in Pâquis.

Swapping Emacs ivy collections/sources

Sun, 13 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Ivy is great. I've been meaning to figure out a way to swap sources while running ivy. This would enable me to cycle through different sources using the existing search parameters.

At first look, 'ivy-set-sources seemed like the right choice, but it's used during setup to agregate sources. Subsequent 'ivy-set-sources calls are ignored during an 'ivy-read session.

There's an ivy feature request over at github with a similar goal in mind. Although the feature is not yet supported, there's a handy suggestion to use 'ivy-quit-and-run to quit the current command and run a different one.

With 'ivy-quit-and-run in mind, we can write our 'ar/ivy-read function to take a list of sources and add a little logic to cycle through them using a keybiding, in my case and .

;;; -*- lexical-binding: t; -*-

(require 'cl)

(cl-defstruct
    ar/ivy-source
  prompt
  collection
  action)

(cl-defun ar/ivy-read (sources &key index initial-input)
  (let ((kmap (make-sparse-keymap))
        (source))
    (cl-assert (> (length sources) 0))
    (when (null index) (setq index 0))
    (setq source (nth index sources))
    (define-key kmap (kbd "") (lambda ()
                                       (interactive)
                                       (ivy-quit-and-run (ar/ivy-read sources
                                                                      :index (if (>= (1+ index)
                                                                                     (length sources))
                                                                                 0
                                                                               (1+ index))
                                                                      :initial-input ivy-text))))
    (define-key kmap (kbd "") (lambda ()
                                      (interactive)
                                      (ivy-quit-and-run (ar/ivy-read sources
                                                                     :index (if (< (1- index)
                                                                                   0)
                                                                                (1- (length sources))
                                                                              (1- index))
                                                                     :initial-input ivy-text))))
    (ivy-read (ar/ivy-source-prompt source)
              (ar/ivy-source-collection source)
              :action (ar/ivy-source-action source)
              :initial-input initial-input
              :keymap kmap)))

(defun ar/ivy-food-menu ()
  (interactive)
  (ar/ivy-read (list
                (make-ar/ivy-source :prompt "Pizza: "
                                    :action (lambda (selection)
                                              (message "Selected pizza: %s" selection))
                                    :collection (lambda (str pred v)
                                                  (list "Bianca Neve - Mozzarella, Ricotta, Sausage, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil"
                                                        "Boscaiola - Mozzarella, Tomato Sauce, Sausage, Mushrooms, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil"
                                                        "Calzone - Ricotta, Ham, Mushrooms, Artichokes. Topped with Tomato Sauce and Extra Virgin Olive Oil."
                                                        "Capricciosa - Mozzarella,Tomato Sauce, Prosciutto Cotto Ham, Mushrooms, Artichokes, Extra Virgin Olive Oil."
                                                        "Carciofi - Mozzarella, Tomato Sauce, Artichokes, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil."
                                                        "Diavola - Mozzarella, Tomato Sauce, Spicy Salami, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil."
                                                        "Funghi - Mozzarella, Tomato Sauce, Mushrooms, Extra Virgin Olive Oil, Basil.")))
                (make-ar/ivy-source :prompt "Tacos: "
                                    :action (lambda (selection)
                                              (message "Selected taco: %s" selection))
                                    :collection (lambda (str pred v)
                                                  (list "Pork pibil - Slow cooked in citrus & spices, with pink pickled onions."
                                                        "Grilled chicken & avocado - Ancho rub, guacamole & green tomatillo salsa."
                                                        "Plantain - Sweet & spicy chipotle & crumbled feta."
                                                        "Poblano pepper - Caramelised onions, corn & cashew nut mole."
                                                        "Buttermilk chicken - Served crispy fried with habanero & white onion relish & spiced mayo."
                                                        "Sustainable battered cod - mSC certified cod with shredded slaw, chipotle mayo & pickled cucumber."
                                                        "Chargrilled steak - Avocado & chipotle salsas.")))
                (make-ar/ivy-source :prompt "Burgers: "
                                    :action (lambda (selection)
                                              (message "Selected burger: %s" selection))
                                    :collection (lambda (str pred v)
                                                  (list "The cheese - Aged beef patty with american cheese, gherkins, ketchup & mustard."
                                                        "The yeah! - Aged beef patty with american cheese, gherkins, yeah! sauce & salad."
                                                        "The yfc or hot yfc - Crispy chicken with lime or chipotle crema, lettuce, pickled onion & slaw."
                                                        "The rancher - Grilled chicken with ranch dressing, bacon & salad."
                                                        "The bubbah - Aged beef patty with smokey aubergine, pickled red cabbage, lettuce, roast toms, onions & cheddar."
                                                        "The bulgogi - Sesame-spiced beef patty with miso mayo, pickled radish, onion, cucumber & spring onion."
                                                        "The summer - Aged beef patty with sriracha mayo, lettuce, onion, toms, avo, cheddar & bacon."))))))

ps. Menu data from Star of Kings, Wahaca, and Pizzarino.

Podcast bookmarks

Sat, 12 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs on macOS Mojave

Sat, 12 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Had issues running Emacs on macOS Mojave (blank unresponsive screen). Bleeding edge emacs-plus did the job:

brew tap d12frosted/emacs-plus
brew install emacs-plus --without-spacemacs-icon --HEAD

brew info emacs-plus

d12frosted/emacs-plus/emacs-plus: stable 26.1, devel 26.1-rc1, HEAD
GNU Emacs text editor
https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
/Users/some-user/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-plus/HEAD-8fe21b0 (3,985 files, 123.0MB) *
  Built from source on 2019-01-12 at 09:26:09 with: --without-spacemacs-icon
From: https://github.com/d12frosted/homebrew-emacs-plus/blob/master/Formula/emacs-plus.rb
==> Dependencies
Build: pkg-config
Recommended: little-cms2, gnutls, librsvg, imagemagick@6
Optional: dbus, mailutils
==> Requirements
Optional: x11
==> Options
--with-ctags
    Don't remove the ctags executable that Emacs provides
--with-dbus
    Build with dbus support
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon1
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon1
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon2
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon2
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon3
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon3
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon4
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon4
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon5
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon5
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon6
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon6
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon7
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon7
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon8
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon8
--with-emacs-icons-project-EmacsIcon9
    Using Emacs icon project EmacsIcon9
--with-emacs-icons-project-emacs-card-blue-deep
    Using Emacs icon project emacs-card-blue-deep
--with-emacs-icons-project-emacs-card-british-racing-green
    Using Emacs icon project emacs-card-british-racing-green
--with-emacs-icons-project-emacs-card-carmine
    Using Emacs icon project emacs-card-carmine
--with-emacs-icons-project-emacs-card-green
    Using Emacs icon project emacs-card-green
--with-mailutils
    Build with mailutils support
--with-modern-icon
    Using a modern style Emacs icon by @tpanum
--with-no-titlebar
    Experimental: build without titlebar
--with-pdumper
    Experimental: build from pdumper branch and with
         increasedremembered_data size (--HEAD only)
--with-x11
    Experimental: build with x11 support
--with-xwidgets
    Experimental: build with xwidgets support (--HEAD only)
--without-cocoa
    Build a non-Cocoa version of Emacs
--without-gnutls
    Build without gnutls support
--without-imagemagick@6
    Build without imagemagick@6 support
--without-librsvg
    Build without librsvg support
--without-libxml2
    Build without libxml2 support
--without-little-cms2
    Build without little-cms2 support
--without-modules
    Build without dynamic modules support
--without-multicolor-fonts
    Build without a patch that enables multicolor font support
--without-spacemacs-icon
    Build without Spacemacs icon by Nasser Alshammari
--devel
    Install development version 26.1-rc1
--HEAD
    Install HEAD version
==> Caveats
Emacs.app was installed to:
  /Users/some-user/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-plus/26.1

To link the application to default Homebrew App location:
  brew linkapps
or:
  ln -s /Users/some-user/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-plus/26.1/Emacs.app /Applications

--natural-title-bar option was removed from this formula, in order to
  duplicate its effect add following line to your init.el file
  (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-transparent-titlebar . t))
  (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-appearance . dark))
or:
  (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-transparent-titlebar . t))
  (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-appearance . light))

If you are using macOS Mojave, please note that most of the experimental
options are forbidden on Mojave. This is temporary decision.


To have launchd start d12frosted/emacs-plus/emacs-plus now and restart at login:
  brew services start d12frosted/emacs-plus/emacs-plus
Or, if you don't want/need a background service you can just run:
  emacs

Trying out Emacs pdf tools

Sun, 06 Jan 2019 00:00:00 GMT

Late to the party, giving pdf-tools a try.

The macOS install instructions have a prerequisite:

brew install poppler automake

Installed with:

(use-package pdf-tools
  :ensure t
  :mode ("\\.pdf\\'" . pdf-view-mode)
  :config
  (pdf-tools-install)
  (setq-default pdf-view-display-size 'fit-page)
  (setq pdf-annot-activate-created-annotations t))

ps. (pdf-tools-install) may not find libffi on macOS. Try:

(setenv "PKG_CONFIG_PATH"
        (f-join
         (file-name-as-directory
          (nth 0
               (split-string
                (shell-command-to-string "brew --prefix"))))
         "Cellar" "libffi" "3.2.1" "lib" "pkgconfig"))

ASCII art generator bookmarks

Thu, 27 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

𝓔𝓻𝓰𝓮𝓻𝓪𝓽𝓸𝓻/Ergerator (ascii generator).

Osaka travel bookmarks

Wed, 26 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Tsutenkaku (Osaka) - 2018 All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos) - TripAdvisor.

Using OCR to create searchable pdfs from images

Tue, 25 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Used my phone to take a handful of photos of an article from a magazine. Wanted to convert the images to a searchable pdf on macOS.

This was straightforward, having already installed tesseract.

for i in IMG_3*.jpg; do echo $i; tesseract $i $(basename $i .tif) pdf; done

Should now have a handful of OCR'd pdfs:

ls *.jpg.pdf

IMG_3104.jpg.pdf
IMG_3105.jpg.pdf
IMG_3106.jpg.pdf
IMG_3107.jpg.pdf

Finally, join all pdfs into one. Turns out macOS has a handy python script already installed. We can use it as:

/usr/bin/python "/System/Library/Automator/Combine PDF Pages.action/Contents/Resources/join.py" -o joined.pdf IMG_*pdf

ps. pdfgrep is great for searching pdfs.

Useful references

Ryan Baumann's: Command-Line OCR with Tesseract on Mac OS X.

Audiobook providers bookmarks

Tue, 25 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Cookbook bookmarks

Tue, 25 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Emailing pdfs to kindle from mu4e

Tue, 25 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Wanted to send a pdf to my kindle for some holiday reading. You can easily do this by emailing the pdf to your kindle-bound email address.

Now, I typically attach files when composing mu4e emails by using mml-attach-file, which attaches the file using <#part>…<#/part>. However, the Amazon service did not find the attached pdf, so no pdf was added to my Kindle.

Fortunately, I found a handy Reddit thread, leding me to a working solution. Wrapping the part using <#multipart type=mixed>…<#/multipart> did the job, using mml-insert-multipart, followed by mml-attach-file.

Resulting attachment should look something like:

<#multipart type=mixed>
<#part type="application/pdf" filename="/path/to/file.pdf" disposition=attachment>
<#/part>
<#/multipart>

I should add a convenience elisp function for this, but that's for another time…

org tip: convert csv to table

Fri, 21 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Needed to import some csv data to an org table. Turns out org's got you covered out of the box with M-x org-table-create-or-convert-from-region bound to C-c |.

Sponsoring platform bookmarks

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Artistic/creative bookmarks

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Marketing bookmarks

Thu, 20 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Bluetooth low energy (BLE) bookmarks

Wed, 19 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Fun project bookmarks

Tue, 18 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

echo yang programs everyday obsolete machines to create autonomous art (designboom).

Snowboarding bookmarks

Fri, 14 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Snowboarding for Geeks (Hacker News).

Scam bookmarks

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Passive income bookmarks

Tue, 11 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

DWIM ivy quit

Sat, 08 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

"Do-what-I-mean" (DWIM) functions enable us to introduce new Emacs powers to existing workflows without incurring the typical cost of remembering multiple related functions or introducing yet another key binding. DWIM functions invoke other functions, based on current context.

I wanted a small tweak in Ivy's `minibuffer-keyboard-quit' invocation, commonly invoked via C-g key binding:

If we have text selected in minibuffer, deselect it.
If we have any text in minibuffer, clear it.
If no text in minibuffer, quit.

Added `ar/ivy-keyboard-quit-dwim' for this purpose. Binding it to C-g in ivy-minibuffer-map:

(use-package ivy
  :ensure t
  :bind (:map ivy-minibuffer-map
              ("C-g" . ar/ivy-keyboard-quit-dwim))
  :config
  (defun ar/ivy-keyboard-quit-dwim ()
    "If region active, deactivate. If there's content, clear the minibuffer. Otherwise quit."
    (interactive)
    (cond ((and delete-selection-mode (region-active-p))
           (setq deactivate-mark t))
          ((> (length ivy-text) 0)
           (delete-minibuffer-contents))
          (t
           (minibuffer-keyboard-quit)))))

Diffing directories content size

Wed, 05 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Needed to diff two directories, but only interested in file size changes. diff, find, sort, and stat seem to do the job:

diff <(find dir1 -type f -exec stat -f '%N %z' '{}' \; | sort) <(find dir2 -type f -exec stat -f '%N %z' '{}' \; | sort)

1,3c1,2
< dir1/one.txt 14
< dir1/subdir/file.txt 5
< dir1/three.txt 7
---
> dir2/one.txt 19
> dir2/two.txt 0

Note: Using diff, find, sort, and stat on macOS.

Update 1

I've since learned about mtree (thanks Roman!). A nice utility to add to the toolbox.

mtree -p emacs-25.1 -c -k size -d

#    user: me
# machine: my-machine
#    tree: /path/to/emacs-25.1
#    date: Wed Dec  5 22:21:07 2018
# .
/set type=dir
.               size=1152
# ./admin
admin           size=960
# ./admin/charsets
charsets        size=544
# ./admin/charsets/glibc
glibc           size=3392
# ./admin/charsets/glibc
..
# ./admin/charsets/mapfiles
mapfiles        size=640
# ./admin/charsets/mapfiles
..

Update 2

I've added Emacs ediff to the mix:

(require 'f)

(defun ar/ediff-dir-content-size ()
    "Diff all subdirectories (sizes only) in two directories."
    (interactive)
    (let* ((dir1-path (read-directory-name "Dir 1: "))
           (dir2-path (read-directory-name "Dir 2: "))
           (buf1 (get-buffer-create (format "*Dir 1 (%s)*" (f-base dir1-path))))
           (buf2 (get-buffer-create (format "*Dir 2 (%s)*" (f-base dir2-path)))))
      (with-current-buffer buf1
        (erase-buffer))
      (with-current-buffer buf2
        (erase-buffer))
      (shell-command (format "cd %s; find . -type d | sort | du -h" dir1-path) buf1)
      (shell-command (format "cd %s; find . -type d | sort | du -h" dir2-path) buf2)
      (ediff-buffers buf1 buf2)))

Swift nil-coalescing operator

Sun, 02 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Paul Hudson, over at Hacking with Swift, has written The Complete Guide to Optionals in Swift. One of the many highlights is the nil-coalescing operator. If you're a fan of the C-like syntax in ternary operations, you'd enjoy chaining with Swift's nil-coalescing operator:

let players = [ "goose": "run!" ]
let move = players["duck1"] ?? players["duck2"] ?? players["duck3"] ?? players["goose"]
print("\(String(describing: move))")

ps. Swift snippet run on Emacs org babel's ob-swift. See Multiline Swift strings for details.

Ocado vs Asda (org table)

Sat, 01 Dec 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Someone handed me an Ocado shopping voucher for 30% off. Sounded promising, even for a one-off.

With my Money or Your Life hat on, I took a closer look for potential savings. Results were disappointing, when compared to alternatives like Asda.

Here's a table comparing Ocado (30% off) and Asda (no discount):

                                                                                                                                                                     Ocado    Asda

Coconut Merchant Organic Raw Extra Virgin Coconut Oil 500ml 6.74 KTC 100% pure coconut oil 2.00 Waitrose Love Life Popcorn Maize 510g 1.50 Cypressa Popping Corn 2x500g = 1000g 1.50 Whitworths Ground Almonds 2.00 Whitworths Ground Almonds 1.60 Total £ 5.10 -30% £ 7.17

#+TBLFM: @8$3=vsum(@2$3..@7$3);£ %.2f::@9$2=vsum(@2$2..@7$2) * 0.7;£ %.2f

On the upside, Ocado has plenty of items I cannot find at Asda. May be a good opportunity to get these items at a discount.

Emacs org tables

Small tables are the perfect use-case for Emacs org-mode tables. Been a while since I used one, so great timing for a little refresh.

Here's the org source for the table above (prior to exporting to HTML):

|-------------------------------------------------------------+--------+--------|
|                                                             |  Ocado |   Asda |
|-------------------------------------------------------------+--------+--------|
| [[https://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Coconut-Merchant-Organic-Raw-Extra-Virgin-Coconut-Oil/372144011][Coconut Merchant Organic Raw Extra Virgin Coconut Oil 500ml]] |   6.74 |        |
| [[https://groceries.asda.com/product/oils/ktc-coconut-hair-oil/910000033621][KTC 100% pure coconut oil]]                                   |        |   2.00 |
| [[https://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Waitrose-Love-Life-Popcorn-Maize/25130011][Waitrose Love Life Popcorn Maize 510g]]                       |   1.50 |        |
| [[https://groceries.asda.com/promotion/2-for-pound-1.50/ls89129][Cypressa Popping Corn 2x500g = 1000g]]                        |        |   1.50 |
| [[https://www.ocado.com/webshop/product/Whitworths-Ground-Almonds/275684011][Whitworths Ground Almonds]]                                   |   2.00 |        |
| [[https://groceries.asda.com/product/baking-nuts-seeds-fruit/whitworths-ground-almonds/910000797981][Whitworths Ground Almonds]]                                   |        |   1.60 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------+--------+--------|
| Total                                                       |        | £ 5.10 |
|-------------------------------------------------------------+--------+--------|
| -30%                                                        | £ 7.17 |        |
|-------------------------------------------------------------+--------+--------|
#+TBLFM: @8$3=vsum(@2$3..@7$3);£ %.2f::@9$2=vsum(@2$2..@7$2) * 0.7;£ %.2f

Execute org blocks as root

Sat, 24 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Been saving admin code snippets in my own org source blocks, some requiring root access. Handy for keeping tiny self-documented scripts to easily bootstrap other machines. TIL org source block's :dir argument can be used to run block as root by using tramp syntax: /:dir sudo::


As user:

#+BEGIN_SRC sh
  whoami
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
: user

As root:

#+BEGIN_SRC sh :dir /sudo::
  whoami
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
: root

Inline Swift computed properties

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Via objc.io and Max Howell's retweet, TIL about Swift's inline computed properties. Another one to try on Org Babel. ‏

func greetWorld() {
 var message = "hello"
 var betterMessage: String {
   return "\(message) world"
 }
 print(betterMessage)
}

greetWorld()

Multiline Swift strings

Fri, 23 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Paul Hudson's tweet introduced me to Swift's multiline string indentation control using closing quotes. Neat!

Being an org-mode fan, I thought I'd give Swift multiline strings a try using Org Babel's ob-swift. I get to verify it and document at the same time. Win.

Swift org mode source blocks (ie. BEGIN_SRC/END_SRC) can be added as follows:

#+BEGIN_SRC swift :exports both
  print("""
       Hello World
  """)

  print("""
       Hello World
       """)
#+END_SRC

#+RESULTS:
:      Hello World
: Hello World

By pressing C-c C-c anywhere in the code block, the snippet is executed and its output captured in the RESULT block. Super handy for quickly trying out snippets and keeping as future reference.

As a bonus, the above blocks can be exported to HTML (amongst other formats). With some styling, it looks as follows:

print("""
     Hello World
""")

print("""
     Hello World
     """)

     Hello World
Hello World

Quickly swapping elfeed filters

Sat, 17 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

I seem to be more efficient in getting through rss feeds by individually browsing through related content. That is, I can get through all Emacs entries a lot faster if I look at Emacs content exclusively, instead of mixing with say BBC news. Elfeed filters are great for filtering related content.

I wanted a way to easily switch through my typical categories of related content by quickly changing elfeed filters using a completion framework.

Emacs's completing-read plays nicely with your favorite completing framework (mine is ivy). With a couple of functions, we can get Emacs to ask us for the filtering category using human-readable options and quickly presenting related content. Binding the new functionality to is working well for me.

(use-package elfeed :ensure t
  :commands elfeed
  :bind (:map elfeed-search-mode-map
              ("" . ar/elfeed-completing-filter))
  :config
  (defun ar/elfeed-filter-results-count (search-filter)
    "Count results for SEARCH-FILTER."
    (let* ((filter (elfeed-search-parse-filter search-filter))
           (head (list nil))
           (tail head)
           (count 0))
      (let ((lexical-binding t)
            (func (byte-compile (elfeed-search-compile-filter filter))))
        (with-elfeed-db-visit (entry feed)
          (when (funcall func entry feed count)
            (setf (cdr tail) (list entry)
                  tail (cdr tail)
                  count (1+ count)))))
      count))

  (defun ar/elfeed-completing-filter ()
    "Completing filter."
    (interactive)
    (let ((categories (-filter
                       (lambda (item)
                         (> (ar/elfeed-filter-results-count (cdr item))
                            0))
                       '(("All" . "@6-months-ago +unread")
                         ("BBC" . "@6-months-ago +unread +bbc")
                         ("Dev" . "@6-months-ago +unread +dev")
                         ("Emacs" . "@6-months-ago +unread +emacs")
                         ("Health" . "@6-months-ago +unread +health")
                         ("Hacker News" . "@6-months-ago +unread +hackernews")
                         ("iOS" . "@6-months-ago +unread +ios")
                         ("Money" . "@6-months-ago +unread +money")))))
      (if (> (length categories) 0)
          (progn
            (ar/elfeed-view-filtered (cdr (assoc (completing-read "Categories: " categories)
                                                 categories)))
            (goto-char (window-start)))
        (message "All caught up \\o/")))))

We don't actually need two functions, but ar/elfeed-filter-results-count enables us to list only those feeds that actually have new content. The list will shrink as we get through our content. When no content is left, we get a little celebratory message.

Converting docx to pdf on macOS

Wed, 14 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Wanted to convert a docx document to pdf on macOS. Pandoc to the rescue, but first needed pdflatex installed:

pandoc -t latex some.docx -o some.pdf

pdflatex not found. Please select a different --pdf-engine or install pdflatex

Installed pdflatex on macOS with:

brew install mactex

Can also use HTML5. Install wkhtmltopdf with:

brew install Caskroom/cask/wkhtmltopdf

Convert with:

pandoc -t html5 some.docx -o some.pdf

Faster elfeed browsing with paging

Tue, 13 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Following up from faster junk mail deletion with mu4e, elfeed is another candidate for enabling actions on pages. In this case, marking rss entries as read, page by Page.

If on use-package, the function can defined and bound to the "v" key using:

(use-package elfeed
  :ensure t
  :bind (:map elfeed-search-mode-map
              ("v" . ar/elfeed-mark-visible-as-read))
  :config
  (defun ar/elfeed-mark-visible-as-read ()
    (interactive)
    (require 'window-end-visible)
    (set-mark (window-start))
    (goto-char (window-end-visible))
    (activate-mark)
    (elfeed-search-untag-all-unread)
    (elfeed-search-update--force)
    (deactivate-mark)
    (goto-char (window-start))))

Faster junk mail deletion with mu4e

Sat, 10 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

It's been roughly 5 months since my mu4e email migration. Happy with my choice. Mu4e is awesome.

I now have 4 email accounts managed by mu4e, and unfortunately receiving lots of junk mail.

I regularly peek at junk folders for false positives and delete junk email permanently. I've been wanting a quick way to glance at junk mail and easily delete page by page.

Deleting emails page by page is not supported in mu4e by default. Fortunately, this is Emacs and we can change that™.

There's a handy package by Roland Walker called window-end-visible. We can use it to select mu4e emails by page and subsequently glue it all together to enable deleting emails by page.

(require 'mu4e)
(require 'window-end-visible)

(defun ar/mu4e-delete-page ()
  (interactive)
  (set-mark (window-start))
  (goto-char (window-end-visible))
  (activate-mark)
  (mu4e-headers-mark-for-trash)
  (mu4e-mark-execute-all t)
  (deactivate-mark)
  (goto-char (window-start)))

I'm a use-package fan, so I use it to bind the "v" key to delete visible emails (by page).

(use-package mu4e
  :bind (:map mu4e-headers-mode-map
         ("v" . ar/mu4e-delete-page))

Working with vultr's ipv6-only instances

Tue, 06 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Having recently read Your Money or Your Life, I've been cutting down on personal expenses wherever possible. Specially recurring expenses which include monthly charges from VPS hosting. Let's reduce those charges…

My VPS needs are fairly small (mostly hobby and tinkering). Vultr† has a plan for $2.50/month (not seen anything cheaper). The caveat for the price, you get ipv6 access only (ie. 0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888).

So far so good, but my ISP doesn't yet support ipv6:

$ ping6 0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888
$ ping6: UDP connect: No route to host

Fortunately, we can still work with ipv6 by using a tunnel (TIL about Hurricane Electric's tunnel broker). After signing up and creating a tunnel, they conveniently show you "Example Configurations" from the "Tunnel Details" menu. In my case, macOS:

ifconfig gif0 create
ifconfig gif0 tunnel  
ifconfig gif0 inet6   prefixlen 128
route -n add -inet6 default

Note: If behind router, use the DHCP internal IP.

After configuring with ifconfig, all is good. Yay!

$ ping6 0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888
PING6(56=40+8+8 bytes) 2001:111:22:aaa::2 --> 0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888
16 bytes from 0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888, icmp_seq=0 hlim=52 time=270.019 ms
16 bytes from 0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888, icmp_seq=1 hlim=52 time=290.834 ms
16 bytes from 0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888, icmp_seq=2 hlim=52 time=311.960 ms
16 bytes from 0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888, icmp_seq=3 hlim=52 time=330.902 ms

I'm an ipv6 noob. I mostly need ssh access. My typical usages need small tweaks.

For ssh:

ssh -6 username@0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888

For scp:

scp -6 file.txt username@\[0000:1111:2222:3333:4444:5555:6666:7777:8888\]:/remote/dir/

† I get $10 credit if you use this affiliate link. Thank you.

Shaving bookmarks

Sun, 04 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

8 best safety razors (The Independent).

Buy it for life bookmarks

Sun, 04 Nov 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Rust bookmarks

Mon, 29 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Fonts bookmarks

Sun, 28 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

imenu on Emacs eshell

Wed, 17 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

imenu navigation is one of those Emacs gems I didn't discover until much later on. It does what you'd expect in all types of modes. In rare instances, I've found specific modes missing imenu support. Fortunately, this is Emacs and you can fix that.

Eshell has a handy feature to jump back and forth over previous prompts using M-x eshell-previous-prompt (C-c C-p) and M-x eshell-next-prompt (C-c C-n). Upon learning about these two functions, my immediate reaction was to try imenu. Surprisingly, it didn't "just work", but a tiny bit of elisp brought balance back to the Emacs universe.

In an eshell mode hook function, one can set the imenu-generic-expression to help it find your favorite prompt:

(setq-local imenu-generic-expression
                  '(("Prompt" " $ \\(.*\\)" 1)))

Ah it's the little things…

ps. If wondering why my imenu experience looks a little different, that's because I'm using Abo Abo's wonderful counsel and M-x counsel-semantic-or-imenu.

Encrypted disk image on macOS

Sun, 14 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Sheffield travel bookmarks

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Headsphones bookmarks

Sat, 13 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

macOS app bookmarks

Fri, 05 Oct 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Gaming bookmarks

Sun, 30 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Lua bookmarks

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Skin product bookmarks

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Sustainability bookmarks

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Source Fabric. Find a Manufacturer. Raise Money to Fund Production. (Factory45).

Investment platform bookmarks

Sat, 29 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Minimalist bookmarks

Fri, 28 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Recover from Time Machine's "backup already in use"

Sun, 23 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Started seeing "backup already in use" error from my daily Time Machine backups, against my Synology. Disabling and re-enabling AFP did the job (via Synology -> Control Panel -> Files Services -> Enable AFP service).

CMake bookmarks

Mon, 03 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

GTD/Get things done bookmarks

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Pandoc bookmarks

Tue, 28 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Mauritius travel bookmarks

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Scala bookmarks

Mon, 27 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Functional Programming for Mortals (Leanpub).

Actionable URLs in Emacs buffers

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Should have enabled actionable URLs in my Emacs buffers long ago. Can now click or press return to follow links. It's great on eshell, compilation buffers, async shell commands, code, etc.

(use-package goto-addr
  :hook ((compilation-mode . goto-address-mode)
         (prog-mode . goto-address-prog-mode)
         (eshell-mode . goto-address-mode)
         (shell-mode . goto-address-mode))
  :bind (:map goto-address-highlight-keymap
              ("" . goto-address-at-point)
              ("M-" . newline))
  :commands (goto-address-prog-mode
             goto-address-mode))

Bazel bookmarks

Wed, 22 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Palestine travel bookmarks

Sat, 18 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Rukab's Ice Cream, Ramallah (Trip advisor).

Enabling Control-Meta(⌘)-D on macOS

Sat, 18 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

I use command (⌘) as my Emacs Meta key. Recently discovered C-M-d is not available to Emacs for binding keys on macOS. Stack Exchange had the workaround:

defaults write com.apple.symbolichotkeys AppleSymbolicHotKeys -dict-add 70 'enabled'

Recycling bookmarks

Mon, 13 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

My Plastic-free Life.

Comoro islands travel bookmarks

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Visiting The Comoros Islands (Quota).

France travel bookmarks

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Corsica travel bookmarks

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

National Geographic : Corsica is The Best Place… - The French Touch - Quora.

Mozambique travel bookmarks

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Mozambique's beaches - Africa is Back - Quora.

M-r history search in git-commit-mode

Sun, 12 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

I've grown accustomed to M-r bindings to search Emacs history. Been wanting similar functionality to search commit message history. Turns out log-edit-comment-ring has some of my local commit message history. Feeding it to completing-read gives me an easily searchable history when using a completing framework like ivy or helm:

(defun ar/git-commit-search-message-history ()
  "Search and insert commit message from history."
  (interactive)
  (insert (completing-read "History: "
                           ;; Remove unnecessary newlines from beginning and end.
                           (mapcar (lambda (text)
                                     (string-trim text))
                                   (ring-elements log-edit-comment-ring)))))

Now we bind it to M-r and we're good to go:

(bind-key "M-r" #'ar/git-commit-search-message-history git-commit-mode-map)

May also want to persist log-edit-comment-ring across Emacs sessions by adding log-edit-comment-ring to savehist variables. Also ensure savehist-mode is enabled:

(add-to-list 'savehist-additional-variables log-edit-comment-ring)
(savehist-mode +1)

Morning smoothie

Thu, 09 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Big fan of my morning power smoothie. Best deals I've found so far:

Almonds (BuyWholeFoodsOnline.co.uk, £1.06/100g @ Amazon).
Banana.
Blueberries.
Chia seeds (£4.99/Kg @ Real Food Source).
Cocoa powder (Active foods, £ 1.7/100g @ Bulk Powders).
Coconut water (Innocent, £0.37/100ml @ Tesco).
Crunchy peanut butter (£ 4.99/Kg @ Real Food Source).
Matcha powder (Active £6.8/100g @ Bulk Powders).
Strawberries.

ps. I have no affiliation to either retailer. Prices may change.

Installing ludget (ledger visualization

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Needed python3:

brew install python3

Use pip3 to install ludget:

pip3 install ludget

Ledger bookmarks

Wed, 08 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Tip: Convert .texi to .info

Tue, 07 Aug 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Convert with:

makeinfo doc.texi

View with:

Open in Emacs and render as info with:

(defun ar/format-info-mode ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((file-name (buffer-file-name)))
    (kill-buffer (current-buffer))
    (info file-name)))

Marking 20k emails as read

Wed, 25 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Mbsync and mu4e are great for syncing and handling IMAP email. I've now migrated 4 email addresses, including an old Yahoo account.

I wanted to mark all my Yahoo unread emails as read. Yahoo's webmail enables marking 500 emails at a time, making the process a little tedious.

Mu-discuss has a handy thread, highlighting that moving/renaming synced messages (in your local file system) would do the job. This worked well for me.

Let's do just that…

WARNING: Copy a small sample of your mails to a separate directory and run some trials until you feel comfortable.

Find your mail directory.

cd path/to/mail

Peek at the messages you'd like to mark unread:

ls -1 new/

Rename message files by appending "S" to their filename and moving from new/ to cur/ directory.

for FILE in new/*; do mv "${FILE}" cur/$(basename "${FILE}")S; done;

We can verify the move.

ls -1 cur/

Let's sync the local changes.

mbsync -Va

…and we're done ;)

Show iOS simulator touches

Tue, 24 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

TIL from this tweet, that you can enable showing touches on iOS simulator. This is handy for making nicer screencasts.

defaults write http://com.apple .iphonesimulator ShowSingleTouches 1

Amsterdam travel bookmarks

Sun, 15 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Below the Surface: The archaeological finds of the North / Southline in Amsterdam.

Hardware bookmarks

Sat, 14 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

fitbit API, org babel, and gnuplot

Wed, 11 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Retook running recently. Took the dust off my aria scale and used the opportunity to check out fitbit's API.

First register your app at dev.fitbit.com/apps/new and get a client_id=AABBCC.

You'll also need your USER_ID, from your Fitbitx user profile.

We'll also need a token. I used the implicit grant flow URL in my browser and extracted access_token=TOKEN.

Now let's wire up two org source blocks to fetch the data and subsequently plot using gnuplot.

It's pretty neat. You can take the output from one source block and use it as input to another.

We use curl to fetch data from fitbit's API and pipe through jq and sed to massage the output format into two columns.

Note: Before using gnuplot in org babel, you'll need to install the gnuplot package and add to babel languages.

(use-package gnuplot :ensure t)

(use-package ob
  :config
  (org-babel-do-load-languages
   'org-babel-load-languages
   '((gnuplot . t))))

curl -s -H "Authorization: Bearer TOKEN" https://api.fitbit.com/1/user/USER_ID/body/weight/date/2018-06-09/2018-07-11.json | jq '.[][] | "\(.dateTime) \(.value)"' | sed 's/"//g'

2018-06-09 65.753 2018-06-10 65.762 2018-06-11 65.771 2018-06-12 65.78 2018-06-13 65.789 2018-06-14 65.798 2018-06-15 65.807 2018-06-16 65.816 2018-06-17 65.825 2018-06-18 65.85 2018-06-19 65.96 2018-06-20 64.1 2018-06-21 65.64 2018-06-22 65.47 2018-06-23 65.515 2018-06-24 65.56 2018-06-25 65.605 2018-06-26 65.65 2018-06-27 65.18 2018-06-28 64.49 2018-06-29 64.49 2018-06-30 64.41 2018-07-01 64.33 2018-07-02 64.25 2018-07-03 64.17 2018-07-04 64.55 2018-07-05 64.39 2018-07-06 64.33 2018-07-07 65.06 2018-07-08 63.28 2018-07-09 63.4 2018-07-10 64.22 2018-07-11 63.95

Now feed the two column data to gnuplot.

reset
set title "My recent weight"
set xdata time
set timefmt '%Y-%m-%d'
set format x "%d/%m/%y"
set term png
set xrange ['2018-06-09':'2018-07-11']
plot data u 1:2 with linespoints title 'Weight in Kg'

Fetching data and plotting through org babel and gnuplot is pretty sweet. I've barely scratched the surface. There's more at Org-babel-gnuplot and Plotting tables in Org-Mode using org-plot. Either way, this is another Emacs super power to keep in the toolbox.

PIPESTATUS for all return codes

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

From @saruspete's tweet, ${PIPESTATUS[@]} gives ya all piped commands' return codes:

echo foo | grep bar | tr z a | cat
echo ${PIPESTATUS[@]}

Emacs utilities for your OS

Sat, 07 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Narrowing utilities are a wonderful way of increasing productivity. I have a few workflows using Emacs's Helm framework.

There are great productivity boosters like Alfred and Quicksilver for macOS, with batteries included.

If you're a tinkerer, you'd enjoy the powerful Hammerspoon. Like elisp gluing all things Emacs, Hammerspoon uses Lua to glue all things macOS. You can build your own narrowing utilities using chooser and a little Lua.

local chooser = hs.chooser.new(function(choice)
      hs.alert.show(choice['text'])
end)

chooser:choices({
      {
         ["text"] = "Alfred\n",
         ["subText"] = "macOS only\n",
      },
      {
         ["text"] = "Quicksilver\n",
         ["subText"] = "macOS only\n",
      },
      {
         ["text"] = "Hammerspoon\n",
         ["subText"] = "macOS only\n",
      },
      {
         ["text"] = "Emacs\n",
         ["subText"] = "is everywhere :)\n",
      },
})
chooser:show()

Howard Abrams's post on Capturing Content for Emacs inspired me to look at gluing Emacs and macOS to launch my own cross-platform narrowing utilities.

I've also taken this opportunity to look at Oleh Krehel's wonderful completion package: Ivy. We can use it to build a macOS narrowing utility.

Ivy is remarkably easy to use. Turns out, ivy-read is all you need. A simple Emacs completion can be accomplished with little elisp.

(ivy-read "Hello ivy: "
          '("One "
            "Two "
            "Three "
            "Four "))

Pretty nifty. Let's make this completion more accessible from the rest of the OS. To do so, we create a separate Emacs frame and make it pretty. We also want it to interact with the OS. We'll use ivy-read's :action to invoke a tiny bit of AppleScript.

Oh and we'll also use some funny quotes to tease ourselves about our beloved editor.

(with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*modal-ivy*")
  (let ((frame (make-frame '((auto-raise . t)
                             (background-color . "DeepSkyBlue3")
                             (cursor-color . "MediumPurple1")
                             (font . "Menlo 15")
                             (foreground-color . "#eeeeec")
                             (height . 20)
                             (internal-border-width . 20)
                             (left . 0.33)
                             (left-fringe . 0)
                             (line-spacing . 3)
                             (menu-bar-lines . 0)
                             (minibuffer . only)
                             (right-fringe . 0)
                             (tool-bar-lines . 0)
                             (top . 48)
                             (undecorated . t)
                             (unsplittable . t)
                             (vertical-scroll-bars . nil)
                             (width . 110)))))
    (set-face-attribute 'ivy-minibuffer-match-face-1 frame
                        :background nil
                        :foreground nil)
    (set-face-attribute 'ivy-minibuffer-match-face-2 frame
                        :background nil
                        :foreground "orange1")
    (set-face-attribute 'ivy-minibuffer-match-face-3 frame
                        :background nil
                        :foreground "orange1")
    (set-face-attribute 'ivy-minibuffer-match-face-4 frame
                        :background nil
                        :foreground "orange1")
    (set-face-attribute 'ivy-current-match frame
                        :background "#ffc911"
                        :foreground "red")
    (set-face-attribute 'minibuffer-prompt frame
                        :foreground "grey")
    (let ((ivy-height 20)
          (ivy-count-format ""))
      (ivy-read "Emacs acronyms: "
                '(" Emacs: Escape-Meta-Alt-Control-Shift "
                  " Emacs: Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping "
                  " Emacs: Even a Master of Arts Comes Simpler "
                  " Emacs: Each Manual's Audience is Completely Stupified "
                  " Emacs: Eventually Munches All Computer Storage "
                  " Emacs: Eradication of Memory Accomplished with Complete Simplicity "
                  " Emacs: Easily Maintained with the Assistance of Chemical Solutions "
                  " Emacs: Extended Macros Are Considered Superfluous "
                  " Emacs: Every Mode Accelerates Creation of Software "
                  " Emacs: Elsewhere Maybe All Commands are Simple "
                  " Emacs: Emacs Makes All Computing Simple "
                  " Emacs: Emacs Masquerades As Comfortable Shell "
                  " Emacs: Emacs My Alternative Computer Story "
                  " Emacs: Emacs Made Almost Completely Screwed "
                  " Emacs: Each Mail A Continued Surprise "
                  " Emacs: Eating Memory And Cycle-Sucking "
                  " Emacs: Elvis Masterminds All Computer Software "
                  " Emacs: Emacs Makes A Computer Slow" )
                :action (lambda (funny-quote)
                          (async-shell-command (format "osascript -e 'tell app \"System Events\" to display dialog \"%s\" buttons {\"OK\"}'" funny-quote)))
                :unwind (lambda ()
                          (shell-command "/Applications/Hammerspoon.app/Contents/Resources/extensions/hs/ipc/bin/hs -c 'backFromEmacs()'")
                          (delete-frame)
                          (other-window 1))))))

So where's all this going? I wrote a utility to extract all links from this page's org file and make them easily searchable from anywhere on macOS by invoking ⌥-W.

The keys are bound using Lua, Hammerspoon, and emacsclient. This works well on macOS, but there are alternatives for other operating systems.

hs.execute("emacsclient -ne \""..elisp.."\" -s /tmp/emacs*/server")

Here's the resulting utility in action:

These integrations look promising. They enable me to bring cross-platform Emacs utilities into areas I hadn't considered.

Web serving tools bookmarks

Sun, 01 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

URL shortener bookmarks

Sun, 24 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Trying out mu4e with mbsync

Sun, 17 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

The email fun in Emacs continues. After a few weeks since I started using mu4e and offlineimap, I'm sold. Both are awesome. Mbsync is an offlineimap alternative. Despite resyncing all my mail, the transition was fairly smooth. Here's how…

Install isync (for mbsync)

brew install isync

Configure mbsync

Mbsync uses ~/.mbsyncrc for configuration. Migrating ~/.offlineimaprc to ~/.mbsyncrc looks like:

IMAPAccount Personal
Host some.imap.host.com
User your_user_name
PassCmd "gpg --quiet --batch -d ~/.offlineimap_accountname.gpg"
Port 993
SSLType IMAPS
AuthMechs Login
CertificateFile  ~/.offlineimapcerts.pem
# My IMAP provider doesn't handle concurrent IMAP commands.
PipelineDepth 1

IMAPStore Personal-remote
Account Personal

MaildirStore Personal-local
Path ~/IMAP/Personal/
Inbox ~/IMAP/Personal/INBOX

Channel Personal
Master :Personal-remote:
Slave :Personal-local:
Patterns *
Create Slave
Sync All
Expunge Both
SyncState *

No concurrent IMAP commands supported

My IMAP provider doesn't handle concurrent IMAP commands. mbsync and Office 365 had the answer:

PipelineDepth 1

Initial sync

Run initial from the command line sync:

mbsync -Va

While syncing my largest inbox, it sometimes received an unexpected EOF error:

IMAP error: unexpected EOF from some.imap.host.com (1.2.3.4:993)

First few times, I restarted the syncing manually, but then used a loop to automatically restart it.

Bash loops:

while true; do mbsync -V Personal; sleep 5; done

for i in {1..5}; do mbsync -V Personal; sleep 5; done

Eshell loop:

for i in (number-sequence 1 10) {mbsync -V Personal; sleep 5}

Create mu index

Reindex using mu, but first remove existing index for offlineimap messages:

rm -rf ~/.mu

Ok, do index now:

mu index --maildir=~/IMAP

Mu4e tweaks

The get mail command should now point to mbsync.

(csetq mu4e-get-mail-command "mbsync -Va")

I had issues with duplicate IDs after moving and deleting messages from mu4e. Migrating from offlineimap to mbsync for mu4e had the answer:

(csetq mu4e-change-filenames-when-moving t)

Helpful references

Sticky function keys on touch bar

Fri, 15 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Visible (and sticky) function keys are not the touch bar default for Emacs. Let's change that:

GNU find on macOS

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

At times, you may need GNU versions of command line utilities on macOS. For example, GNU find.

As usual, Homebrew saves the day. Install with:

brew install findutils

Unless you install with –with-default-names (I don't), GNU utilities will be prefixed with a "g".

gfind --version

If you need more, there are others:

brew install binutils
brew install diffutils
brew install ed
brew install findutils
brew install gawk
brew install gnu-indent
brew install gnu-sed
brew install gnu-tar
brew install gnu-which
brew install gnutls
brew install grep
brew install gzip
brew install screen
brew install watch
brew install wdiff --with-gettext
brew install wget

PlantUML bookmarks

Wed, 13 Jun 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Adding mu4e maildirs extension

Tue, 29 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Continuing the mu4e fun, added mu4e-maildirs-extension to display a mail dirs summary.

Trying out mu4e and offlineimap

Mon, 28 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Managing Email from Emacs. Surely that's crazy-talk, but hey… let's give it a try.

Install offlineimap

Need to sync via imap. Use offlineimap. I'm on macOS, so homebrew is king for installing:

brew install offlineimap

Before can configure offlineimap, we'll need to handle a few things first.

Get a cert fingerprint

Use openssl for getting a certificate fingerprint. From offlineimap's FAQ:

SSL_CERT_DIR="" openssl s_client -connect imap.migadu.com:993 < /dev/null 2>/dev/null | openssl x509 -fingerprint -noout -text -in /dev/stdin

Should give you something like:

SHA1 Fingerprint=AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:DD:FF:AA:00:AA:2A:AA:AA:AA:A8:20:80:AA:A2:AA

Encrypt password

Offlineimap can read passwords in plain text in its .offlineimaprc config file, but that's yuckie. Let's encrypt the password and use gnupg for that. Install it:

brew install gnupg

If you haven't already, generate a key

gpg --full-gen-key

Generate an offlineimap account password file.

echo "YourPassword" | gpg --encrypt --recipient "Your Name" -o ~/.offlineimap_accountname.gpg

Python password wrapper

Based on Fabian's Encrypt OfflineIMAP and msmtp password with GnuPG, I created ~/.read_password.py with:

import os
import subprocess

def read_password(path):
  return subprocess.check_output(["gpg\n", "--quiet\n", "--batch\n", "-d\n", os.path.expanduser(path)]).strip()

ps. Alternatively, see The homely Mutt's section to store password in macOS's keychain.

Configure offlineimap

Offlineimap uses ~/.offlineimaprc for configuration. We now have all we need to put the configuration together:

[general]
accounts = Personal

# Load this python file.
pythonfile = ~/.read_password.py

[Account Personal]
localrepository = Personal-Local

remoterepository = Personal-Remote

# After syncing, let mu index it.
postsynchook = mu index --maildir ~/stuff/active/Mail

# Sync imap every 5 minutes.
autorefresh = 5

# Alternate between 10 quick syncs and full syncs.
quick = 10

[Repository Personal-Local]
type = Maildir
localfolders = ~/stuff/active/Mail/Personal

[Repository Personal-Remote]
type = IMAP
remotehost = some.imap.host.com
remoteuser = your_user_name

# Use function defined in .read_password.py to read the password.
remotepasseval = read_password("~/.offlineimap_personal_account_password.gpg")

# Use the SHA1 fingerprint retrieved with openssl.
cert_fingerprint = aabbccddeeddffaa00aa2aaaaaaaa82080aaa2aa

Cert file

You can use macOS's certificates from Keychain Access -> System Roots -> Certificates, select all, and ⌘-⇧-e (for export items). Save to ~/certs.pem and use offlineimap configutation:

sslcacertfile = /path/to/certs.pem

Another option is executing lib/mk-ca-bundle.pl from curl's tarball to generate ca-bundle.crt, using certdata.txt from Mozilla's source tree.

Install mu4e

Manually modified mu4e recipe to pick up my Emacs binary. TIL about homebrew's edit command:

brew edit mu

Changed the one line:

ENV["EMACS"] = "no" if build.without? "emacs"

ENV["EMACS"] = "/Users/alvaro/homebrew/Cellar/emacs-plus/26.1-rc1_2/bin/emacs"

Finally installed mu4e:

brew install mu

Configure mu4e

Lastly, configure mu4e:

(add-to-list 'load-path
             (expand-file-name "~/homebrew/share/emacs/site-lisp/mu/mu4e"))
(use-package mu4e
  :config
  ;; Update mail using 'U' in main view:
  (setq mu4e-get-mail-command "offlineimap")
  (setq mu4e-view-show-addresses t)
  (setq mu4e-attachment-dir (expand-file-name "~/Downloads/"))
  (setq mu4e-maildir "path/to/Mail")
  (setq mu4e-html2text-command "w3m -T text/html") ;; alternatively "textutil -stdin -format html -convert txt -stdout"
  (setq mu4e-user-mail-address-list '("[email protected]"
                                      "[email protected]"))
  (setq mu4e-context-policy 'pick-first)
  (setq mu4e-compose-context-policy 'always-ask)
  (setq mu4e-contexts
        (list
         (make-mu4e-context
          :name "domain1"
          :enter-func (lambda () (mu4e-message "Entering context [email protected]"))
          :leave-func (lambda () (mu4e-message "Leaving context [email protected]"))
          :match-func (lambda (msg)
                        (when msg
                          (mu4e-message-contact-field-matches
                           msg '(:from :to :cc :bcc) "[email protected]")))
          :vars '((user-mail-address . "[email protected]")
                  (user-full-name . "My name")
                  (mu4e-sent-folder . "/Domain1/Sent")
                  (mu4e-drafts-folder . "/Domain1/Drafts")
                  (mu4e-trash-folder . "/Domain1/Trash")
                  (mu4e-compose-signature . nil)
                  (mu4e-compose-format-flowed . nil)
                  (smtpmail-smtp-user . "[email protected]")
                  (smtpmail-smtp-server . "smtp.domain1.com")
                  (smtpmail-smtp-service . 587)))
         (make-mu4e-context
          :name "domain2"
          :enter-func (lambda () (mu4e-message "Entering context [email protected]"))
          :leave-func (lambda () (mu4e-message "Leaving context [email protected]"))
          :match-func (lambda (msg)
                        (when msg
                          (mu4e-message-contact-field-matches
                           msg '(:from :to :cc :bcc) "[email protected]")))
          :vars '((user-mail-address . "[email protected]")
                  (user-full-name . "My name")
                  (mu4e-sent-folder . "/Domain2/Sent")
                  (mu4e-drafts-folder . "/Domain2/Drafts")
                  (mu4e-trash-folder . "/Domain2/Trash")
                  (mu4e-compose-signature . nil)
                  (mu4e-compose-format-flowed . nil)
                  (smtpmail-smtp-user . "[email protected]")
                  (smtpmail-smtp-server . "smtp.domain2.com")
                  (smtpmail-smtp-service . 587))))))

(use-package smtpmail
  :config
  (setq smtpmail-stream-type 'starttls)
  (setq smtpmail-debug-info t)
  (setq smtpmail-warn-about-unknown-extensions t)
  (setq smtpmail-queue-mail t)
  (setq smtpmail-default-smtp-server nil)
  ;; Created with mu mkdir path/to/Mail/queue
  ;; Also avoid indexing.
  ;; touch path/to/Mail/queue/.noindex
  (setq smtpmail-queue-dir "path/to/Mail/queue/cur"))

(use-package message
  :config
  (setq message-send-mail-function 'smtpmail-send-it))

Authinfo

Create an ~/.authinfo file for sendmail authentication with:

machine smtp.host1.com login [email protected] password somepassword1
machine smtp.host2.com login [email protected] password somepassword2

Encrypt ~/.authinfo with M-x epa-encrypt-file. Keep ~/.authinfo.gpg and delete ~/.authinfo.

Mu4e helpful references

Transparent Emacs titlebars on macOS

Thu, 24 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Happy with Emacs Plus builds on Mac. You get some eye-candy bonuses like transparent titlebars.

To install:

brew tap d12frosted/emacs-plus
brew install emacs-plus --without-spacemacs-icon

Config:

(when (memq window-system '(mac ns))
  (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-appearance . dark)) ; nil for dark text
  (add-to-list 'default-frame-alist '(ns-transparent-titlebar . t)))

Lunette: Like Spectacle but for Hammerspoon

Thu, 24 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Came across Lunette. Gives ya Spectacle Keybindings for Hammerspoon.

Train Emacs to open files externally

Wed, 23 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

TIL about the openwith package. It enables Emacs to defer to external programs for certain files. You choose which ones. Neat.

(use-package openwith :ensure t
  :config
  (csetq openwith-associations
         '(("\\.\\(mp4\\|mp3\\|webm\\|avi\\|flv\\|mov\\)$" "open" (file))))
  (openwith-mode 1))

Show hidden files in Finder

Tue, 22 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

defaults write com.apple.finder AppleShowAllFiles TRUE
killall Finder

Ejecting USB drives on Synology

Tue, 22 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

For posterity:

Control panel > External devices > USB Disk 1 > Eject

Remounting Synology encrypted share

Mon, 21 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Had been a while since I did this… for posterity:

Control panel > Shared Folder > Encryption > Mount

Synology user had no home

Sun, 20 May 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Upon ssh'ing to a Synology box, the user had no home.

Could not chdir to home directory /var/services/homes/someone: No such file or directory

Fixed via:

Control Panel > User > Advanced > User Home > [x] Enable user home service

Pre-commit hooks to save you from yourself

Mon, 30 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Wanted to try out some code, but needed to ensure never checked in. Git pre-commit hooks are handy in this space. Add the following script to search for either @COMMITFAIL or @NOCOMMIT in the staged files. If found, attempts to commit will fail.

Based on https://gist.github.com/rex/223b4be50285f6b8b3e06dea50d15887:

#!/bin/bash

set -o nounset
set -o errexit

echo "Arguments:"
echo "$@"
echo "---"

readonly FILES_PATTERN='(\..+)?$'
readonly FORBIDDEN='(@?NOCOMMIT|@?COMMITFAIL)'

if ( git diff --cached --name-only | grep -E "$FILES_PATTERN" | xargs grep -E --with-filename -n "$FORBIDDEN" ); then
  echo "ERROR: @COMMITFAIL or @NOCOMMIT found. Exiting to save you from yourself."
  exit 1
fi

Save to a file and create a symbolic link to your .git/hooks directory:

ln -s ../../git/commit-fail-pre-hook.sh .git/hooks/pre-commit

Azores travel bookmarks

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Debugging Emacs binary

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

From How do I debug an emacs crash? (Emacs Stack Exchange), disable optimizations when configuring and build:

CFLAGS="-O0 -g3" ./configure ...
make

And good 'ol gdb (lldb works too):

gdb ../nextstep/Emacs.app/Contents/MacOS/Emacs

Reference

etc/DEBUG: Debugging GNU Emacs.

Paper less bookmarks

Thu, 19 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Bologna travel bookmarks

Wed, 18 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Il Cannone restaurant.

Grep through pdfs

Tue, 17 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Late to the party, but investing in going paperless. Got a scanner with OCR, which generates searchable pdfs. If I could only grep through them…

brew install pdfgrep

Balance restored.

Hammerspoon bookmarks

Sat, 14 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

dotfiles/grid.lua at master for simple functions to resize windows.
Emacs keys everywhere Hammerspoon Script.
Getting Started With Hammerspoon (by Diego Martín Zamboni).
Hammerspoon config inspired by Spacemacs.
Just Enough Lua to Be Productive in Hammerspoon, Part 1.
Just Enough Lua to Be Productive in Hammerspoon, Part 2.
launchOrFocusByBundleID for global key bindings (there are Emacs goodies there too).
My configuration with init.lua and the require()ed modules.
Seal. Helm-like for hammerspoon.
Set up a Hyper Key with Hammerspoon on macOS.
ZeroBrane completion and here also.

Options to reduce Go binary size

Sat, 14 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

A Hacker News's thread Go gets preliminary WebAssembly support has a couple of tips to reduce binaries compiled with Go.

go build -ldflags=-s

UPX (Ultimate Packer for eXecutables) packs the binary further.

upx --ultra-brute

Trying out tesseract

Mon, 09 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

As part of going paperless, looking into OCR. Trying out tesseract.

Install

$ brew install gs
$ brew install imagemagick
$ brew install tesseract

$ convert -density 300 -depth 8 receipt.pdf receipt.png
$ tesseract receipt.png receipt.png.txt

Sapporo travel bookmarks

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Gif bookmarks

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Trying out ShellCheck

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

ShellCheck gives you automatic warnings/suggestions in bash/sh shell scripts.

$ brew install shellcheck

Bonus: If using Emacs's flycheck, you get ShellCheck support out of the box.

Image editing bookmarks

Sun, 08 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Buying matcha powder online

Thu, 05 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

From Reddit's thread:

Getting macOS app bundle ID

Wed, 04 Apr 2018 00:00:00 GMT

From stack overflow:

Option 1

osascript -e 'id of app "Emacs"'

Option 2

mdls -name kMDItemCFBundleIdentifier -r SomeApp.app

Trying out chunkwm

Sat, 31 Mar 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Installing Chunkwm

$ brew tap crisidev/homebrew-chunkwm
$ brew install --HEAD --with-tmp-logging chunkwm

Add a configuration file. Started off from this example.

~.chunkwmrc chmod +x ~.chunkwmrc

Note: Ensure core::plugin_dir matches homebrew's plugin directory. Typically something like: //path/to/homebrew/opt/chunkwm/share/chunkwm/plugins/

Start chunkwmrc service.

$ brew services start crisidev/chunkwm/chunkwm

Installing skhd (a hotkey daemon)

$ brew install --HEAD --with-logging  koekeishiya/formulae/skhd

Start skhd service.

$ brew services start koekeishiya/formulae/skhd

Skhd logs location.

/Users/you/homebrew/var/log/skhd/skhd.[out|err].log

Add a configuration file. Started off from this example.

~/.skhdrc
chmod +x ~/.skhdrc

Installing khd (easily invoke hotkeys from terminal)

$ brew install khd

Some additional Mission Control and keyboard shortcut preferences:

Building bazel on macOS

Tue, 06 Feb 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Bootstrap

brew tap bazelbuild/tap
brew install bazelbuild/tap/bazel

Build

git clone https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel.git
cd bazel
bazel build //src:bazel

Get your bazel binary

Self-contained binary in bazel-bin/src/bazel

Known revisions

https://github.com/bazelbuild/bazel.git @ d81a46cebe07f73d3ea38206262cf7a1a9513b42
https://github.com/bazelbuild/rules_apple.git @ e921a9f727e039c8b5087d4f98c5d09f189658cd

Extracting files from pkg

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

mkdir tmp
cd tmp
xar -xf ../Some.pkg
cat Payload | gunzip -dc |cpio -i

Installing Inkscape with homebrew

Sun, 07 Jan 2018 00:00:00 GMT

brew tap caskroom/cask
brew install caskformula/caskformula/inkscape

Magit amend commit author

Sat, 16 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Rarely use it, but handy. Use Magit to amend git commit author.

Rebase interactively (r, i).
Move point to commit to ammend.
Execute command (x).

git commit --amend --author="name "

Commit (c, c).

Homebrew install from cache

Wed, 13 Dec 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Came across a 404 while installing graphviz-2.40.1.tar.gz via homebrew. If you can find the package elsewhere, copy over to homebrew's cache directory.

brew --cache

org-babel Objective-C support

Thu, 16 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Wanted to quickly execute an Objective-C snippet. org-babel didn't support it out of the box, but adding it was straightforward (looked at ob-C.el and ob-java.el):

(require 'ob)

(defcustom org-babel-objc-compile-command "clang -x objective-c -framework Foundation"
  "For example: \"clang -x objective-c -framework Foundation\"."
  :group 'org-babel
  :version "24.3"
  :type 'string)

(defun org-babel-execute:objc (body params)
  "Compile Objective-C BODY with org PARAMS and execute binary."
  (let* ((src-file (org-babel-temp-file "org-babel-objc-block-" ".m"))
         (cmpflag (or (cdr (assq :cmpflag params)) ""))
         (full-body (org-babel-expand-body:generic body params))
         (bin-file
          (org-babel-process-file-name
           (org-babel-temp-file "org-babel-objc-block" org-babel-exeext))))
    (with-temp-file src-file (insert full-body))
    (org-babel-eval
     (concat org-babel-objc-compile-command " " cmpflag " " src-file " " "-o" " " bin-file) "")

    ;; Using 2>&1 since org babel does not include stderr in output from NSLog.
    (let ((results (org-babel-eval (concat (org-babel-process-file-name bin-file) " 2>&1")  "")))
      (org-babel-reassemble-table
       (org-babel-result-cond (cdr (assq :result-params params))
         (org-babel-read results)
         (let ((tmp-file (org-babel-temp-file "c-")))
           (with-temp-file tmp-file (insert results))
           (org-babel-import-elisp-from-file tmp-file)))
       (org-babel-pick-name
        (cdr (assq :colname-names params)) (cdr (assq :colnames params)))
       (org-babel-pick-name
        (cdr (assq :rowname-names params)) (cdr (assq :rownames params)))))))

(provide 'ob-objc)

Add objc to org-babel-load-languages, and you can subsequently compile and run Objective-C blocks like:

#import 

int main() {
  NSLog(@"Hello World");
  return 0;
}

iOS dev command-line goodies

Sun, 12 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Install ipa on device

Get utility with:

npm install -g ipa-deploy
npm install -g ios-deploy

Install ipa on connected iPhone:

ipa-deploy path/to/your/App.ipa

Install app on booted simulator

Install ipa on connected iPhone:

xcrun simctl install booted path/to/your/App.app

Install ipa on booted simulator

#!/bin/bash

# Unzip ipa, install app, and run on booted simulator.

set -o nounset
set -o errexit

readonly IPA_PATH=$1
readonly TEMP_DIR_PATH=$(mktemp -d)
readonly BASENAME=$(basename ${IPA_PATH})
readonly NAME=${BASENAME%.*}
readonly APP_DIR_PATH="${TEMP_DIR_PATH}/Payload/${NAME}.app"
readonly PLIST_FILE_PATH="${APP_DIR_PATH}/Info.plist"

trap "rm -rf ${TEMP_DIR_PATH}" EXIT

unzip -o "${IPA_PATH=}" -d "${TEMP_DIR_PATH}"

readonly BUNDLE_ID=$(/usr/libexec/PlistBuddy -c "Print CFBundleIdentifier" ${PLIST_FILE_PATH})

xcrun simctl install booted "${APP_DIR_PATH}"
xcrun simctl launch booted "${BUNDLE_ID}"

Eshell pcomplete company completion

Wed, 01 Nov 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Howard Abrams's Introduction to eshell video prompted me to poke at eshell some more. This time, I got eshell context aware completion by glueing the excellent company and pcomplete packages.

(require 'cl-lib)
(require 'company)
(require 'dash)
(require 'pcomplete)
(require 's)

(defun company-pcomplete--overlap-tail (a b)
  "When A is \"SomeDev\" and B is \"Developer\", return \"eloper\"."
  (let ((prefix a)
        (remaining nil))
    (while (and (not remaining) (> (length prefix) 0))
      (when (s-starts-with? prefix b)
        (setq remaining (substring b (length prefix))))
      (setq prefix (substring prefix 1)))
    remaining))

(defun company-pcomplete--candidates (prefix)
  "Get candidates for PREFIX company completion using `pcomplete'."
  ;; When prefix is: "~/Down" and completion is "Downloads", need
  ;; to find common string and join into "~/Downloads/".
  (-map (lambda (item)
          (if (s-starts-with? prefix item)
              item
            (concat prefix (company-pcomplete--overlap-tail prefix item))))
        (all-completions prefix (pcomplete-completions))))

(defun company-pcomplete (command &optional arg &rest ignored)
  "Complete using pcomplete. See `company''s COMMAND ARG and IGNORED for details."
  (interactive (list 'interactive))
  (case command
    (interactive (company-begin-backend 'company-pcomplete))
    (prefix (company-grab-symbol))
    (candidates
     (company-pcomplete--candidates arg))))

Don't forget to add company-pcomplete to company-backends, and if you want an explicit binding, use something like:

(bind-key "" #'company-complete eshell-mode-map)

Basic imenu in helpful-mode

Sun, 10 Sep 2017 00:00:00 GMT

I'm finding Wilfred Hughes's helpful-mode, well… rather helpful. However, I'm missing imenu support. Here's a hacky way to get basic imenu.

(defun helpful--create-imenu-index ()
  "Create an `imenu' index for helpful."
  (beginning-of-buffer)
  (let ((imenu-items '()))
    (while (progn
             (beginning-of-line)
             ;; Not great, but determine if looking at heading:
             ;; 1. if it has bold face.
             ;; 2. if it is capitalized.
             (when (and (eq 'bold (face-at-point))
                        (string-match-p
                         "[A-Z]"
                         (buffer-substring (line-beginning-position)
                                           (line-end-position))))
               (add-to-list 'imenu-items
                            (cons (buffer-substring (line-beginning-position)
                                                    (line-end-position))
                                  (line-beginning-position))))
             (= 0 (forward-line 1))))
    imenu-items))

(defun helpful-mode-hook-function ()
  "A hook function for `helpful-mode'."
  (setq imenu-create-index-function #'helpful--create-imenu-index))

(add-hook 'helpful-mode-hook
          #'helpful-mode-hook-function)

Projectile shell dir company completion

Sat, 19 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Projectile and company are just amazing Emacs packages. Projectile gives random access to files, while company completes well… anything. For shells, Emacs has a handful of options.

Standing on the shoulders of package giants (dash and f included) and some elisp, we can bring random access to project directories from the shell.

(require 'cl-lib)
(require 'company)
(require 'dash)
(require 'f)
(require 'projectile)

(defvar-local company-projectile-cd-prefix "cd ")

(defun company-projectile-cd (command &optional arg &rest ignored)
  "Company shell completion for any projectile path."
  (interactive (list 'interactive))
  (case command
    (interactive (company-begin-backend 'company-projectile-cd))
    (prefix
     (company-grab-symbol-cons company-projectile-cd-prefix
                               (length company-projectile-cd-prefix)))
    (candidates
     (company-projectile-cd--candidates
      (company-grab-symbol-cons company-projectile-cd-prefix
                                (length company-projectile-cd-prefix))))
    (post-completion
     (company-projectile-cd--expand-inserted-path arg))))

(defun company-projectile-cd--candidates (input)
  "Return candidates for given INPUT."
  (company-projectile-cd--reset-root)
  (when (consp input)
    (let ((search-term (substring-no-properties
                        (car input) 0 (length (car input))))
          (prefix-found (cdr input)))
      (when prefix-found
        (if (projectile-project-p)
            (company-projectile-cd--projectile search-term)
          (company-projectile-cd--find-fallback search-term))))))

(defun company-projectile-cd--projectile (search-term)
  (-filter (lambda (path)
             (string-match-p (regexp-quote
                              search-term)
                             path))
           (-snoc
            (projectile-current-project-dirs)
            ;; Throw project root in there also.
            (projectile-project-root))))

(defun company-projectile-cd--find-fallback (search-term)
  (ignore-errors
    (-map (lambda (path)
            (string-remove-prefix "./" path))
          (apply #'process-lines
                 (list "find" "." "-type" "d"  "-maxdepth" "2" "-iname"
                       (format "\*%s\*" search-term))))))

(defun company-projectile-cd--expand-inserted-path (path)
  "Replace relative PATH insertion with its absolute equivalent if needed."
  (unless (f-exists-p path)
    (delete-region (point) (- (point) (length path)))
    (insert (concat (projectile-project-root) path))))

(defun company-projectile-cd--reset-root ()
  "Reset project root. Useful when cd'ing in and out of projects."
  (projectile-reset-cached-project-root)
  (when (projectile-project-p)
    (projectile-project-root)))

Creating icns icons

Wed, 09 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Stack overflow yields Where can i find Icon Composer on Mac? when I did a quick search to convert a png to icns. For future reference:

#!/bin/bash -e

set -e
set -o pipefail

if [ "$#" -ne 1 ]; then
 echo "\nusage: to_icns.sh path/to/image.png\n"
 exit 1
fi

readonly IMAGE_FPATH=$1
readonly BASENAME=$(basename ${IMAGE_FPATH%.*})

mkdir ${BASENAME}.iconset

sips -z 16 16   $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/icon_16x16.png"
sips -z 32 32   $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/[email protected]"
sips -z 32 32   $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/icon_32x32.png"
sips -z 64 64   $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/[email protected]"
sips -z 128 128 $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/icon_128x128.png"
sips -z 256 256 $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/[email protected]"
sips -z 256 256 $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/icon_256x256.png"
sips -z 512 512 $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/[email protected]"
sips -z 512 512 $IMAGE_FPATH --out "${BASENAME}.iconset/icon_512x512.png"

cp $IMAGE_FPATH "${BASENAME}.iconset/[email protected]"

iconutil -c icns ${BASENAME}.iconset

rm -R ${BASENAME}.iconset

echo Wrote ${BASENAME}.icns

Forcing aptX on MacOS bluetooth audio

Sun, 06 Aug 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Bought a pair of QuietComfort 35. Audio quality on MacOS was lagging compared to iOS. Googling led to different posts suggesting the use of Bluetooth Explorer to force aptX usage. Did the trick for me.

Bluetooth Explorer can be downloaded from https://developer.apple.com/download/more. Search for Hardware IO tools:

Open Hardware_IO_Tools_for_Xcode_7.3.dmg and launch Bluetooth Explorer:

Select Audio Options:

Check Force use of aptX:

Don't forget to disconnect and reconnect your Bluetooth device.

Hungary travel bookmarks

Mon, 10 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

My city: Budapest - Lonely Planet.

Faster cursor movement on macOS

Sat, 08 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Faster cursor movement on macOS by increasing your keyboard's initial key repeat subsequent key repeat.

defaults write -g KeyRepeat -int 1
defaults write -g InitialKeyRepeat -int 10

Search/insert one-liners with Emacs helm-ag

Fri, 07 Jul 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs helm is awesome. helm-ag is double awesome. Searching for one-liners in your codebase, narrowing down with helm, and easily inserting is triple awesome.

(defun ar/helm-ag (arg)
  "Helm-ag search remembering last location.  With ARG, forget the last location."
  (interactive "P")
  (defvar ar/helm-ag--default-locaction nil)
  (setq ar/helm-ag--default-locaction
                 (read-directory-name "search in: " (if arg
                                                        default-directory
                                                      ar/helm-ag--default-locaction) nil t))
  (helm-do-ag ar/helm-ag--default-locaction))

(defun ar/helm-ag-insert (arg)
  ;; Helm-ag and insert match.
  (interactive "P")
  (let* ((actions (helm-make-actions
                   "Insert"
                   (lambda (candidate)
                     ;; Drop file:line:column. For example:
                     ;; arc_hostlink.c:13:2:#include 
                     ;; => #include 
                     (insert (replace-regexp-in-string "^[^ ]*:" "" candidate)))))
         (helm-source-do-ag (helm-build-async-source "The Silver Searcher"
                              :init 'helm-ag--do-ag-set-command
                              :candidates-process 'helm-ag--do-ag-candidate-process
                              :persistent-action  'helm-ag--persistent-action
                              :action actions
                              :nohighlight t
                              :requires-pattern 3
                              :candidate-number-limit 9999
                              :keymap helm-do-ag-map
                              :follow (and helm-follow-mode-persistent 1))))
    (call-interactively #'ar/helm-ag)))

Sleep bookmarks

Mon, 29 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Tea bookmarks

Sun, 28 May 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Math bookmarks

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT

GnuPG and macOS

Sun, 23 Apr 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Had problems installing and using GnuPG on macOS, primarily for Emacs use:

gpg: problem with the agent: Inappropriate ioctl for device
gpg: error creating passphrase: Operation cancelled
gpg: symmetric encryption of '[stdin]' failed: Operation cancelled

Basic installation required:

brew install gnupg

But worked around the error above by using pinentry-mac (UI), instead of Emacs prompts.

brew install pinentry-mac

Edited ~/.gnupg/gpg-agent.conf with:

pinentry-program path/to/homebrew/bin/pinentry-mac

May need to kill gpg-agent to reload config.

gpgconf --kill gpg-agent

Installing gnuplot on macOS

Mon, 13 Mar 2017 00:00:00 GMT

UPDATE(2019-05-19 Sun): Plan A and B use options no longer available since the recent changes to remove all options from Homebrew/homebrew-core formulae. See Plan C.

Plan A

Install gnuplot Qt

~~If you have the resources, you can try the Qt flavor. You need at least 15GB to download and a long build. Ran out of space on my Macbook Air. Aborted.~~

brew install gnuplot --with-qt

Plan B

Install xquartz

brew install Caskroom/cask/xquartz

Install gnuplot x11

brew install gnuplot --with-x11

Install feedgnuplot

Feedgnuplot is handy for plotting data streams realtime.

brew install feedgnuplot

Plan C

Install with no options

brew install gnuplot

So far so good, but default gnuplot formula uses Qt and the Cocoa plugin could not be loaded:

qt.qpa.plugin: Could not find the Qt platform plugin "cocoa" in ""

Debugging

QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS

Turns out you can get plugin logs using the QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS environment variable:
```
export QT_DEBUG_PLUGINS=1
```
QFactoryLoader::QFactoryLoader() checking directory path "/Users/myuser/homebrew/Cellar/gnuplot/5.2.6_1/libexec/gnuplot/5.2/platforms" …

This led me to find out about the gnuplot/5.2/gnuplot_qt binary.
qt_prfxpath

Getting the Qt prefix can be done by inspecting QtCore's strings:
```
strings /Users/myuser/homebrew/Cellar/qt/5.12.3/Frameworks/QtCore.framework/QtCore | grep qt_prfxpath
```
```
qt_prfxpath=/usr/local/Cellar/qt/5.12.3
```
Ok so qt_prfxpath is pointing to usr/local/Cellar/qt, while my installation's is at //Users/myuser/homebrew/Cellar/qt. This is problematic and indeed my fault for installing homebrew in Users/myuser/homebrew instead of the recommended //usr/local.

Symlinking did the job:
```
sudo mkdir -p /usr/local/Cellar
sudo ln -s ~/homebrew/Cellar/qt /usr/local/Cellar/qt
```
```
/Users/myuser/homebrew/Cellar/gnuplot/5.2.6_1/libexec/gnuplot/5.2/gnuplot_qt
```
Success.

Tel Aviv travel bookmarks

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Breakfast club (dancing).
Claro/Sarona Market.
Dizengoff Square - Wikipedia.
Drink Cafe hafuch at Rothschild 12.
Jaffa's Flea market.
Nightlife: Kuli Alma's hipster haven. Imperial craft cocktail bar (drink Gold fashioned).
Park HaYarkon.
Tel Aviv museum of art.

Jerusalem travel bookmarks

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Jerusalem: Rooftop Mamilla restarurant.

Nepal travel bookmarks

Sun, 22 Jan 2017 00:00:00 GMT

Singapore notes

Fri, 02 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Hotel Mono, 18 Mosque street #01-04.
Buddha tooth relic museum.
Best Hawker centers.
Kong Meng San Phor Kark See Monastery.
Go there (figure out fastest MRT route).
What to eat at ABC Market (Hawker Centre) aka ABC Brickworks Food Centre?.
Curry puffs (see Taste test: Crisp curry puffs).
Singapore’s 17 Michelin-rated Hawker Stalls in 2016.
Temples
- Sasanaramsi Burmese temple (14, Tai Gin Road, Singapore 327873).
- Thian Hock Keng temple.
- Sultan Mosque.
Hawkers
- Mr and Mrs Mohgan's Super Crispy Roti Prata (source) on Crane Road. Dhal/fish/mutton curry side.
- Roast Paradise (maybe) Address: #01-122 Old Airport Road Food Centre. Hours: Tues-Sun: 11am to 4pm or till sold out, Wed and Sun: 11am to 2pm, Closed on Mondays.
- Fatty Cheong, 肥仔详, (#01-120, ABC Brickworks Food Centre, 6 Jalan Bukit Merah Singapore 150006): char siew and xio bak rice and char siew noodles.
- Hoo Kee Bak Chang (Amoy Street Food Centre): bak zhang (glutinous rice dumpling). Try Choose from three kinds: chestnut ($2.80); chestnut with salted egg yolk ($3.60); and chestnut with mushroom ($3.60).
- Lim Kee (Orchard) Banana Fritters (Maxwell food centre, source).
- Mr Avocado Exotic Juice (Alexandra village food centre, source).
- Tanglin Crispy Curry Puff (Hong Lim Food Centre or Maxwell, source) (东陵酥皮咖喱角). Try sardine curry puff?
- Chuan Kee Satay (source). Long queue for pork satay.
- Selera Rasa Nasi Lemak (source).
- Fu Shun Jin Ji Shao La Mian Jia (Maxwell food centre, source): Char siu + noodles.
- Shanghai La Mian Xiao Long Bao (Alexandra Village food centre, source): xiao long bao or soup dumplings ($4.50 for 7 pieces).
Timbre+ (hipster hawker centre? source).
Supertree Grove (go at dusk, see lights turn on).
Singapore Botanic garden.
- Ginger Garden.
- Palms valley.
- Orchid garden.
Sri Mariamman Temple.
Kusu Island?
Chilly crab (“Jumbo” Chilli Crab Restaurant in Clarke Quay or Harvest Seafood Restaurant)?
Afternoon tea?
- www.tea-chapter.com.sg
Bumboats (£2.50 return) leave Changi Point between 6am and 9.30pm for the 10-minute crossing to Palau Ubin. Hire a bicycle in the village where the boats dock.
Haji Lane (colorful road).
Tiong Bahru 1930s public housing estate (**)
- Chong Yu Wanton Mee (Tiong Bahru Market And Food Centre #02-30, 30 Seng Poh Road, source).
- old-fashioned treats at Tiong Bahru Galicier (55 Tiong Bahru Rd).
Chinatown
- Pek Sin Choon Tea: Oldest team merchants.
- Ang Mo Kio: Sri Mariamman Hindu temple.
- Strangelets: quirky stuff from around the world.
- 40 Hands: Allegedly one of most popular coffee joints.
- BooksActually: Coolest book shop.
Keong Saik (next to Chinatown)
- 1939 Hotel.
- The Library (49 Keong Saik Rd): night drinks, ask for key/password next door (the-study.sg) (**)
- Mariko's (Now Phat Cat laundry): Maybe food or drink at night? (**)
- Rose Citron (23 Keong Said Rd): French and Asian articles.
Everton park (old housing estate), new meets old
- Coffee
  - Nylon coffee roasters (http://nyloncoffee.sg).
  - Just Want Coffee (justwant.com.sg).
  - Cozy corner coffee.
- Sweets
  - Grin Affair (grinaffair.com): natural ingredients into glass jar creations.
  - Batterworks (batter-works.com): pastries.
  - http://cozycornercoffee.com.
  - Seriously ice scream (facebook.com/seriouslyicecream).
  - Ji Xiang Confectionery (jixiangconfectionery.com): Traditional glutinous sweets. (**)
- Food
  - The Provision Shop (Blk 3 Everton Park): for a classic and affordable meal.
  - Chew the Fat (Blk 6 Everton Park): comfort food.
  - Eden's Kitchen (http://edenskitchen.sg): healthy, green tea, coconut oil, etc.
Jalan Besar
- Char: unconventional char siu (source).
- The Banana Leaf Apollo (Little India).
- Beach Road Scissors-Cut (220 Jln Besar): Curry Rice. (**)
- Fu Zhou Poh Hwa Oyster Cake (166 Jln Besar): UFO-shaped snacks. (**)
- Swee Choon Tim Sum Restaurant: a dim sum institution!. (**)
- Papa Palheta coffee: best coffee in town?.
- General Company: awesome design and workshops. (**)
- The Bravery: brunch, aka awesome pancakes. (**)
- AEIOU: Retro shopping.
Geylang (preserved shophouses and rich in Malay history)
- Hajjah Mona Nasi Padang (Geylang Serai food centre): Order nasi padang (try dry one).
- Biryani Express (Geylang Serai food centre)
- Red light district. Still?
- Brawn & Brains (Coffee).
- Old Geylang (crocodile, turtle soup, other oddities).
- Hi-Thrift (1 Geylang Rd): Second hand treasures? (**).

Email provider bookmarks

Fri, 02 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Go snippets

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Command-line flags

import (
      "flag"
)

type args struct {
      flag1  string
      flag2  string
        arg    string
}

func parseArgs() args {
      args := args{}

      flag.StringVar(&args.flag1, "flag1\n", "\n", "some flag 1 with sample `value`")
      flag.StringVar(&args.flag2, "flag2\n", "\n", "some flag 2 with sample `value`")

      flag.CommandLine.Usage = func() {
          fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "Usage of %s:\n\n", os.Args[0])
          fmt.Fprintf(os.Stderr, "\n  myarg\n\n")
          flag.PrintDefaults()
      }

      flag.Parse()

      args.arg = flag.Arg(0)

      if args.flag1 == "" || args.flag2 == "" || args.arg == "" {
          flag.CommandLine.Usage()
          os.Exit(1)
      }
      return args
}

func main() {
        args := parseArgs()
        fmt.Printf("Args: %#v\n", args)
}

go run main.go -flag1 val1 -flag2 val2 arg

Javascript snippets

Thu, 01 Dec 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Sydney travel bookmarks

Sun, 27 Nov 2016 00:00:00 GMT

17 Stunning Sydney Pools That Will Make You Want To Jump Back In The Water.
48 Hours in Sydney.
Bourke Street Bakery.
Collector Store (Surrey Hills).
Coogee Pavilion.
Four ate five.
Harry's Cafe de Wheels: Famous for Pies and Peas, Meat Pies, Hot Dogs.
Hurricane’s grill & bar Bondi beach.
Lox Stock & Barrel.
Marigold citymark (dim sum).
Reuben Hills.
Seans.
Sydney's Best Markets - The Trusted Traveller.
The eight (dim sum).
The Glenmore.
Three Blue Ducks.

Laos travel bookmark

Sun, 16 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Best Way to Enjoy Luang Prabang.

Singapore travel bookmarks

Sat, 08 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Cambodia travel bookmarks

Sat, 01 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Pub Street (Siem Reap, Cambodia).

New York travel bookmarks

Sat, 01 Oct 2016 00:00:00 GMT

API design bookmarks

Sun, 18 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Handy pdf utilities

Sun, 18 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Straight out of How (and why) I made a zine, some handy utilities for generating pdfs…

Convert pngs to pdfs

# start with a bunch of PNG images of your zine pages
# convert them all to PDF
for i in *.png
   do
      # imagemagick is the best thing in the world
      convert $i $i.pdf
   done

Combine pdfs

Combine pdfs using pdftk:

pdftk *.pdf cat output zine.pdf

Combine pdfs using poppler:

pdf unite PDF1.pdf PDF2.pdf PDF3.pdf

Reorder pdf pages

# pdfmod is a GUI that lets you reorder pages
pdfmod zine.pdf

Add margins to pdf

# pdfcrop lets you add margins to the pdf. this is good because otherwise the
# printer will cut off stuff at the edges
pdfcrop --margin '29 29 29 29' zine.pdf zine-intermediate.pdf

Turn pdf into booklet

# pdfjam is this wizard tool that lets you take a normal ordered pdf and turn
# it into something you can print as a booklet on a regular printer.
# no more worrying about photocopying machines
pdfjam --booklet true --landscape --suffix book --letterpaper --signature 12 --booklet true --landscape zine-intermediate.pdf -o zine-booklet.pdf

Fuzzy search Emacs compile history

Thu, 15 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

I wrote about searching bash history with Emacs Helm some time ago. Since then, I've learned about completing-read to generically handle simple Emacs completions (very handy for supporting Helm, Ivy, and Ido completions).

Here's a simple way to combine completing-read and the compile command to enable fuzzy searching your compile history:

(defun ar/compile-completing ()
  "Compile with completing options."
  (interactive)
  (let ((compile-command (completing-read "Compile command: " compile-history)))
    (compile compile-command)
    (add-to-list 'compile-history compile-command)))

Jumping on the Emacs 25 bandwagon

Mon, 05 Sep 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Can't miss out on all the new fun. Emacs 25 RC2 is out and lots of people already using it. Since I'm mostly on MacOS these days, installing via homebrew with –devel, gets you RC2:

brew install emacs --devel --with-cocoa --with-gnutls --with-librsvg --with-imagemagick

The only hiccup so far's been org mode failing to export, which was fixed by re-installing it (follow this thread).

San Francisco's Mission District travel bookmarks

Sun, 31 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Atlas Cafe.
Blue Bottle Coffee.
Cafe la Boheme.
Clarion Alley.
Coffee Bar.
Dynamo donut & coffee.
Four Barrel Coffee.
Grand Coffee.
Haus Coffee.
Kafe 99.
Linea cafe.
Mission skateboards.
pNakamoto's Bitcoin shop.
Philz Coffee.
Ritual Coffee roasters.
Rodger's coffee & tea.
Sightglass Coffee.
Stable Cafe.
Sugar lump coffee lounge.

Moscow travel bookmarks

Mon, 25 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Vietnam travel bookmarks

Sun, 24 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Can Ba Quan
- Nikki Tren.
- Vietnamese Cajun.
Exploring Vietnam's remote Con Dao Islands.
Hoi An, Vietnam- Travel guide.
List of Locations: Somebody Feed Phil - Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam.
Pho Bo Phu Gia
- DC: 146K LY Chinh Thang.
- 0908 208 866.
Simon Standly and Vin Dao (food journalists)
Somebody Feed Phil, List of Locations: Ho Chi Minh City.
Thuc Pham Duc Viet
- Bahn Mi
- Pate Bu Cha
- Nhan Dat Bi Cha
Another favorite bookstore - Bookworm Hanoi | The Saigon boy

Pokémon Go bookmarks

Tue, 19 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Coffee bookmarks

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Machine learning bookmarks

Sun, 03 Jul 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs and emotional vocab

Fri, 17 Jun 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Having read Are You in Despair? That’s Good, I was encouraged to expand my emotional vocabulary. As a zone.el fan (checkout nyan, sl, and rainbow), I looked into writing a zone program. When zone-when-idle is set, zone acts as a screensaver of sorts. We can use this to display random emotional vocab whenever Emacs is idle for a period of time. Let's get to it…

Zone keeps a list of programs to choose from when kicked off. Below is a basic zone-hello program, along with an interactive command for previewing. Not much to these. The tiny program prepares the screen for zoning and inserts text while no input is pending.

(defun zone-hello ()
  (delete-other-windows)
  (setq mode-line-format nil)
  (zone-fill-out-screen (window-width) (window-height))
  (delete-region (point-min) (point-max))
  (goto-char (point-min))
  (while (not (input-pending-p))
    (insert "hello zone\n")
    (zone-park/sit-for (point-min) 0.2)))

(defun zone-hello-preview ()
  (interactive)
  (let ((zone-programs [zone-hello]))
    (zone)))

Here's what zone-hello looks like:

Back to improving our emotional vocabulary, we'll need a dictionary for our goal. A quick search yields a potential list of words. We can use WordNet to define them while offline. These two sources will do for now. We tie it all together in zone-words.el and the resulting zone program looks as follow:

UPDATE: Just came across Animations With Emacs. A post with awesome zone examples.

Emacs: Find number of days between dates

Tue, 10 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Needed to find the number of days between two dates. Emacs calendar must know this…

Fire up the manual (M-x info-emacs-manual or C-h r).
Info-goto-node (or g).
Type "counting days" and voilá:

To determine the number of days in a range, set the mark on one date using `C-', move point to another date, and type `M-=' (`calendar-count-days-region'). The numbers of days shown is [inclusive]{.underline}; that is, it includes the days specified by mark and point.

Note: you can use the mouse to jump to another date, or "g d" (calendar-goto-date).

RoutingHTTPServer snippet

Sun, 08 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

RoutingHTTPServer snippet:

RoutingHTTPServer *routingHTTPServer = [[RoutingHTTPServer alloc] init];
[routingHTTPServer setPort:8000];
[routingHTTPServer setDefaultHeader:@"Server" value:@"YourAwesomeApp/1.0"];
[routingHTTPServer handleMethod:@"GET"
                       withPath:@"/hello"
                          block:^(RouteRequest *request, RouteResponse *response) {
    [response setHeader:@"Content-Type" value:@"text/plain"];
    [response respondWithString:@"Hello!"];
  }];
NSError *error = nil;
if (![routingHTTPServer start:&error]) {
  NSLog(@"Error starting HTTP Server: %@\n", error);
 }

Alaska travel bookmarks

Fri, 06 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Anchorage.
Denali NP.
Exit Glacier / Kenai Fjord NP.
Ice Falls Hike.
Iditarod race husky camp.
Seward: Kenai Fjord Wildlife cruise (Major Marine cruises).
Talkeetna fishing.

UIViewController bookmarks

Fri, 06 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

When OOO impulse kicks in…

Tue, 03 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

You start moving trivial bits of code into classes, with the anticipation that you might use it one day. Stop.
On naming, semantic clarity trumps brevity. Yup, the verbosity may be worth it.

Pakistan travel bookmarks

Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

How Philly Cheesesteaks Became a Big Deal in Lahore, Pakistan.
Karachi.
Lahore.
Rabelpindi.
Shinwari BBQ.

Money bookmarks

Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Scotland travel bookmarks

Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

St. Petersburg travel bookmarks

Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

8 week half-marathon training

Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

An 8-week training schedule:

WEEK MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN

1 Rest 5 Km 5 Km ~~Cycle~~ Rest 5 Km ~~8 Km~~ 9 Km 29:56 29:54 29:45 1:00:55 2 Rest 7 Km 5 Km ~~Cycle~~ Rest 5 Km 10 Km 41:36 27:52 28:23 59:17 3 Rest ~~8 Km~~ 8.1 Km 5 Km ~~Cycle~~ Rest 5 Km 12 Km 49:29 29:33 27:50 1:06 4 Rest 8 Km Rest 8 Km Rest 5 Km 14 Km 46:39 49:28 29:40 5 Rest 8 Km Rest ~~8 Km~~ Rest ~~6 Km~~ ~~16 Km~~ 10 Km 48:50 53:38 6 Rest ~~8 Km~~ ~~8 Km~~ 8 Km Rest 8 Km 19 Km 51:39 37:09 2:02 7 Rest 8 Km Rest 12 Km Rest 8 Km 16 Km 52:55 8 Rest 8 Km Rest 5 Km 5 K Rest Race

Haskell bookmarks

Mon, 02 May 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Haskell notes

Sun, 17 Apr 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Referential transparency

An expression consistently evaluating to the same result, regardless of context.

References

Emacs Objective-C tagging with RTags

Mon, 28 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Install libclang on Mac

brew install llvm --with-clang

Install RTags

git clone --recursive https://github.com/Andersbakken/rtags.git
cd rtags
cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/Users/your-user-name/homebrew/opt/llvm -DCMAKE_EXPORT_COMPILE_COMMANDS=1 .
make

Start RTags daemon

path/to/rtags/bin/rdm 2> /tmp/rdm.log

Compilation database

Install xctool

brew install xctool

Generate a compilation database

cd path/to/your/objc-project
xctool -sdk iphonesimulator -arch x86_64 -scheme SomeScheme -reporter pretty -reporter json-compilation-database:compile_commands.json clean build

Load compilation database

path/to/rtags/bin/rc -J path/to/your/objc-project/compile_commands.json

Install RTags Emacs package

(use-package rtags :ensure t
  :config
  (setq rtags-use-helm t) ;; Optional. Enable if helm fan (I am!).
  (setq rtags-path "path/to/rtags/bin/"))

Ready to go

Use any of the rtags interactive commands. For example:

M-x rtags-find-symbol

References

Database bookmarks

Thu, 10 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Python tips backlog

Sun, 06 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A Better Pip Workflow (Hacker News).

Bruges travel bookmarks

Sat, 05 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

assietteblanche.be.
Beer flavored meals at Den Dyver.
bistrozwarthuis.be.
Eat fries in front of the belfry and climb it.
kok-au-vin.be.
kurtspan.be.
Minnewater and the old Beguinage.
Old Saint john's Hospital.
Relic of the Holy Blood and City hall.
restomojo.tk.
The Chocolate Line.
The Garre, near the Burg and drink their house Tripel.
tomsdiner.be.
Try out Straffe Hendrik beer at brewery terrace.
Walk behind Gruuthuse over the little Saint Bonifaas bridge.

Emacs lisp snippets

Wed, 02 Mar 2016 00:00:00 GMT

cl-loop for in

(cl-loop for day in '("mon" "tue" "wed" "thu" "fri" "sat" "sun")
         do (print day))

cl-loop for from to

(cl-loop for x from 1 to 5
         do (print x))

pcase literal matching

(pcase "word"
  ('word (message "Matched 'word symbol"))
  ("word" (message "Matched \"word\" string")))

Avoid nesting with the help of thread-first and thread-last.

(thread-last "12.....34"
  (string-remove-prefix "1")
  (string-remove-suffix "4"))

Find file upwards, up parents, up hierarchy

(locate-dominating-file FILE NAME)

Find executable in PATH

(executable-find COMMAND)

Read string with completion (helm/ido/ivy friendly)

(completing-read PROMPT COLLECTION &optional PREDICATE REQUIRE-MATCH INITIAL-INPUT HIST DEF INHERIT-INPUT-METHOD)

Execute command/process and return list (similar to shell-command-to-string)

(process-lines PROGRAM &rest ARGS)

Iterating org buffer

(org-element-map (org-element-parse-buffer) '(headline link)
  (lambda (element)
    (cond
     ((and (eq (org-element-type element) 'headline)
           (= (org-element-property :level element) 1))
      (print "headline"))
     ((eq (org-element-type element) 'link)
      (print "link")))
    nil))

Some modern Objective-C idioms

Thu, 18 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

NSNumber literals

NSNumber *number1 = @1024;
NSNumber *number2 = @1024.123f;
NSNumber *number3 = @'A';
NSNumber *number4 = @YES;
NSNumber *number5 = @24ul; // Unsigned long.
NSNumber *number6 = @123456ll; // Long Long.
NSNumber *number7 = @5050.50; // Float.
NSNumber *number8 = @1543; // Integer
NSNumber *number9 = @111.456; // Double

Array literals

NSArray *names = @[@"John\n", @"Peter\n", @"Jaye\n", @"George\n", @"Max"];
NSArray *mutableNames = [@[@"John\n", @"Peter\n", @"Jaye\n", @"George\n", @"Max"] mutableCopy];

Cross-platform development bookmarks

Tue, 16 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

How to Distribute Binaries for OS X Using Homebrew (Hacker News).

Generating a random MAC address

Mon, 15 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

As some point I had to generate a random MAC address. This is the snippet I used:

import random

def randomMAC():
  mac = [0x00, 0x16, 0x3e,
         random.randint(0x00, 0x7f),
         random.randint(0x00, 0xff),
         random.randint(0x00, 0xff),
  ]
  return ':'.join(map(lambda x: "%02x" % x, mac))

print 'MAC => %s' % randomMAC()

MAC => 00:16:3e:7e:f7:fa

Defined elisp variables matching regexp

Sun, 14 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

You can use "M-x apropos-variable" to get documentation for variables matching a pattern. For more flexibility, some elisp can help with getting a list of all variables matching a regexp:

(defun ar/variables-matching-pattern (pattern)
  "Get a list of all variables matching PATTERN."
  (let ((matched-variables '()))
    (mapatoms
     (lambda (symbol)
       ;; Symbol is variable?
       (when (and (boundp symbol)
                  (string-match pattern (symbol-name symbol)))
         (add-to-list 'matched-variables symbol))))
    matched-variables))

(let ((variables ""))
  (mapc (lambda (variable-symbol)
          (setq variables
                (concat variables
                        (format "%s => %s\n"
                                (symbol-name variable-symbol)
                                (symbol-value variable-symbol)))))
        (ar/variables-matching-pattern "^tern-.*"))
  variables)

tern-mode-keymap => (keymap (3 keymap (4 . tern-get-docs) (3 . tern-get-type) (18 . tern-rename-variable)) (27 keymap (44 . tern-pop-find-definition) (67108910 . tern-find-definition-by-name) (46 . tern-find-definition)))
tern-update-argument-hints-async => nil
tern-known-port => nil
tern-mode => nil
tern-activity-since-command => -1
tern-project-dir => nil
tern-last-point-pos => nil
tern-last-completions => nil
tern-explicit-port => nil
tern-idle-time => 2.5
tern-find-definition-stack => nil
tern-last-argument-hints => nil
tern-idle-timer => nil
tern-server => nil
tern-last-docs-url => nil
tern-buffer-is-dirty => nil
tern-command-generation => 0
tern-flash-timeout => 0.5
tern-update-argument-hints-timer => 500
tern-mode-hook => nil
tern-command => (tern)

Proselint via Emacs flycheck

Sat, 13 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Based on Linting Prose in Emacs…

Needs proselint installed:

pip install proselint

Also needs a flycheck checker defined:

(flycheck-define-checker proselint
  "A linter for prose."
  :command ("proselint" source-inplace)
  :error-patterns
  ((warning line-start (file-name) ":" line ":" column ": "
            (id (one-or-more (not (any " "))))
            (message) line-end))
  :modes (gfm-mode
          markdown-mode
          org-mode
          text-mode))

(add-to-list 'flycheck-checkers 'proselint)

Generate go struct definition from json file

Thu, 11 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

From Generate go struct definition from json file, and before I forget:

curl http://url.tld/file.json | gojson -name=Repository

Doh! undo last commit (Magit edition)

Thu, 11 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

I previously noted how to undo your last git commit (ie. soft reset). Using Magit:

M-x magit-log-current.
Move point to prior revision.
M-x magit-reset-soft (defaults to revision at point).

Or if you want a single function:

(require 'magit)

(defun ar/magit-soft-reset-head~1 ()
  "Soft reset current git repo to HEAD~1."
  (interactive)
  (magit-reset-soft "HEAD~1"))

Redux bookmarks

Sat, 06 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Javascript tips backlog

Sat, 06 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Tern.js with Atom.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Object spread syntax proposed for ES7.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} if (typeof myvar = 'undefined') …

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} copy object and set with Object.assign({}, state, {property: newValue}).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Use ES6 computed property syntax.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} ES6 syntax: import * as reducers from './reducers'.

Emacs lisp tips backlog

Sat, 06 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Signal: a library offering enriched hook-like features.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Debugging tips.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Examples of Emacs modules.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} htop-like CPU and memory graphs for Emacs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Timp: multithreading library.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Effortless Major Mode Development.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} cl-spark implementation of Zach Holman's spark and Gil Gonçalves' vspark with little extension.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} map.el for map-like collections built-in as of 25.1.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Standard library for key/value data structures.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Making Elisp regex look nicer.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Adapting code using the old defadvice.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} seq.el sequence library built-in as of 25.1.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Binding of parson JSON parser.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Helm-dash find-as-you-type.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Org mode - Parsing rich HTML directly when pasting? (Stack Overflow).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} From @_wilfredh, use (interactive "*") for commands that edit the buffer, so they show a helpful error if the buffer is read only.

Entering accents in Emacs

Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Via Irreal's Entering Accented Characters in Emacs, a reminder on how to enter accents using C-x 8. For example:

C-x 8 ' A -> Á

Really delete iPhone photos

Thu, 04 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

After deleting photos, go to:

Albums -> Recently Deleted -> Select -> Delete All

Vancouver travel bookmarks

Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Schnitzel recipe

Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Since eating at Fischers's, I've been inclined to make Schnitzel. This is my attempt.

Ingredients

Salt and ground black pepper.
All-purpose flour.
Eggs (beaten).
Bread crumbs (natural).
Oil.

Preparation

Flatten the pork/chicken/veal.
Season (salt and pepper).
Heat pan with a generous amount of oil.
Dip into flour -> egg -> bread crumbs.

Garnish

Anchovies.
Capers.

Photo

Hot reloading with react and redux

Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

By Robert Knight (@robknight_).

Checkout

Browserify.
Webpack (more stable?).
React-transform-hmr.
Reselect: A redux selector for redux.

Slides

https://github.com/robertknight/hot-reloading-talk

Converting Unix epoc time to human readable date

Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Via climagic's Turn a Unix epoch time back into a human readable date:

GNU

date -d @192179700

Tue Feb  3 07:15:00 GMT 1976

BSD/OS X

date -r 192179700

Tue Feb  3 07:15:00 GMT 1976

Objective-C bookmarks

Wed, 03 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Timesinking bookmarks

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Suspend and reattach processes

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Via climagic's Suspend and reattach a process to screen:

longcmd ; [Ctrl-Z] ; bg ; disown ; screen ; reptyr $( pidof longcmd )

Czech Republic travel bookmarks

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Strahov Monastery.

Meditation tips backlog

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Real Happiness Audio Files.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} The science of craving.

Append jpegs in a video sequence

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Via climagic's make slideshow from *.jpg:

for p in *.jpg; do
    ffmpeg -loop_input -f image2 -i $p -t 3 -r 4 -s 1080x720 -f avi - >> slides.avi;
done

Regular expressions bookmarks

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Regex Cheat Sheet - DEV Community.
Regex For Noobs (like me!) - An Illustrated Guide - Janmeppe.com.
regex101.com.
Regex101: Online regex tool.
Regular Expressions for Regular Folk.
Rubular: a Ruby regular expression editor.

Typescript bookmarks

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Hiding HTML elements

Tue, 02 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Hide with display:none (exclude from layout) and visibility:hidden (include in layout).

Echo Emacs keybiding from function name

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Picked up via Emacs Redux's Display the Keybinding for a Command With Substitute-command-keys, with my own example:

(message (substitute-command-keys "Press \\[ar/ox-html-export] to export org file"))

Press  to export org file

Emacs dired for batch byte compilation

Mon, 01 Feb 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Recently updated org-mode and started seeing an invalid function error:

Error (use-package): ob :config: Invalid function: org-babel-header-args-safe-fn

Just learned dired enables you to mark files and byte compile via M-x dired-do-byte-compile.

Serializing to JSON on iOS

Fri, 29 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

NSDictionary *dictionary = @{
  @"key1" : @"val1\n",
  @"key2" : @"val2\n",
  @"key3" : @"val3\n",
  @"key4" : @"val4\n",
  @"key5" : @"val5\n",
  @"key6" : @"val6\n",
};
NSError *error;
NSData *jsonData =
    [NSJSONSerialization dataWithJSONObject:dictionary options:0 error:&error];
if (error) {
  // noooooooooo!
}
NSString *json =
    [[NSString alloc] initWithData:jsonData encoding:NSUTF8StringEncoding];

Fischer's London: yes, but…

Mon, 25 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Yes

Step into a Viennese blast from the past. Beautiful setting and pleasant vibe. Ordered a dirty martini on the rocks, a bottle of Merlot, Käsespätzle (with bacon), and Wiener Schnitzel (with anchovy/capers/egg). All very tasty.

But…

Surprisingly, desserts (Topfenstrudel, Berggasse and coffee) were nothing spectacular. Also not a cheap eat (£50 per person).

Photos

Polar travel bookmarks

Mon, 25 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Quark expeditions.

Sweden travel bookmarks

Sun, 24 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Fäviken restaurant (world's most isolated restaurant).
Hangouts in Stockholm.
Vasa Museum.

Handwriting bookmarks

Wed, 20 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Chocolate fondant recipe

Wed, 20 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

My girlfriend recently made a delicious chocolate fondant. Saving the The Guardian's recipe:

Ingredients (2 servings)

60g unsalted butter, cut into dice, plus extra to grease
1 tbsp cocoa powder
60g dark chocolate, broken into pieces
1 egg and 1 egg yolk
60g caster sugar
1 tbsp plain flour

Preparation

Pre-heat the oven to 200C if cooking immediately, and put a baking tray on the middle shelf. Butter the inside of 2 small ramekins or pudding moulds, and then put the cocoa in one and turn it to coat the inside, holding it over the second mould to catch any that escapes. Do the same with the other mould.
Put the butter and chocolate into a heatproof bowl set over, but not touching, a pan of simmering water and stir occasionally until melted. Allow to cool slightly.
Vigorously whisk together the egg, yolk, sugar and a pinch of salt until pale and fluffy. Gently fold in the melted chocolate and butter, and then the flour. Spoon into the prepared moulds, stopping just shy of the top – at this point the mixture can be refrigerated until needed, or even frozen, as the puddings will not wait around once cooked.
Put on to a hot baking tray and cook for 12 minutes (14 if from cold, 16 if frozen) until the tops are set and coming away from the sides of the moulds. Leave to rest for 30 seconds and then serve in the ramekins or turn out on to plates if you're feeling confident – they're great with clotted cream or plain ice cream.

Parenting bookmarks

Wed, 20 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Ippudo London: yes, but…

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Yes

Central St. Giles location. Ordered a Kirin Ichiban beer and a Spicy Tonkotsu with a seasoned boiled egg. Awesome medium-spice broth, tasty egg and firm noodles. Got additional noodles for £1.50.

But…

The space feels soulless. Think generic, chain, Pizza Express…

Photos

Added Emacs zone-rainbow

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

kawabata's zone-rainbow popped up on melpa today. Added to zone-programs. Just because :)

(use-package zone-rainbow :ensure t
  :after zone
  :config
  (setq zone-programs (vconcat [zone-rainbow] zone-programs)))

Safari's Web Inspector keyboard shortcuts

Tue, 19 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Via WebKit's blog, Web Inspector Keyboard Shortcuts:

⌃⌘Y or ⌘\ continue.
F8 or ⇧⌘; step out.
F7 or ⌘; step in.
F6 or ⌘’ step over.

Copenhagen travel bookmarks

Thu, 14 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Christiania.
Hija de Sanchez restaurant.
Marv og Ben restaurant.
Mikkeller Bar – Mikkeller.
Mikkeller Bar.
Schonnemann restaurant.
Tivoli.
Torvehallerne (food).

Import UIKit for simpler debugging

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

I bookmarked An @import-ant Change in Xcode and immediately forgot about it. The gist is to import UIKit to simplify inspecting objects during an lldb session:

(lldb) expr @import UIKit

Shorten typing by creating aliases in ~/.lldbinit:

command alias uikit expr @import UIKit
command alias foundation expr @import Foundation

iOS development tips backlog

Tue, 12 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Static Analysis on iOS - Part II.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Clang-based C/C++/Objective-C refactoring toolset (unmaintained).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} SimSim: access to application data folders.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} xcpretty (fast and flexible formatter/prettifier for xcodebuild output).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} xctool.

Basic Emacs keybindings on Linux desktop

Mon, 11 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Miss C-a, C-e in your browser and other Linux apps? You can enable the GTK Emacs key theme:

$ gsettings set org.gnome.desktop.interface gtk-key-theme "Emacs"

or if on Cinnamon:

$ gsettings set org.cinnamon.desktop.interface gtk-key-theme Emacs

If your desktop environment is not running gnome-settings-daemon, start it with:

$ gnome-settings-daemon

More at Emacs Keybindings in Chrome Without Gnome and How to get Emacs key bindings in Ubuntu.

Emacs Objective-C completion with Irony

Fri, 08 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Install libclang on Mac

brew install llvm --with-clang

Configure Emacs

(use-package irony :ensure t
  :config
  (add-hook 'objc-mode-hook 'irony-mode)
  (add-hook 'irony-mode-hook 'irony-cdb-autosetup-compile-options))

(use-package company-irony :ensure t
  :config
  (add-hook  'objc-mode-hook (lambda ()
                               (setq-local company-backends '((company-irony)))))
  (add-hook 'irony-mode-hook 'company-irony-setup-begin-commands))

install irony server

Run:

M-x irony-install-server

NOTE: Needs libclang: Install with "brew install llvm –with-clang" By default, irony-install-server did not find libclang on Mac OS. irony-install-server invokes cmake for you. Work around by adding:

-DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/Users/your-user-name/homebrew/opt/llvm

For example:

cmake -DCMAKE_PREFIX_PATH=/Users/your-user-name/homebrew/opt/llvm -DCMAKE_INSTALL_PREFIX\=/Users/your-user-name/.emacs.d/irony/ /Users/your-user-name/.emacs.d/elpa/irony-20160106.1223/server && cmake --build . --use-stderr --config Release --target install

Compilation database

Install xctool

brew install xctool

Generate compilation database

xctool -sdk iphonesimulator -arch x86_64 -scheme SomeScheme -reporter pretty -reporter json-compilation-database:compile_commands.json clean build

Set Irony's database path

M-x irony-cdb-json-add-compile-commands-path

Finland travel bookmarks

Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

36 Hours in Helsinki.
Boat to the Baltics; Tallinn (Estonia).
Helsinki - Suomenlinna (former maritime fortress).
Lapland (husky sledding, reindeer, Santa Claus village).
Päivä no:23 Reitti no:23 no:12 | Leipomo K.E.Avikainen (try munkkipossu: pig shaped donut).
Ragu Ravintola (try panfried fiesh, pulled pork, steak tartare, chocolate mouse).
Rovaniemi for reindeer, dog sled, santaland, artic circle photos.

Northern lights travel bookmarks

Thu, 07 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Aim for a new moon (eg. 2016-01-10 or 2016-02-08).
Aim for auroral zone.
Guide Gunnar will go distance to ensure you see the lights.
Kiruna Sleddog Tours.
Tromsø's reindeer racing.
Tromsø.
Hundekjøring: drive your own sled.
Tromsø whale watching.

Mexico travel bookmarks

Wed, 06 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs highlight-symbol-mode

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Been a fan of highlight-thing-mode. It automatically highlights all instances of symbol at point. Today, I gave highlight-symbol a try. Similar concept, but also adds the ability to jump to next/previous instances of symbol at point.

(use-package highlight-symbol :ensure t
  :config
  (set-face-attribute 'highlight-symbol-face nil
                      :background "default"
                      :foreground "#FA009A")
  (setq highlight-symbol-idle-delay 0)
  (setq highlight-symbol-on-navigation-p t)
  (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook #'highlight-symbol-mode)
  (add-hook 'prog-mode-hook #'highlight-symbol-nav-mode))

Gandhi's ever-contemporary wisdom

Sun, 03 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

From Gandhi: Radical Wisdom for a Changing World:

Anger

"I do get angry, but I feel angry with myself for it. Full conquest of anger is possible only through self-realization. We should love even those who have the worst opinion of us. This is ahimsa, the rest is only ignorance."

Bad handwriting

"I am now of opinion that children should first be taught the art of drawing before learning how to write. Let the child learn his letters by observation as he does different objectives, such as flowers, birds, etc., and let him learn handwriting only after he has learned to draw objects."

Conduct of the Ashram

"Service without humility is selfishness and egotism."

Eating

"There is a great deal of truth in the saying that man becomes what he eats. The grosser the food, the grosser the body."

Heart

"There are chords in every human heart. If we only know how to strike the right chord, we bring out the music."

Moral law

The law of truth and love.

Renouncing or forgoing

Nishkulanand sings: "Renunciation of objects, without the renunciation of desires, is short-lived, however hard you may try."

Silence

"Man spoils matters much more by speech than by silence."

Time

"Every minute that runs to waste never returns. Yet, knowing this, how much time do we waste?"

The palate

"Turn to the birds and beasts, and what do you find? They never eat merely to please the palate, they never go on eating till their inside is full to overflowing. And yet, we regard ourselves as superior to the animal creation!"

Vow of Swadeshi

"The person who has taken the vow of swadeshi will never use articles which conceivably involve violation of truth in their manufature or on the part of their manufacturers."

Functional programming bookmarks

Sat, 02 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

9 Productivity tips

Sat, 02 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

From HBR's 9 Productivity Tips from People Who Write About Productivity:

Block time away from reactive tasks (email).
Business = wasted energy.
Exercise, sleep, and 90 minute work bursts.
Incomplete tasks prompt healthy thinking out of context.
Time off or stepping back is invaluable.
Genuinely help were most successful/enjoyable.
Plan for saying no while highlighting priority and seeking feedback.
Measure important behavior change.
Make time now (automate, simplify, etc.).

First meal of 2016

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

Pancakes

1 teaspoon of salt.
1.5 cups of milk.
2 cups of flour.
2 eggs.
2 tablespoons sugar.
4 tablespoons of melted butter.
6 teaspoons of baking powder.

Makes 10/11 pancakes.

Last meal of 2015

Fri, 01 Jan 2016 00:00:00 GMT

For our last meal of 2015, I contributed dal and rotis. This is my first attempt at making either one of these. Both recipes based on Anupy Singla's Indian for Everyone.

Dal Makhani (Buttered black lentils)

Roti-Chapati-Phulka

Find in \$PATH with type and which

Wed, 30 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

I typically use which to figure out the first binary found in $PATH:

which -a emacsclient

/Users/user/homebrew/bin/emacsclient
/usr/bin/emacsclient

I always forget about type though:

type -a emacsclient

emacsclient is /Users/user/homebrew/bin/emacsclient
emacsclient is /usr/bin/emacsclient

npm basics

Wed, 30 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Global vs local package installation location

{prefix}/lib/node_modules

path/to/project/node_modules

View npm config

npm config list

; cli configs
user-agent = "npm/2.14.2 node/v4.0.0 darwin x64"

; node bin location = /Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v4.0.0/bin/node
; cwd = /Users/user/stuff/active/blog
; HOME = /Users/user
; 'npm config ls -l' to show all defaults.

Get config value

npm config get prefix

/Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v4.0.0

Set config value

npm config set prefix=$HOME/some/location

Install package globally

node install --global

node install -g

List global packages

npm list --global

You can also use –depth=0 to make less verbose.

/Users/user/.nvm/versions/node/v4.0.0/lib
├─┬ [email protected]
│ ├── [email protected]
│ ├─┬ [email protected]
│ │ ├── [email protected]
│ │ ├── [email protected]
...

Install local package

npm install  --save

–save will add dependency to your package.json.

package.json

See using a package.json.

Uninstall package

npm uninstall

Install package at version

npm install @1.7.0

Search packages

npm search linter

Online documentation

Online documentation is great so far. More at docs.npmjs.com.

Clojure bookmarks

Fri, 25 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Mac OS X tips backlog

Mon, 21 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Uebersicht: Keep an eye on what is happening on your machine and in the World.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Kwm: Tiling window manager with focus follows mouse for OSX.

cp ~/homebrew/Cellar/kwm/1.1.3/homebrew.mxcl.kwm.plist ~/Library/LaunchAgents/
launchctl load ~/Library/LaunchAgents/homebrew.mxcl.kwm.plist

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Turn off shadows with ShadowToggle.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Disk Inventory X: disk usage utility for Mac.

Search bash history with Emacs helm

Sun, 20 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Following up from changing CWD with helm projectile, here's a way to search your bash history with helm:

(defun ar/helm-helm (title candidates on-select-function)
  "Helm with TITLE CANDIDATES and ON-SELECT-FUNCTION."
  (helm :sources `((name . ,title)
                   (candidates . ,candidates)
                   (action . ,on-select-function))
        :buffer "*helm-exec*"
        :candidate-number-limit 10000))

(defun ar/shell-send-command (command)
  "Send COMMAND to shell mode."
  (assert (string-equal mode-name "Shell") nil "Not in Shell mode")
  (goto-char (point-max))
  (comint-kill-input)
  (insert command)
  (comint-send-input))

(defun ar/helm-shell-search-history ()
  "Narrow down bash history with helm."
  (interactive)
  (assert (string-equal mode-name "Shell") nil "Not in Shell mode")
  (ar/helm-helm "bash history"
                (with-temp-buffer
                  (insert-file-contents "~/.bash_history")
                  (reverse
                   (delete-dups
                    (split-string (buffer-string) "\n"))))
                #'ar/shell-send-command))

Bonus: Replace existing M-r binding to use ar/helm-shell-search-history.

(bind-key "M-r" #'ar/helm-shell-search-history shell-mode-map)

Medicine bookmarks

Sat, 19 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Science-Based Medicine – Exploring issues and controversies in science and technology.

View DICOM files from your X-ray

Sat, 19 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Got a CD with my chest X-ray from the hospital. Was expecting a pdf or an image of sorts, but the CD content was rather different. For starters, it was targeted at Windows users (AUTORUN.INF, MediaViewerLauncher.EXE and a bunch of DLLs):

$ find . -exec file --mime-type '{}' \;

./AUTORUN.INF: text/plain
./DICOMDIR: application/dicom
./MediaViewerLauncher.EXE: application/octet-stream
...
./Libraries/BASEPRINTER.DLL: application/octet-stream
./Libraries/CDDATABURNER.DLL: application/octet-stream
./Libraries/COM.DLL: application/octet-stream
...
./Libraries/ACE.DLL: application/octet-stream
./Libraries/ACE_SSL.DLL: application/octet-stream
./Libraries/ATL90.DLL: application/octet-stream
...
./DICOM/PAT_0000: application/x-directory
./DICOM/PAT_0000/STD_0000/SER_0000/OBJ_0001/IM_0001: application/dicom
./DICOM/PAT_0000/STD_0000/SER_0001/OBJ_0001/ED_0001: application/dicom
./DICOM/PAT_0000/STD_0000/SER_0002/OBJ_0001/ED_0001: application/dicom
./Worklist/ClinicalInfo/067eccde-b299-e511-9114-005056ad3afe.mht: text/html
./Worklist/Report/067eccde-b299-e511-9114-005056ad3afe.mht: text/html
./Worklist/Worklist.wl: application/octet-stream

I'm on a Mac, so most of these files were not useful to me. The more interesting files were IM_0001 and ED_0001 with "application/dicom" MIME type. DICOM files stand for Digital Imaging and Communications in Medicine. How to view these on a Mac? OsiriX viewer is an option. OsiriX, though on the heavy side (100.7MB download), it rendered the X-ray successfully.

Unsurprisingly, ImageMagick's convert utility also handles DICOM files. Converting to PNG worked well.

$ convert ./DICOM/PAT_0000/STD_0000/SER_0001/OBJ_0001/ED_0001 ED_0001.png

DICOM files also hold patient's metadata and optional reports. The file format is well known. OsiriX gives you access to it, but a few lines of python can also extract it for you. First install the pydicom package:

$ sudo pip install pydicom

Running the python interpreter is enough to peek at the metadata:

>>> import dicom
>>> ds = dicom.read_file("./DICOM/PAT_0000/STD_0000/SER_0000/OBJ_0001/IM_0001")
>>> ds

(0008, 0000) Group Length                        UL: 400
(0008, 0005) Specific Character Set              CS: 'ISO_IR 100'
(0008, 0016) SOP Class UID                       UI: Computed Radiography Image Storage
(0008, 0020) Study Date                          DA: '20151203'
(0008, 0021) Series Date                         DA: '20151203'
(0008, 0023) Content Date                        DA: '20151203'
(0008, 0030) Study Time                          TM: '120519.000000'
(0008, 0031) Series Time                         TM: '120520.000000'
(0008, 0033) Content Time                        TM: '120643.000000'
(0008, 0060) Modality                            CS: 'CR'
(0008, 0070) Manufacturer                        LO: 'Canon Inc.'
...

There were other DICOM files with a report:

>>> import dicom
>>> ds = dicom.read_file("./DICOM/PAT_0000/STD_0000/SER_0001/OBJ_0001/ED_0001")
>>> ds

(0008, 0005) Specific Character Set              CS: 'ISO_IR 100'
(0008, 0016) SOP Class UID                       UI: Encapsulated PDF Storage
...
(0042, 0012) MIME Type of Encapsulated Document  LO: 'application/pdf'

DCMTK is another alternative tool to extract DICOM metadata. The source is available and can be built:

$ tar xf dcmtk-3.6.0.tar.gz
$ cd dcmtk-3.6.0
$ cmake .
$ make

Or installed via homebrew:

$ brew install dcmtk

DCMTK includes dcmdump. You can use it to dump DICOM files:

$ dcmdata/apps/dcmdump DICOM/PAT_0000/STD_0000/SER_0000/OBJ_0001/IM_0001

# Dicom-File-Format

# Dicom-Meta-Information-Header
# Used TransferSyntax: Little Endian Explicit
(0002,0000) UL 192                                      #   4, 1 FileMetaInformationGroupLength
(0002,0001) OB 01\00                                    #   2, 1 FileMetaInformationVersion
(0002,0002) UI =ComputedRadiographyImageStorage         #  26, 1 MediaStorageSOPClassUID
(0002,0003) UI [1.2.392.200046.100.2.1.1.42667.20151203120519.1.1.1] #  52, 1 MediaStorageSOPInstanceUID
(0002,0010) UI =LittleEndianExplicit                    #  20, 1 TransferSyntaxUID
(0002,0012) UI [1.3.46.670589.42.1.4.4.5]               #  24, 1 ImplementationClassUID
(0002,0013) SH [PhilipsISPACS445]                       #  16, 1 ImplementationVersionName
...

Of interest, David Clunie's Medical Image Format Site.

Tip: GOOGLETRANSLATE your Spreadsheet

Fri, 18 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Examples from reference:

=GOOGLETRANSLATE("Hello World\n","en\n","es")
=GOOGLETRANSLATE(A2,B2,C2)
=GOOGLETRANSLATE(A2)

Organize your data with camlistore

Fri, 18 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Checking out camlistore to organize all sorts of data. Scaleway enables you to deploy camlistore servers.

Maps dev bookmarks

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Use ImageMagick to convert image to grayscale

Thu, 17 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Another ImageMagick one-liner I'll likely forget.

mogrify -type Grayscale image.png

Drill down Emacs dired with dired-subtree

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

JCS, from Irreal, recently highlighted fuco's dired-hacks. dired-subtree is super handy for drilling subdirectories down. Bound and to toggle and cycle subtrees.

(use-package dired-subtree :ensure t
  :after dired
  :config
  (bind-key "" #'dired-subtree-toggle dired-mode-map)
  (bind-key "" #'dired-subtree-cycle dired-mode-map))

GPG (GnuPG) examples

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Generate key

gpg --full-generate-key

Export private key

gpg --export-secret-key -a  >

Import key

gpg --import <

Delete public key

gpg --delete-keys

Delete private key

gpg --delete-secret-keys

Edit key

gpg --edit-key 
gpg> uid (lists IDs)
gpg> uid 2 (marks ID)
gpg> deluid (deletes marked ID)
Really remove this user ID? (y/N) y

Change passphrase of the secret key

gpg --edit-key Your-Key-ID-Here
gpg> passwd
gpg> save

References

CSS bookmarks

Mon, 14 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Resume partial downloads with ssh and rsync

Sat, 12 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

rsync --rsync-path=/usr/local/bin/rsync \
      --partial \
      --progress \
      --rsh=ssh \
      john@host:/path/to/file \
      path/to/partial/file

Emacs text faces

Sat, 12 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Text faces = Text styles.
Face attributes: font, height, weight, slant, foreground/background color, and underlining or overlining.
Font lock mode automatically assigns faces to text.
M-x list-faces-display: Shows faces defined.
M-x helm-colors: Also handy.
Unspecified attributes are taken from 'default' face.

Preview HTML pages on github

Tue, 08 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Prepend with http://htmlpreview.github.io/?. For example: http://htmlpreview.github.io/?https://github.com/xenodium/xenodium.github.io/blob/master/index.html

Flutter setup

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Based on Getting Started with Flutter.

$ curl -O https://storage.googleapis.com/dart-archive/channels/stable/release/1.13.0/sdk/dartsdk-macos-x64-release.zip
$ unzip dartsdk-macos-x64-release.zip
$ export PATH=`pwd`/dart-sdk/bin:$PATH

Verify with:

$ pub --version

Playing with Dart's analysis server

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Dart SDK ships with an analysis server. Very handy if you'd like to write a completion plugin for your favorite editor. The API is well documented. Of interest, there's LocalDartServer.java, part of dartedit.

$ dart path/to/bin/snapshots/analysis_server.dart.snapshot  --sdk=path/to/dart-sdk

NOTE: The server reads requests from standard input. Either escape or execute the following as one-liner json requests.

{
  "id": "1\n",
  "method": "analysis.setAnalysisRoots\n",
  "params": {
    "included": [
      "path/to/your/dart/project"
    ],
    "excluded": []
  }
}

{
  "id": "3\n",
  "method": "completion.getSuggestions\n",
  "params": {
    "file": "path/to/some/file.dart\n",
    "offset": 673
  }
}

Dart bookmarks

Mon, 07 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Flutter bookmarks

Sun, 06 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Swift bookmarks

Sun, 06 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Installing Emacs spaceline

Mon, 30 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Gave Spaceline a try. Spacemacs's powerline theme. Setup was super simple (Thanks Eivind Fonn and Sylvain Benner):

(use-package spaceline :ensure t
  :config
  (use-package spaceline-config
    :config
    (spaceline-toggle-minor-modes-off)
    (spaceline-toggle-buffer-encoding-off)
    (spaceline-toggle-buffer-encoding-abbrev-off)
    (setq powerline-default-separator 'rounded)
    (setq spaceline-highlight-face-func 'spaceline-highlight-face-evil-state)
    (spaceline-define-segment line-column
      "The current line and column numbers."
      "l:%l c:%2c")
    (spaceline-define-segment time
      "The current time."
      (format-time-string "%H:%M"))
    (spaceline-define-segment date
      "The current date."
      (format-time-string "%h %d"))
    (spaceline-toggle-time-on)
    (spaceline-emacs-theme 'date 'time))

package.el incomprehensible buffer

Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Came across "incomprehensible buffer" error in package.el. Workaround patch:

--- a/lisp/emacs-lisp/package.el
+++ b/lisp/emacs-lisp/package.el
@@ -1161,6 +1161,7 @@ package--with-work-buffer
(let* ((url (concat ,url-1 ,file))
       (callback (lambda (status)
                   (let ((b (current-buffer)))
+                    (goto-char (point-min))
                     (unwind-protect (wrap-errors
                                      (when-let ((er (plist-get
                                                      status :error)))
                                        (error "Error retrieving: %s %S" url er))

Leading bookmarks

Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Online reading backlog

Sun, 29 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Phrack 69.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A Simple Formula for Changing Our Behavior.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Be Grateful More Often.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} GTD sucks for creative work.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Land, Capital, Attention: This Time it Is the Same.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mindset: What You Believe Affects What You Achieve (Gates Notes).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Case for Getting Rid of Borders—Completely.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Ultimate Guide to Personal Productivity Methods.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Thing Explainer: A Basic Guide for Curious Minds (Gates Notes).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Your body language shapes who you are.

Travel lifestyle bookmarks

Sat, 28 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

SQL bookmarks

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Unix/Linux tools bookmarks

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Couchbase React Native bookmarks

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Installing Emacs 25 devel on Mac OS X

Thu, 26 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Stable

brew update
brew install emacs --HEAD --use-git-head --with-cocoa --with-srgb --with-gnutls
brew linkapps emacs

Development

  brew update
  brew install emacs --devel --with-cocoa --with-srgb --with-gnutls
  brew linkapps emacs
then

Had problems loading seq. Removed byte-compiled packages:

$ find ~/.emacs.d/elpa -iname *.elc -exec rm '{}' \;

Diagram tools bookmarks

Wed, 25 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Licensing bookmarks

Tue, 24 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

choosealicense.com (Choosing an open source license doesn’t need to be scary).
choosealicense.com (github).
tldrlegal.com (Software Licenses in Plain English).

Synology bookmarks

Mon, 23 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Backup bookmarks

Sun, 22 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Making hummus

Sun, 22 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Made hummus, based on Delicious Istanbul's 5 Secrets to Perfect Hummus (wayback machine) post.

160 g dry chickpeas.
4 cloves garlic minced.
1 tsp fine sea salt.
1 1/2 tbsp lemon juice.
1/4 tsp ground cumin.
6 tbsp tahini paste.
2/3 cup cooking water.
Extra virgin olive oil, for serving.
Red pepper flakes, for serving.
Zahter mixture, for serving.

Soak chickpeas overnight.
Discard water and rinse chickpeas.
Cook in low heat (about 5 cups water) for 1.5 hours for until soft (but keeping shape.) Check if can be mashed with thumnb.
Save cooking water.
Peal chickpeas (optional).
Blend ingredients until silky paste. Taste and add lemon/salt/cooking water.

Keeps in fridge for 3-4 days. Freeze otherwise.

Nara travel bookmarks

Sun, 22 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Kubernetes bookmarks

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Docker bookmarks

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

[[https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=25619319

][Dockerfile Best Practices | Hacker News]].

Angular bookmarks

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Egghead.io's Angular 2 lessons.

Mac OS bookmarks

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

easy_install-\>pip-\>conda

Sat, 21 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Spotted Conda package manager. It handles python installations, in addition to package management. There's also a package index provided by Binstar. Installed Miniconda, the bare bones Conda environment.

Can't find a python package in Binstar? Here's a post on Using PyPi Packages with Conda. If that fails, you can try pip from your Conda python environment.

Traditional music bookmarks

Mon, 16 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Recover from an unresponsive Emacs

Wed, 04 Nov 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Wilfred Hughes has a handy tip to bail you out of a hung Emacs instance:

pkill -SIGUSR2 emacs

ps. Not had a chance to try it, but next time it happens…

Training for under 50 min 10k run

Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Not much training time for an under 50 minute 10k run, but here's an attempt (based on time-to-run's sub-50):

Mon Tue Wed Thu Fri Sat Sun

Oct 26 Oct 27 Oct 28 Oct 29 Oct 30 Oct 31 Nov 1 60 min 30 min 2k @ 4.55/k rest 105 min 2 min rest ✔ (repeat x 3) Nov 2 Nov 3 Nov 4 Nov 5 Nov 6 Nov 7 Nov 8 30 min 30 min 1k @ 4.50/k 30 min 30 min rest 5k @ 4.55/k 90 sec rest (repeat x 5) Nov 9 Nov 10 Nov 11 Nov 12 Nov 13 Nov 14 Nov 15 10k easy 30 min 1k @ 4.55/k 30 min 30 min rest race day 1 min easy (repeat x 3)

Reading a running training plan

Sun, 25 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

A sample from Kona Part 2's comments:

2.5 w/u to 4x([email protected] w/0.25R@7) to 3x([email protected] w/0.5R@7) to 2.5 c/d.

Is read from left to right as:

2.5 mile warm up to four times through 1.25 miles at 11.5 miles per hour with 0.25 miles recovery at 7 miles per hour to three times through 3.75 miles at 10.5 miles per hour with 0.5 miles recovery at 7 miles per hour to 2.5 miles cool down.

Find binary in PATH using python

Fri, 23 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

import distutils.spawn
print distutils.spawn.find_executable('git')

/usr/bin/git

Indonesia travel bookmarks

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Malaysia travel bookmarks

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Mongolia travel bookmarks

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Running bookmarks

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Media player bookmarks

Thu, 22 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

cmus, a small, fast and powerful console music player for Unix-like OS.
mps-youtube.
mpv (a fork of mplayer2 and MPlayer).
Multimedia on Linux Command Line: wget, PdfTK, ffmpeg, flac, SoX.
PLEX (stream your media everywhere).
Soul – A language and IDE for audio coding .

Get Emacs to gather links in posts

Sat, 17 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Comments in posts can be a great source of recommendations. Here's a way to extract post links using Emacs and enlive.

(require 'enlive) ;; https://github.com/zweifisch/enlive
(require 'org)

(defun ar/input-clipboard-url-or-prompt ()
  "Return a URL from clipboard or prompt user for one."
  (let* ((clipboard (current-kill 0))
         (url (if (string-match "^https?://" clipboard)
                  clipboard
                (read-string "URL: "))))
    (unless (string-match "^https?://" url)
      (error "Not a URL"))
    url))

(defun ar/url-fetch-anchor-elements (url)
  "Fetch anchor elements in URL as list of alist:
\((title . \"my title\")
 (url . \"http://some.location.com\"))."
  (let ((elements (enlive-query-all (enlive-fetch url) [a])))
    (mapcar (lambda (element)
              `((title . ,(enlive-text element))
                (url . ,(enlive-attr element 'href))))
            elements)))

(defun ar/url-view-links-at ()
  "View external links in HTML from prompted URL or clipboard."
  (interactive)
  (with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*links*")
    (org-mode)
    (view-mode -1)
    (erase-buffer)
    (mapc (lambda (anchor)
            (let-alist anchor
              (when (and .url (string-match "^http" .url))
                (insert (org-make-link-string .url
                                              .title) "\n"))))
          (ar/url-fetch-anchor-elements
           (ar/input-clipboard-url-or-prompt)))
    (delete-duplicate-lines (point-min) (point-max))
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (toggle-truncate-lines +1)
    (view-mode +1)
(switch-to-buffer (current-buffer))))

UPDATE(2019-04-13): Refreshed post with latest code from my init. Thanks to Gĳs for pinging.

UX toolbox bookmarks

Fri, 16 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Change Emacs shell's CWD with helm projectile

Thu, 08 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

If using Emacs shell and helm projectile, you can wire these up to quickly change your current working directory.

(require 'helm-projectile)

(defun ar/shell-cd (dir-path)
"Like shell-pop--cd-to-cwd-shell, but without recentering."
  (unless (string-equal mode-name "Shell")
    (error "Not in Shell mode"))
  (message mode-name)
  (goto-char (point-max))
  (comint-kill-input)
  (insert (concat "cd " (shell-quote-argument dir-path)))
  (let ((comint-process-echoes t))
    (comint-send-input)))

(defun ar/helm-projectile-shell-cd ()
  "Change shell current working directory using helm projectile."
  (interactive)
  (unless (string-equal mode-name "Shell")
    (error "Not in Shell mode"))
  (let ((helm-dir-source (copy-tree  helm-source-projectile-directories-list)))
    (add-to-list 'helm-dir-source '(action . ar/shell-cd))
    (add-to-list 'helm-dir-source '(keymap . nil))
    (add-to-list 'helm-dir-source '(header-line . "cd to directory..."))
    (helm :sources helm-dir-source
          :buffer "*helm-dirs*"
          :candidate-number-limit 10000)))

Thermostat reset on Bosch WKD28350GB

Wed, 07 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

My Bosch washer/dryer (WKD28350GB) stopped drying recently. Resetting the dryer's thermostat red breaker did the trick.

Edit: Similar post here.

Javascript fetch node sample

Mon, 05 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Playing with node and fetch:

// Requisite: npm install node-fetch --save
// Save to fetch-demo.js
// Run: node fetch-demo.js

var fetch = require('node-fetch');

fetch("http://xenodium.com/data/javascript-fetch-node-sample/message.json\n", {
  method: 'GET',
  timeout: 5000
}).then(function(response) {
  return response.json();
}).then(function(response) {
  console.log('subject: ' + response.subject);
  console.log('body: ' + response.body);
}).catch(function(reason) {
  console.log(reason);
});

Extract dominant colors in images

Thu, 01 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

There's a handy HN post pointing to Javier López's Using imagemagick, awk and kmeans to find dominant colors in images. A comment also highlights color-extract, written in Go.

Find a word with regex and WordNet

Mon, 28 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Recently wanted to come up with a random keyword. Querying WordNet and a regular expression did the job.

Installed WordNet on Mac:

$ brew install wordnet

Want a word ending in "esome"?

$ wn esome -grepn -grepv -grepa -grepr | egrep -o -e "\w*esome\b" | sort | uniq

adventuresome
awesome
blithesome
bunglesome
cuddlesome
esome
fivesome
gruesome
lithesome
lonesome
lovesome
meddlesome
mettlesome
nettlesome
threesome
tiresome
torturesome
troublesome
unwholesome
venturesome
wholesome

Soundcloud's Go best practices (GopherCon 2014)

Sat, 26 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Having watched the video, some takeaways:

Single GOPATH

$GOPATH/src/github.com/soundcloud/foo

Repo structure

github.com/soundcloud/whatever

README.md
Makefile
main.go
support.go
foo
1. foo.go
2. bar.go
whatever-server
1. main.go
wharever-worker
1. main.go

Formatting and style

Use gofmt.

Google's codereview guidelines.

Avoid named return parameters.

Avoid make and new (unless you know sizes).

Use struct{} for sentinel values: sets, signal chans.

Conveys no information in it this part.
Instead of empty interface.
instead of boolean.

Break long lines at parameters

No need to compact.
Keep trailing coma in last argument.

Flags

func main() {
  var (
    foo = flags.String("foo\n", "doch\n", "...")
    bar = flat.Int("bar\n", 34, "...")
  )
  flag.Parse()
  // ...
}

Logging

package log
Telemetry
Push model (gets expensive over time)
1. Graphite
2. Statsd
3. AirBrake
Pull model (chosen)
1. expvar
2. Prometheus

Testing

package testing
1. Unit tests
2. reflect.DeepEqual
Integration
1. Use flags for starting services
2. // +build integration

Code validation

On Save
1. Go fmt
2. Go import (go fmt++)
On Build
1. Go vet
2. Golint
3. Go test
On Deploy
1. go test -tags=integration
GoCov?

Dependency management

Unimportant projects
1. go get -d (and hope)
Important
1. VENDOR (ie. copy into your repo)
  1. Git submodules (no!).
  2. Git subtrees (seem OK).
  3. Tool (godep?).
  4. Build
  5. For binaries (use _vendor subdir)

Sync pip with Mac OS updates

Wed, 23 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

My pip installation recently broke after a Mac OS update.

$ pip
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/local/bin/pip\n", line 5, in 
    from pkg_resources import load_entry_point
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/pkg_resources.py\n", line 2793, in 
    working_set.require(__requires__)
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/pkg_resources.py\n", line 673, in require
    needed = self.resolve(parse_requirements(requirements))
  File "/System/Library/Frameworks/Python.framework/Versions/2.7/Extras/lib/python/pkg_resources.py\n", line 576, in resolve
    raise DistributionNotFound(req)
pkg_resources.DistributionNotFound: pip==1.1

Updating my pip installation fixes the break:

$ sudo easy_install -U pip

Chinatown treats review

Sun, 20 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Recommended? yep

There's a corner in Chinatown hosting some truly superb treats. If you get caught in the rush between Newport court and Newport place, you'd likely fail to notice some the awesome street food stands.

Chilly squid

I've walked past this place many times and never noticed it. They serve a handful of items, but the grilled chilly squid skewers caught my attention. They're grilled, brushed with chilly sauce and finished with sprinkled sesame and cumin seeds. Super tasty.

Pancake + Crisp + Egg + Hot chillies = Jiān Bǐng 煎餅

I first had these delicious breakfast savory pancakes at a Beijing street food stall. Never expected to randomly find Jiān Bǐng in London. It's a crepe with an additional egg spread, hoisin sauce, chilly sauce, hot chillies, topped with spring onions and coriander, all wrapping a wonderfully crispy bread cracker. And.. it's awesome.

Tai Yaki

Chinatown Bakery is hard to miss. Pedestrian traffic slows down as we all fall under the spell of the Tai Yaki machine. This wonderful assembly line produces fish-shaped sweet waffles filled with custard. They are the perfect dessert after some savory street snacks. You can get a bag of 4 for £2.

All near each other

All these delights are within a stone's throw away from each other.

Useful?

Was this post useful to you? do reply!

Better suggestion?

London is full of overhyped, gimmicky, and unnecessarily expensive restaurants. Very few deliver truly awesome food (even those expensive ones). Got suggestions? I'd love to hear from you @xenodium.

React bookmarks

Fri, 18 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Chinese rice vinegar

Wed, 16 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Note to self to buy Gold Plum Chinkiang Vinegar. Awesome with dim sum.

Use ImageMagick to batch-resize images

Sun, 13 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Using percentage:

$ mogrify -resize 10% *.png

Using dimensions:

$ mogrify -resize 120x120 *.png

Lots of other alternatives from ImageMagick's documentation:

-resize scale% -resize scale-x%xscale-y% -resize width -resize xheight -resize widthxheight -resize widthxheight^ -resize widthxheight! -resize widthxheight> -resize widthxheight< -resize area@

Fix image aspect ratios for Instagram:

$ mogrify -resize 1080x1350 -gravity center -extent 1080 *.jpg

Lucky 7 review

Tue, 08 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Recommended? yep

Lucky 7 is a small nostalgic American diner on Westbourne Park road. I like the vibe, the space, and the unpretentious waiting staff. I go to Lucky 7 often enough, originally for the buttermilk pancakes, but the list of favorites on the menu keeps growing.

Smileys by w.dyer.

Buttermilk Banana pancakes

These are my favorite pancakes in London by far. Banana buttermilk pancakes and a few free coffee refills usually sort me out until dinner time. Add a side of bacon if extra hungry. You probably don't need it though.

Reuben sandwich

The reuben has been on Lucky 7's specials menu for months now. Not had many of these in London, but compared to The Brass Rail's, this reuben was a clear winner. The sandwich is huge and comes with fries. My girlfriend and I struggled to finish one between the two of us.

Vanilla milkshake (add malt!)

This milkshake hits the spot every time, but it's filling. You almost have to decide between the shake and an actual meal. If you must have it, add malt. Sorry, no picture.

Huevos Rancheros

This is a breakfast dish I can equally make (better?) at home, but Lucky 7 wins hands down every time I'm feeling particularly lazy. Sorry, no picture.

Useful?

Was this post useful to you? do reply!

Better suggestion?

London is full of overhyped, gimmicky, and unnecessarily expensive restaurants. Very few deliver truly awesome food (even those expensive ones). Got suggestions? I'd love to hear from you @xenodium.

Sierra Leone travel bookmarks

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

London travel bookmarks

Wed, 02 Sep 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Chiswick House & Gardens.
Heath Robinson Museum.
London Library (book your free tour).
Quaker gardens, Islington.
Soho Theatre (not tried yet).
The best brunch London 2020 | CN Traveller.
The most beautiful restaurants in London for 2020 | CN Traveller.

Use ImageMagick to auto-orient images

Sun, 23 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Recently needed to rotate images based on EXIF metadata. ImageMagick to the rescue:

$ for i in *.png; do convert -auto-orient "$i" "$i"; done

Bengali Macher Jhol

Sun, 23 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

My friend Sakhya brought me the wonderful Cookbook of Regional Cuisines of India. After improvisations and substitutions, here's my attempt at making Bengali Machcher Jhol:

New habits for 2015

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

20 min morning meditations.
A better way to tie your shoes.
Cold showers (all of them!).
Keys, wallet, phone, badge, and headphones live together.
Listen to audio books.
Morning runs.
Nightly flossing.

Meditation retreats bookmarks

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Human memory bookmarks

Sun, 08 Jul 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Mindfulness/meditation bookmarks

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Learning bookmarks

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Bundi travel bookmarks

Sat, 22 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Bundi Haveli (accomodation).
Hadoti Palace (accomodation).
Haveli Braj Bhushan Ji ki (accomodation).
Haveli Katkoun Guest House (accomodation).
Kasera Paradise (accomodation).

Upgrading PL30 headphones

Fri, 14 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

I've loved my Soundmagic PL30 in-ear headphones. They're relatively inexpensive, comfortable, and great for exercising (they stay in). Audio quality and bass have been good enough (I don't need much). Unfortunately, I've had two pairs of PL30's and both stopped working after a year or two. I'm replacing the last pair with RHA's MA750 (an upgrade, me hopes).

Other contenders considered: Etymotic Research HF5, and Shure SE215. Also considered bluetooth alternatives like JayBird BlueBuds X and Plantronics BackBeat GO 2.

I'm somewhat nervous to pay more for a pair of headphones. Let's hope they don't meet the same unfortunate fate. We'll see.

Quotes

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

"Being good at something is about being curious enough to explore things to a level where most people give up."
"The world is a book and those who do not travel read only one page." - Augustine of Hippo.
"National identity is not your only identity." - Xiaolu Guo?
"Choose your words carefully. Words are cheap, but their effect can be expensive."

Bhutan travel bookmarks

Thu, 13 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Taktsang (Tiger’s Nest) Monastery.

Cooking bookmarks

Wed, 12 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

9 week half-marathon training

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

While reading Zen Habits: Mastering the Art of Change, I comitted to running half marathon in mid-October. That's roughly two months from now. Here's a 9 week training schedule:

WEEK MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN

1 Rest 5 Km 5 Km Cycle Rest 5 Km 7 Km 2 Rest 5 Km 5 Km Cycle Rest 5 Km 8 Km 3 Rest 7 Km 5 Km Cycle Rest 5 Km 10 Km 4 Rest 8 Km 5 Km Cycle Rest 5 Km 12 Km 5 Rest 8 Km Rest 8 Km Rest 5 Km 14 Km 6 Rest 8 Km Rest 8 Km Rest 6 Km 16 Km 7 Rest 8 Km 8 Km 8 Km Rest 8 Km 19 Km 8 Rest 8 Km Rest 12 Km Rest 8 Km 16 Km 9 Rest 8 Km Rest 5 Km 5 Km Rest Race

My times:

WEEK MON TUE WED THU FRI SAT SUN

1 Rest ✘ 29:04 ✔ Rest 26:36 38:40 2 Rest 29:11 28:50 ✔ Rest 27:07 44:55 3 Rest 40:46 26:29 ✔ Rest ✘ 57:01 4 Rest 46:46 ✘ ✘ Rest 30:08 1:12:10 5 Rest 46:59 Rest 44:46 Rest 24:50 1:25:24 6 Rest 50:02 Rest 46:24 Rest ✘ 1:37:39 7 Rest 46:54 46:41 46:42 Rest ✘ 1:57:57 8 Rest 45:28 Rest 48:13 (8km) Rest 43:56 ✘ 9 Rest 44:24 Rest 27:12 26:09 Rest 1:58:28

Shanghai travel bookmarks

Tue, 11 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

36 Hours in Shanghai.
Shanghai Xiaolongbao at Dumpling House Edison (on Rt 27).
Tianzi Fang street art (Google maps).
Tianzi Fang street art.
Town God's Temple, street Food!
Yu Garden/Huxinting Teahouse.
佳家 for 小龙包.
小样 (Little Yang's) for 生煎包 (sheng jian bao). Fried soup filled dumplings. Think skin crunchy bottom texture.

Singapore job board bookmarks

Mon, 10 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Germany travel bookmarks

Sat, 08 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Menorca travel bookmarks

Sat, 08 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Travel tools bookmarks

Sat, 08 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Philippines travel bookmarks

Sat, 08 Aug 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Add site-specific browsers to your workflow

Thu, 23 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

There are three browser tabs continously used in my workflow: GMail, Google Calendar, and Google Play Music. I normally have many more tabs open, but these three I access periodically. As the number of open tabs increases, and I fail to cleanup, getting back to my usual three gets a little trickier.

So far, I've kept each of these services open in separate windows. But that doesn't always work. Click on any link in your inbox and you're back to playing cleanup. This is where site-specific browsers (SSB) can help.

Epichrome enables you to build Chrome-based SSBs (on Mac OSX). Build an SSB for the usual suspects and easily jump to them using the app switcher.

More at OSX Chrome SSB and Quora thread

UPDATE: Enable the Chrome extension to open URLs in default browser.

And choose the default browser to open URLs.

Sardinia travel bookmarks

Mon, 20 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Alghero.
Baja Sardinia.
Budoni.
Cala Goloritze, Sardinia.
Castelsardo (gifts maybe?).
Food: Maialetto sardo (Pig), Sebadas, Pardula, Papassinas, Pani e sapa.
L'Asinara boat trip (abandoned penitentiary).
La Pelosa beach.
Nuraghe.
Porto Cervo.
Porto Torres.
San Teodoro.
Stintino (fishing port).
Zedda e Piras vinyards (Alghero).

Open closest build file in Emacs

Fri, 17 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Whether it's Makefile, SConstruct, BUILD, or your favorite build file, chances are you have to tweak it from time to time. ar/open-build-file searches your current and parent directories to find a build file.

(defvar ar/project-file-names '("Makefile" "SConstruct" "BUILD"))

(defun ar/parent-directory (path)
  "Get parent directory for PATH."
  (unless (equal "/" path)
    (file-name-directory (directory-file-name path))))

(defun ar/find-upwards (path filename)
  "Search upwards from PATH for a file named FILENAME."
  (let ((file (concat path filename))
        (parent (ar/parent-directory (expand-file-name path))))
    (if (file-exists-p file)
        file
      (when parent
        (ar/find-upwards parent filename)))))

(defun ar/open-closest (filename)
  "Open the closest FILENAME in current or parent dirs (handy for finding Makefiles)."
  (let ((closest-file-path (ar/find-upwards (buffer-file-name)
                                                 filename)))
    (when closest-file-path
      (message closest-file-path)
      (switch-to-buffer (find-file-noselect closest-file-path)))
    closest-file-path))

(defun ar/open-build-file ()
  "Open the closest project file in current or parent directory.
For example: Makefile, SConstruct, BUILD, etc.
Append `ar/project-file-names' to search for other file names."
  (interactive)
  (catch 'found
    (mapc (lambda (filename)
            (when (ar/open-closest filename)
              (throw 'found t)))
          ar/project-file-names)
    (error "No project file found")))

Create iOS static fat libraries

Wed, 15 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Have separate static libraries for different iOS architectures? Stitch 'em up into a single fat library using with lipo:

$ lipo -create libOne_i386.a libOne_x86_64.a libOne_armv7.a libOne_arm64.a -output libOne.a

Settling scores with an org table

Wed, 15 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Recently kept track of expenses between a group of us. To settle the scores, I emailed an exported HTML table from an org file. This was simple enough and required no external viewer from recepients. The org table, in all its textful glory, looked as follows…


| Date             | Item           |   Charge |
|------------------+----------------+----------|
| [2015-06-18 Thu] | Cash           |    20.00 |
| [2015-07-11 Sat] | Lucky 7        |    42.97 |
| [2015-07-13 Mon] | Santa Maria    |    32.00 |
| [2015-07-12 Sun] | Tayyabs        |    46.00 |
| [2015-07-13 Mon] | The Brass Rail |    39.00 |
| [2015-07-13 Mon] | Underground    |    10.00 |
| [2015-07-10 Fri] | Cash           |    20.00 |
| [2015-07-13 Mon] | Cash           |    20.00 |
| [2015-07-14 Tue] | Cash           |    20.00 |
|------------------+----------------+----------|
|                  | total          | £ 249.97 |
#+TBLFM: @11$3=vsum(@2..@10);£ %.2f

…while the exported HTML below could be easily pasted on to an email.

Date Item Charge

[2015-06-18 Thu] Cash 20.00 [2015-07-11 Sat] Lucky 7 42.97 [2015-07-13 Mon] Santa Maria 32.00 [2015-07-12 Sun] Tayyabs 46.00 [2015-07-13 Mon] The Brass Rail 39.00 [2015-07-13 Mon] Underground 10.00 [2015-07-10 Fri] Cash 20.00 [2015-07-13 Mon] Cash 20.00 [2015-07-14 Tue] Cash 20.00 total £ 249.97

#+TBLFM: @11$3=vsum(@2..@10);£ %.2f

Recognize new password prompts in Emacs shell

Mon, 13 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

At some point, you may come across a trusted command-line utility prompting you for a password, and Emacs shell happily displaying each typed character to the nearby-world to see. Luckily, you can train Emacs to recognize new password prompts and hide the typed characters in modes deriving from comint. Append the password prompt REGEXP:

(setq comint-password-prompt-regexp (concat comint-password-prompt-regexp
                                            "\\|"
                                            "Password for red alert:"))

Bosnia and Hercegovina travel bookmarks

Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Ten reasons to visit Bosnia & Hercegovina.

Ireland travel bookmarks

Sat, 11 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Skellig Michael.
Fishy Fishy in Kinsale: beautiful town on the water.
Belfast.
Giant's Causeway.
Greyhound dog races at Shelbourne Park.
Old library chamber, Trinity College, Dublin.

Pizza in London

Thu, 09 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Not tried these yet. Taking note:

Bravi Ragazzi (Streatham).
Homeslice (Covent Garden).
Lord Morpeth (Hackney).
Santa Maria (Ealing).
Voodoo Ray's (Dalston).
Well Kneaded Wagon (Date-dependent location).

mp4 to gif

Thu, 09 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Converting mp4 to gif is handy for posting short screencasts. You can convert to gif using ffmpeg and optimize with imagemagick. To install:

apt-get install ffmpeg imagemagick (linux)
brew install ffmpeg imagemagick (Mac)

Convert to gif:

ffmpeg -i my.mp4 -pix_fmt rgb24 -r 5 my.gif

Optimize with:

convert -dither none -layers Optimize my.gif my_optimized.gif

UPDATE: There's also licecap and subsequently optimize with:

cat source.gif | gifsicle --colors 256 --optimize=3 --delay=15 > target.gif

UPDATE: Also consider for .mov:

ffmpeg -i in.mov -pix_fmt rgb24 -r 10 -f gif - | gifsicle --optimize=3 --delay=3 > out.gif

Keyboards bookmarks

Mon, 06 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

United States travel bookmarks

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Lebanon travel bookmarks

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Slovenia travel bookmarks

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Lake Bohinj.

Belgium travel bookmarks

Sun, 05 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Fishing with Emacs

Fri, 03 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

OK not quite, but having recently learned about C-M-w (append-next-kill), I used it in a keyboard macro to fish out matching lines. This is similar to flush-lines, except the kill ring is also populated. This is handy, if you need the flushed lines. Here's an example.

Here's the equivalent in Emacs lisp:

(defun flush-kill-lines (regex)
  "Flush lines matching REGEX and append to kill ring.  Restrict to \
region if active."
  (interactive "sFlush kill regex: ")
  (save-excursion
    (save-restriction
      (when (use-region-p)
        (narrow-to-region (point) (mark))
        (goto-char 0))
      (while (search-forward-regexp regex nil t)
        (move-beginning-of-line nil)
        (kill-whole-line)))))

California travel bookmarks

Fri, 03 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

General Sherman Tree at Sequoia National Park.

Rebind caps lock to control key on Mac OS X

Wed, 01 Jul 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Let's see if this one sticks. I'll give caps lock as control a try. Rebinding the keys on Mac OS X is easy enough:

System Preferences -> Keyboard -> Keyboard Tab -> Modifier Keys…

Searchable ebooks in Emacs

Tue, 30 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

If you haven't bought Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen, you should. It's a wonderful source of Emacs tips. Having just finished the ebook on my Kindle, I was keen to go back and fish out some of that newly found wisdom. My immediate reaction was to figure out a way to make the ebook searchable from Emacs.

The ebook is available in epub and pdf format. Though Emacs's docview is super handy for viewing pdf's, searching didn't feel as comfortable as searching in org mode. The epub, on the other hand, proved useful. Pandoc can easily convert from epub to org.

pandoc  --from=epub --to=org mastering-emacs.epub > mastering-emacs.org

After a some tidying (mostly removing BEGIN_HTML/END_HTML blocks and adding TITLE/AUTHOR), the resulting org file is surprisingly clean and easy to search/navigate. helm-swoop and helm-org-in-buffer-headings are great for that.

Portugal travel bookmarks

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

As a Dermatologist, what life changing skin care advice would you give me?.
Avenida dos Platanos.
Beautiful Lisbon.
Best restaurants in Alghero?.
Boca do inferno.
Cabo da Roca.
Casa dos passarinhos (Steak on hot stone, tuna steak with “mirandesa” sauce, monkfish masada).
Cascais - Guincho.
Cervejaria Ramiro (seafood restaurant in town).
Eduard 7th park.
Estoril.
Fox Trot (bar).
Hachijō-jima island.
Ilha da Culatra (good for families).
Ilha da Tavira (good for food @ Portas do Mar).
Ilha Deserta (seafood as Estaminé).
Jeronimos Monastery (Lisbon).
Lisbon Castle.
Mercado da Ribeira in Lisbon.
Mouro's castle (Sintra).
Mouro's castle.
Pasteis de Belem (Lisbon).
Pastelaria piriquita eat queijadas de sintra.
Pasteleria Piriquita (Sintra).
Pavilhao Chines (bar).
Pena's Pallace (must see if you go to sintra)
Pena's Pallace (Sintra).
Pensao do Amor (bar).
Portugal Archives - ET Food Voyage.
Praça do comercio.
Quinta da Regaleira
Quinta da Regaleira (Sintra).
Sintra village
Sintra.
Stop do bairro (tamboril rice, prawn curry, and seafood rice).
Surfcastle.
São Bento railway station.
Sé (Lisbon Cathedral).
The best beaches in Portugal's Algarve.
Torre Belem (Lisbon).
Web Summit Ladies Craft Night - Tote Bag Embroidery Workshop Tickets, Tue, Nov 6, 2018 at 7:00 PM (Eventbrite).
What tips would you give to a newbie who wants to travel like you? - Quora.
World's longest pedestrian suspension bridge.

Bulgaria travel bookmarks

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Devetashka Cave.

Presenting bookmarks

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Bali travel bookmarks

Sun, 21 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Gili Islands travel (Nusa Tenggara, Indonesia - Lonely Planet).
Manta snorkeling Nusa Penida – When? Where? How much?.
Pura Lempuyang, Bali.

WWDC app for OS X

Wed, 17 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Guilherme Rambo created a great OS X OS X app for viewing WWDC content. Just installed it. Super handy. Thanks. Installing as simple as:

$ brew cask install wwdc

Debugging Objective-C reference cycles

Mon, 15 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Overriding retain/release/autorelease may be handy while debugging:

- (instancetype)retain {
  NSLog(@"%p, retain\n", self);
  return [super retain];
}

- (oneway void)release {
  NSLog(@"%p, release\n", self);
  [super release];
}

- (instancetype)autorelease {
  NSLog(@"%p, autorelease\n", self);
  return [super autorelease];
}

London grub

Sat, 13 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Beyond the hype, buzz, and pricey gimmicks… Places to eat in London:

Antipode.
Arang.
Bone Daddies.
Gelupo.
Grind.
Holy Cow.
Kerbisher and Malt.
Kulu Kulu (South Ken).
Le Relais de Venise.
Lucky 7's.
Royal China.
Shree Krishna Vada Pav.
Sri Suwoon.
Tayyabs.
The Cow.
Tonkotsu.

My working playlist

Mon, 08 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

It's been a while since I spotted The Ultimate Music Collection for Getting Work Done. Since then, I've been on the lookout for music to work to. Some favorites:

Xcode bookmarks

Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Costa Rica travel bookmarks

Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Australia travel bookmarks

Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Australia's best food experiences: state by state.
Best Queensland island escapes for small budgets.
Des and Debi O’Tooles Honey.
Fish and chips at Bondi beach.
Tasmania: the isle that's wild at heart.
The Butler Potts Point (bar & restaurant).
Tree Top Walk (Walpole, Australia): Top Tips Before You Go - TripAdvisor.

Samoa travel bookmarks

Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

To Sua ocean trench.

Norway travel bookmarks

Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Atlantic Road.
Bergen (check out colorful wooden houses).
Bergen railway (Bergen-Oslo): 300 miles of beautiful Norwegian scenery.
Lofoten Islands.
Norwegian Air (cheap flights between all the
Olden.
Reine.
Sakrisøy, Lofoten Islands.
Spitsbergen.
The Atlantic Road - Atlanterhavsveien / Atlanterhavsvegen.

Los Angeles travel bookmarks

Tue, 02 Jun 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Mastering Emacs is out

Thu, 28 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs is amazingly alive. New packages are regularly listed on melpa and a new book just came out: Mastering Emacs by Mickey Petersen.

South Carolina travel bookmarks

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Angel Oak tree.

Colorado travel bookmarks

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Horseshoe Bend.

Cuzco travel bookmarks

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Gelatina de patita (mercado)
Yolanda. Adobo/chicarron. Chicarroneria Yoli.
Pan de chocolate Oropeza.
La esquina de los lechones y tamales dulces de Sra Elsa.
Cafe el Ayllu (lengua de suegra)
La Chomba (picanteria). Costillar frito. Frutillada. Chicharron. Ubre. Tripa.
La quinta Eulaia. Asado y chicarron. Rocoto. Humita.
Chicheria la loba.

Bash bookmarks

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

restclient.el

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Installed Pashky's restclient.el Emacs package. Super helpful when trying out REST APIs.

Seatle travel bookmarks

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Berlin travel bookmarks

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Skeuomorph

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

From Wikipedia, skeuomorph ˈskjuːəmɔrf is a derivative object that retains ornamental design cues from structures that were necessary in the original. Examples include pottery embellished with imitation rivets reminiscent of similar pots made of metal and a software calendar that imitates the appearance of binding on a paper desk calendar.

define-word

Mon, 25 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Installed Abo Abo's define-word Emacs package. A handy package to define words at point.

Flushing empty lines in Emacs

Fri, 22 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Via masteringemacs.org, removing blank lines in a buffer:

M-x flush-lines RET ^$ RET

Regex bookmarks

Fri, 22 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Write to temp iOS snippet

Wed, 06 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

NSString *tempDir = NSTemporaryDirectory();
NSLog(@"%@\n", tempDir);
NSString *dataFilePath = [tempDir stringByAppendingPathComponent:@"my.file"];
[data writeToFile:dataFilePath atomically:YES];

Greece travel bookmarks

Mon, 04 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Sri Lanka travel bookmarks

Mon, 04 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Switzerland travel bookmarks

Mon, 04 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Thailand travel bookmarks

Mon, 04 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Madagascar travel bookmarks

Mon, 04 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Avenue of the Baobabs.

Hong Kong travel bookmarks

Mon, 04 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Causeway Bay pedestrian crossing.
Hong Kong's most breathtaking views: where to glimpse the city from above.
Hotel Icon (allegedly amazing service/extras).
Lin Heung Tea House (bakery/tea/dim sum).
Mak's Noodle (Jordan).
Siu yuk (Roasted Pig).
Tsang Tsou Choi (King of Hong Kong).
Tsim Chai Kee (recommended over Mak's wonton/soup).

Barcelona travel bookmarks

Mon, 04 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Iceland travel bookmarks

Mon, 04 May 2015 00:00:00 GMT

An Iceland travel log.
Apartmenthouse.is for local flats.
Blue lagoon spa.
citywalk.is: Free walking tour.
Design March.
Drive it yourself: The Snæfellsnes peninsula.
Efstidalur: farm to table restaurant.
Eight must-see spots in Iceland's wild west.
Fridrikv restaurant.
Gangleri outfitters.
Golden circle's waterfalls and geysers.
grillmarkadurinn.is restaurant.
Horse farm hotel.
Hotel Budir.
How to have a budget break in iceland.
Iceland itinerary.
Lebowski Bar seriously?
Noodle Station.
Pink Iceland tours.
Reykjavik Apartment Hotel – Accommodation in City Centre (swanhouse.is).
Reykjavik City Breaks (Book now with British Airways).
Sandholt.
South coast's waterfalls and caves.

Building clang-format

Thu, 30 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Based on instructions from Building clang-format and friends on OSX Mountain Lion.

#!/bin/bash
  set -o nounset
  set -o errexit

  # Based on instructions from:
  # http://blog.hardcodes.de/articles/63/building-clang-format-and-friends-on-osx-mountain-lion

  readonly LLVM_DIR_PATH='/tmp/llvm'

  update_repo() {
    if [[ ! -d $1 ]]; then
      git clone $2
    else
      cd $1
      git pull
      cd ..
    fi
    cd ..
  }

  update_all_repos() {
    update_repo "llvm" "http://llvm.org/git/llvm.git"
    pushd "${LLVM_DIR_PATH}/llvm/tools"
    update_repo "clang" "http://llvm.org/git/clang.git"
    popd
    cd "../../${LLVM_DIR_PATH}/llvm/tools/clang/tools"
    update_repo "clang-tools-extra" "http://llvm.org/git/clang-tools-extra.git"
    cd "../../.."
  }

  build_clang() {
    mkdir -p clang
    mkdir -p build
    cd clang
    ../llvm/configure --enable-libcpp --enable-cxx11 --enable-debug-symbols=no --enable-optimized --prefix="${LLVM_DIR_PATH}/build"
    make install
  }

  mkdir -p $LLVM_DIR_PATH
  cd ${LLVM_DIR_PATH}
  update_all_repos
  build_clang

Bonus: use clang-format-configurator.

Programmatic iOS Auto Layout

Thu, 30 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Basic iOS auto layout usage. See Adopting Auto Layout and Visual Format language for reference.

- (instancetype)initWithFrame:(CGRect)frame {
  self = [super initWithFrame:frame];
  if (self) {
    // Disable autoresizing mask translation for parent.
    self.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;

    _subview1 = [[UIView alloc] init];
    // Disable autoresizing mask translation for subview.
    _subview1.translatesAutoresizingMaskIntoConstraints = NO;

    _subview1.backgroundColor = [UIColor redColor];
    [self addSubview:_subview1];

    // Creates a dictionary of bindings to be used in visual format.
    NSDictionary *viewBindings = NSDictionaryOfVariableBindings(_subview1);

    // H: horizontal layout
    // |-50- spacing in relation to superview
    // [_subview1(==50)] subview1's width
    [self addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"H:|-50-[_subview1(==50)]"
                                                                 options:0
                                                                 metrics:nil
                                                                   views:viewBindings]];
    [self addConstraints:[NSLayoutConstraint constraintsWithVisualFormat:@"V:[_subview1(==50)]"
                                                                 options:0
                                                                 metrics:nil
                                                                   views:viewBindings]];
  }
  return self;
}

Also consider:

A UIView Subclass should implement intrinsicContentSize.
A UIView Subclass should never add constraints on neither itself (ie. self) nor superview.

References

Auto layout best practices for minimum pain.

Learning Japanese bookmarks

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Japan travel bookmarks

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

21 Awesome Things to Do in Yokohama, Japan (2020 Guide).
21 free things to do in Tokyo.
6 Tokyo Travel Tips to Help You Get Around the City | Tokyo Weekender.
7 day Japan Rail pass (first class?), possibly only sold outside Japan.
80/20 Japanese by Richard Webb - Publishizer.
A Guide to the regional ramen of Japan.
A guide to understanding "Small Seasons".
A Moss Girl’s Guide to Japanese Moss Viewing.
A no-sushi guide to food in Japan.
A trip to Japan (Quora answer).
An unsponsored review of the Tawaraya Ryokan in Kyoto, Japan.
Arashiyama Bamboo Grove.
Autumn Leaves in Hokkaido.
BBC - Travel - Japan’s special take on a packed lunch.
Bushido: Way of Total Bullshit.
COOL JAPAN(?)" - What are things about Japan that you think are actually cool?.
Drinking Japan.
Eki-stamps / 駅スタンプ | eli's japan blog.
Five Best: Japanese Ryokan.
Fuji Q Highland (rollercoaster theme park). Check out haunted hospital.
Furano, Hokaido.
Going to Kyushu, Japan? Why Visiting Yakushima is Worth it - The Ruby Ronin.
Guest houses: Kazariya, Rakuza, Musubian.
Hiiragiya ryokan.
Himeji Castle.
Hiroshima oysters (try the one with cheese).
Historic Villages of Shirakawa-gō and Gokayama - Wikipedia.
Hokkaido summer flowers.
Hypermedia (internal travel website).
jalan.net (travel booking site).
Japan guide.
Japan Info.
Japan is launching a program that will give away abandoned homes - INSIDER.
Japan Rail Pass.
Japan Study Program.
JAPAN TRAVEL DATA 15DAYS, 3.5GB on 4G/LTE- NANO SIM.
Japan's glut of abandoned homes: Hard to sell but bargains when opportunity knocks (The Japan Times).
Japanese beaches.
Japanese Foods Encounter Like No Others (food search).
Japanese rule of 7.
Japan’s 72 Microseasons.
Kawachi Fujien 河内藤園 (Kawachi Wisteria Garden).
Kodo – Preparing the Censor.
Kongō Sanmai-in at Kōya-san.
Koya Bound – Eight Days on the Kumano Kodo | Hacker News.
Koyasan (needs booking).
Landed Japan Book (local knowledge to buy Japanese real estate).
Lots of goodies. Bamboo forest, oh my.
Michael’s Cafe American – Black Ship Coffee.
Miyajima: One of the top three scenic spots in Japan.
Monument in front of the Shin-Yatsushiro Station.
Nagakushiyama park.
Nagoya.
Natadera Temple in winter.
Niseko Ski Resort.
Okinawa: secrets for a long and happy life.
Okonomimura (all okonomiyaki restaurants).
Onsen.
Quora: What are some of Japans best kept secrets?
Saitamaya: The Master of Grilled Meat - YouTube.
Satsuma Rebellion: Satsuma Clan Samurai Against the Imperial Japanese Army.
Shitamachi #Museum in Ueno and catch a glimpse into old-fashioned living.
Siege of Kumamoto Castle (Wikipedia).
Snapshots of Tokyo’s vivid street life (Hacker News).
Table of Content for japan2013.
Table of Content for japan2014.
Table of Content for japan2015.
TAKAZAWA Candle (or look for ikaragata shape candle).
The 2020 Hachinohe Enburi Festival Schedule (Sakura festival).
The village of living water.
Things to look out for in Japan (Quora).
Tohoku Travel Guide.
Try out sukiyaki.
Uncharted Tokyo.
Vitra | The Hill of the Buddha.
Zao Fox Village.
国指定重要文化財「野村別邸　碧雲荘」.
Neighbourhoods
- Mishuku
- Sancha neighborhood. Lots of places to eat.
- Sangenjaya
- Soba Noodle Kochi
- Seiki (Japanese dishes)
- Sent from my iPhone
- Sakae street
- Tokoshima (wine and yakitori)

Kyoto travel bookmarks

Wed, 21 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Eating My Way Through Nishiki Market, Kyoto | Ever In Transit.
Fushimi Inari Temple: 4KM mountain trail lined with bright orange shinto gates.
Golden Pavillion (macha and biscuits at tea house).
Hakone (day trip for hot baths), see Yuryo spa. Also the pirate boat.
Kibune.
Kinkakuji Temple.
Kiyomizu Temple.
Kuramadera Temple & Kibune Shrine: More peaceful shrine.
Kyoto itineraries.
Kyoto travel tips (doc).
Kyoto walking maps.
Kyoto's train station itself.
Nijo-Jo’.
Nishiki Market: Awesome market. Some say better than Tsukiji.
Origami master and school http://www.orizurusalon-yume.com [email protected]
orizurusalon yume (origami).
Ryokan ("kaiseki" meals).
Ryōan-ji (竜安寺).
Sanjusangendo.
Things to do in Kyoto, Japan.
Walking courses (Google maps).
WaRaiDo Nighttime tour.

Tokyo travel bookmarks

Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

14 Things to Know Before You Go to Tokyo.
5 alternative things to do in Tokyo (by globalhelpswap).
A History of Tokyo in 8 Dishes.
Akasaka area (N/E of Roppongi).
Akasaka Sagamiya (also Mamekan, established in 1895).
Akihabara: Electronics district, arcades and comic stores.
Asakusa (tourist spot). Kaminarimon, Nakamise (oldest shopping street in Japan). Sensoji Temple.
Asakusa hotel.
Asakusa Shrine: Shinto shrine and market.
Bar Epilogue.
Bar Odin.
Benten, Taito - 3-21-8 Asakusa, Ueno, Asakusa (Buckwheat noodles shop).
Bentomi (Sushi).
CHEESE STAND （チーズスタンド）.
Coffee Tengoku, Asakusa (best hotcakes/pancakes). Noting is premade. After 12 years, best hotcakes.
Cup noodle museum.
Daiwasushi (food). An account here.
Dorayaki (in Ukenbukuru). Seijuken is long established in Ningyocho.
Doteno-Iseya 土手の伊勢屋: 127-year old Tempura.
Eateries around Takadanobaba eki
Ebisu (area for izakaya experience, drink/chat with bartender). Look for Ebisu Yokocho.
Fish market (6am sushi).
Five of the worst areas to live in and around Tokyo | SoraNews24.
Fu-unji & 風雲児 | Tokyo Eats.
Ghibli museum (book in advance or try lawson).
Ginza Kimuraya (bakery). Try anpan (invented here).
Ginza.
Ginzakyuubee (food).
Golden Gai (lots tiny bars).
How to Spend a Magical Christmas in Tokyo (2019 update).
https://www.timeout.com/tokyo/restaurants/tokyo-coolest-kakigori
Ichiran Ramen.
Imperial Palace: Book to go inside. Beautiful park, great for pictures.
In which ward are you living?.
Irie known (sweet shop) for Mamekan. In Monzen-Nakacho.
Isetan (upscale food market).
Isozushi (food).
Jimbocho Book Town (largest second-hand book town in the world, classic-style cafes, old school charm).
Kaiden-don, near tsukiji (Sushi).
Kajitsuen Libre. Peach Parfait. Fresh fruit.
Kinozen restaurant for Matcha Bavarian cream (matcha bavaroa). Kagurazaka. Check out the backstreets.
Kodai's Fukui restaurant (old tea house).
Kushikatsu restaurant in Golden Gai, a karaoke booth in Ebisu, or drifting through the back alley izakayas of Akabane.
Menya Musashi and Fuunji are both generally very well regarded and about a 5-7 minute walk from the SW part of Shinjuku station.
Mikimoto building in Ginza.
Mori Art museum.
Musashiya ramen.
Nakiryu: Tantalizing Tantanmen Noodles with a Michelin Star.
Nezu museum.
Odaiba.
Okonomiyaki in Tokyo.
Omoide yokocho: Alleyway next to Shinjuku station. Lots of yakitori restaurants.
Omotesando Koffee (coffee and baked custard slice).
Omotesando side streets.
Pan No Tora Bakery (Kyoto?).
Pignon | French Restaurant.
Pound cake from Patisserie Gondola in Kudanue.
Roppongi.
Savarin (brioge-based, of french origin) in Yokohama. Cafe Recherche.
Seafood street south of Ueno eki
Secret snapshots of Tokyo vivid street life.
Shibamata: Snacking and Sightseeing in Tokyo’s Old Edo Neighborhood.
Shibuya Crossing: Largest pedestrian crossing in the world.
Shimokitazawa (Shimokita for short). Bohemian, vintage shopping.
Shimokitazawa (thirft stores, music bands, pubs, and cafes).
Short trips from Tokyo.
Short trips from Tokyo.
Sukiyabashi Jiro.
Sushi dai (Sushi, long queue, maybe turisty).
Sushi Kanesaka.
Sushi places around Tsukiji market in the morning (much better than the market visit itself, these days)
Sushi Saito.
Sushidai (food).
Sushitsu (food).
Sutekihausukatsura.
Takaosan (Mount Takao).
Tempura Tsunahachi en Tokio: 4 opiniones y 7 fotos.
Tenkazushi (food).
The whole of Kabukicho (area in-between Shinjuku station and Shin-Okubo)
Things to Do in Tokyo Japan - Sunday Spotlight.
Tokyo Gov on Twitter: Higashikurume Station.
Tokyo in winter: what to see, do and eat (Lonely Planet).
Tokyo Municipal Government building: Only for observation deck with view to Fuji (if clear day).
Tokyo on a budget: tips for making your yen go further (Lonely Planet).
Tokyo play blog.
Tokyo Salaries: all you need to know.
Tokyo station: Friendly JR office (english spoken). They help book all trips/tickets/reservations.
Tokyo Station: Massive station. Lots of restaurants and shops (check out ramen street).
Tokyo Travel Tips: 5 Things You Need In Japan | Coffee and Passport.
Tokyo Twitter: any Japanese breakfast restaurants.
Tokyo, Japan - Condé Nast Traveller | CN Traveller.
TokyoCheapo.
Tokyo’s oldest train line – in pictures | Art and design | The Guardian.
Tokyu Hands and Loft (shops in Shibuya).
Toritake (yakitori at Shibuya).
Try Mos rice burger (fast food).
Try out Pancan (bread in can).
Tsukiji Fish Market calendar.
Tsukiji Fish Market: Sushi bars and food vendors (get there early, visitor numbers restricted).
Umemura in Asakusa (also Mamekan).
Unusual things to do in Tokyo? .
Walk around Yoyogi-Uehara Station, Shibuya, Binaural City Sounds(ASMR) in Tok….
What's something you know about in Tokyo that you think others should know about?.
Yurakucho Yakitori Alley
Zauo.com "Let's fixhing enjoy". Catch your own fish to eat.
婁熊東京 (raw and grilled pork).
酒友 (Sake & good Shabushabu), Roppongi.

UK travel bookmarks

Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Development quotes

Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Development philosophy

Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Boyscout rule: Leave campground cleaner than found.
What can clang-format teach us about the human condition?.

Spain travel bookmarks

Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Meet up bookmarks

Sun, 19 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Plantuml example

Fri, 17 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Played with Plantuml. Convenient for generating UML diagrams from text. Here's the Language Reference Guide. Here's an example:

@startuml
  abstract class Singer {
    abstract void sing()
    void Dance()
  }

  skinparam monochrome true
  Singer <|-- PopSinger
  Singer <|-- SalsaSinger

  class PopSinger {
    void sing()
  }

  class SalsaSinger {
    void sing()
  }

@enduml

Install plantuml on Mac OS X:

brew install plantum

Generating diagram:

$GRAPHVIZ_DOT=~/homebrew/bin/dot java -jar path/to/plantuml.8018.jar diagram.plantuml

ps. Installation and verification gist.

ps2. More handy UML examples in this fork.

Helm-describe-helm-attribute

Tue, 14 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Writing A Spotify Client in 16 Minutes is fantastic for picking up helm and Emacs lisp tips. Of interest helm-describe-helm-attribute, second to the awesomeness of helm-spotify integration.

Youtube videos in your org html export

Sun, 12 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Sacha Chua and John Wiegley posted a wonderful video on Emacs lisp development tips. Embedding the following raw HTML using #+BEGIN_HTML/#+END_HTML:

results in an embedded video when exporting your org file:

.net bookmarks

Sun, 12 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Open Source .Net libraries that make your life easier.

UK property bookmarks

Fri, 10 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Commute from (find property based on potential commute).
Mapumental Property (find property by travel time).

Git commit message style

Thu, 09 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Adopted Tim Pope's Git commit message style. Also enabled Emacs's git-commit-training-wheels-mode:

(use-package git-commit-training-wheels-mode :ensure t
  :commands (git-commit-training-wheels-mode))

(use-package git-commit-mode :ensure t
  :config
  (add-hook 'git-commit-mode-hook 'git-commit-training-wheels-mode)
  :commands (git-commit-mode))

Another great post by Chris Beams.

fci-mode and org-html-export-to-html bug

Mon, 06 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Having enabled fci-mode in most programing modes, org-html-export-to-html now exports an additional unicode character in source blocks. This thread has a workaround:

(defun org-html-fontify-code (code lang)
  ;; ...
  (funcall lang-mode)
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
  (when (require 'fill-column-indicator nil 'noerror)
    (fci-mode -1))
;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;;
  (insert code)
  ;; ...

Try cocoapods out

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Cocapods try:

$ pod try POD_NAME

Cornwall travel bookmarks

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Food along the way.

Austria travel bookmarks

Fri, 03 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Cinnamon desktop run dialog

Thu, 02 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Note to self. Open with Alt-f2.

Books for 2015

Sun, 29 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Ayahuasca bookmarks

Sun, 29 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs init.el bookmarks

Sat, 28 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

CSS vertical align using flex

Sat, 28 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Codepen snippet:

div{
  height: 200px;
  background: #ccc;
  display: flex;
  justify-content: center;
  align-items: center;
}

p{
  margin: auto
}

London diving schools

Thu, 26 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

London Diving School. Not heard good comments.
Dive Wimbledon. Heard ok comments.
Clidive is a BSAC club (amateur organisation). Not commercial but may take longer.
Sublime Diving. Heard good comments.
Oyster Diving. Pool in cetral London. Good comments.
SS Thistlegorm mentioned as a memorable site.
Many suggest to get certified elsewhere. Perhaps Egypt via Poseidon Divers.

Helm buffer URLs

Thu, 26 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Venturing into Emacs lisp and Helm. Here's a go at listing all URLs in current buffer.

(require 'goto-addr)

(defun ar/helm-buffer-url-candidates ()
  "Generate helm candidates for all URLs in buffer."
  (save-excursion
    (goto-char (point-min))
    (let ((helm-candidates '())
          (url))
      (while (re-search-forward goto-address-url-regexp
                                nil t)
        (setq url
              (buffer-substring-no-properties (match-beginning 0)
                                              (match-end 0)))
        (add-to-list 'helm-candidates
                     (cons url
                           url)))
      helm-candidates)))

(defun ar/helm-buffer-urls ()
  "Narrow down and open a URL in buffer."
  (interactive)
  (helm :sources `(((name . "Buffer URLs")
                    (candidates . ,(ar/helm-buffer-url-candidates))
                    (action . (lambda (url)
                                (browse-url url)))))))

Doh! undo last git commit

Mon, 23 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

$ git reset --soft HEAD~1

Resetting variables using defvar

Sun, 22 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Want to re-evaluate defvars and modify variables? eval-defun (bound to C-M-x) can help. From the manual:

If the current defun is actually a call to `defvar', then reset the variable using its initial value expression even if the variable already has some other value. (Normally `defvar' does not change the variable's value if it already has a value.) Treat `defcustom' similarly.

Broken Xcode plugins?

Sun, 22 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Some Xcode plugins stopped loading after updating Xcode. Ensure the latest DVTPlugInCompatibilityUUIDs is added to the plugin's Info.plist. Get from:

$ defaults read \
    /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Info DVTPlugInCompatibilityUUID

Additional suggestions as Stack Overflow.

Born to Run references

Sun, 22 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

References from reading Christopher McDougall's Born to Run:

Chi running.
Chia and pinole. Random recipes here.
Heritage Seeds.
Ken Mierke’s Evolution running.
Pose method.
Quotes, references, videos, etc. at ultimate paleo guide.

Recipe by Megan Mignot, based on book references:

Mama Tita’s Pancakes

1 ½ cups cooked brown rice
1 cup coconut milk
2 ripe bananas
1 tablespoon honey
½ cup white cornmeal
2 teaspoons baking powder

Org tips from 2015-03-18 Emacs hangout

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Lots of great tips in Emacs Hangout 2015-03-18. Favorites:

Private org drawer to prevent export:

:PRIVATE:
My super duper secret text I don't want to export.
:END:

C-c C-p/C-c C-n Jump over sections.
(setq org-hide-leading-stars t).
(org-bullets-mode).
(org-refile).
C-u (org-refile) jumps, no refile.
(helm-org-in-buffer-headings).

Food bookmarks

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Ethiopia travel bookmarks

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Bet Giyorgis Church.

China travel bookmarks

Thu, 19 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

"If you have not been to Kashgar, then you haven’t really been to Xinjiang”.
7 first-timer fails to avoid on your trip to Beijing.
Archpng on Twitter: "Mount Maiji Grottoes,China… ".
Beijing on a budget.
Chinese cities you've never heard of.
Ctrip for hotels. Stick to high-rated only.
Essential regional cuisine of China.
Fenghuang ancient town.
Hallelujah Mountains.
Houhai Lake (Beijing). Miscellaneous bars.
Jiuzhaigou nature reserve.
Luotuofeng peak, Sichuan.
Mount Huashan.
Mount Maiji Grottoes (DuckDuckGo).
Nan Luo Gu Xiang (Beijing). Street Food!
Qianmen Street. Near Tiananmen Square. Artifact shopping and famous food.
Rock pools.
Shanghai Street Food #7 Jiān Bǐng 煎餅.
Shenzhen (Hong Kong). The worlds manufacturing ecosystem.
Suspended Temple of Mt. Hengshan.
The essential guide to backpacking China's silk road.
What are some must-try foods when visiting China? (Quora).
Zhangjiajie National Forest Park.
China's most epic high-speed rail journeys.

South Korea travel bookmarks

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Sharing on iOS

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

UIActivityViewController.
- Use completionWithItemsHandler on iOS 8.
- Sample:

NSString *title = @"Sharing on iOS bookmarks.";
NSURL *url = [NSURL URLWithString:@"http://xenodium.com/#sharing-on-ios"];
UIImage *image = [UIImage imageNamed:@"beautiful-image"];

UIActivityViewController *controller =
  [[UIActivityViewController alloc]
    initWithActivityItems:@[title, url, image]
    applicationActivities:nil];

// self being a UIViewController.
[self presentViewController:controller animated:YES completion:nil];

Sharing through Mail app on simulator isn't supported.

viewServiceDidTerminateWithError: Error Domain=_UIViewServiceInterfaceErrorDomain Code=3 "The operation couldn’t be completed. (_UIViewServiceInterfaceErrorDomain error 3.)" UserInfo=… {Message=Service Connection Interrupted}

Sharing through Mail app on device is OK.
WWDC 2014 Creating Extensions for iOS and OSX, Part 1.
- Share Extensions talk by Guy Fullerton.
  - Usually view controllers in addition to plist.
  - CFBundleDisplayName.
  - NSExtendion.
    - NSExtensionAttributes.
      - NSExtensionActivationRule.
- SLComposeServiceViewController.
- UIActivityViewController.
WWDC 2014 Creating Extensions for iOS and OSX, Part 2.
Want to a share URL to App Store? See Technical Q&A 1633.

San Francisco travel bookmarks

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Istanbul travel bookmarks

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Altan Şekerleme (turkish delight shop).
Cheap eats in Istanbul's Bazaar District.
Findikli rainbow stairs.
Historic neighborhood of Arnavutkoy in Istanbul.
Istanbul Food: after the perfect bite.
The rise of Karakoy: Istanbul's hippest neighbourhood.
Uskudar Fish Market.

Rome travel bookmarks

Wed, 18 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Italy travel bookmarks

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

22 Towns in Italy That Are Almost Too Perfect Looking.
Abbazia di Monte Oliveto Maggiore.
Abbruzzo's Sulmona: one of the oldest towns in the area and home to the Latin poet Ovid, confetti (sugared almonds) and arrosticini (barbecued lamb skewers).
Alberobello - Wikipedia.
Amalfi coast's Furore beach.
Boboli Gardens, Florence.
Braie lake.
Caffe Meletti.
Cinque Terre.
Emilia Romagna. (foood!).
Fixe small towns in Italy.
Herculaneum - Wikipedia.
Italy's six best road trips.
Le Sirenuse (Positano).
Live the good life: 12 local experiences on the Amalfi Coast.
Manarola.
Milan - Deus cafe.
Milan - Gelato joints.
Milan - Il mangione to find restaurants.
Milan - Mercato Metropolitani.
Milan - Navigli and eat at "el brellin".
Milan - Taveggia for hot chocolate.
Milan - Where to go for aperitivo in Milan.
Montalcino, and Brunello wine.
Palace of Venaria.
Piazza dei Miracoli.
Piedmont.
Pienza, Tuscany.
Rabbit beach.
Re di Macchia, restaurant in Montalcino.
San Galgano, Tuscany.
San Gimignano, Tuscany.
San Lorenzo leather market.
Skiing in Italy: find your perfect resort.
The Devil's Bridge in Borgo a Mozzano, Tuscany, Italy - Love from Tuscany.
The New Treasures of Pompeii.
Volterra, Tuscany.

Emacs lisp debug on entry

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Wanted to track down which package was enabling ido-mode on my behalf. debug-on-entry to the rescue. Pass the method name in question and you're good to go.

(debug-on-entry 'ido-mode)

When done, use cancel.

(cancel-debug-on-entry 'ido-mode)

Burma travel bookmarks

Tue, 17 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Bagan and Inle lake are the "touristy" areas.
Balloons over Bagan.
For Bagan, get bicycles.
Inle lake guided boat tour.
Ngapali beach.
Ngwe Saung beach.
Shwesandaw at sunset.
zyklusdiewelt's Myanmar's photos.

OS X Screencasts to animated GIF

Mon, 16 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Alex Dergachev has a great howto for generating animated GIF out of OS X Screencasts.
Of interest GIF Brewery.

Writing Xcode plugins

Sun, 15 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Xcode-Plugin-Template from Delisa Mason/kattrali.
- Ensure DVTPlugInCompatibilityUUIDs is in Info.plist.
- Get from:

defaults read \
    /Applications/Xcode.app/Contents/Info DVTPlugInCompatibilityUUID

Luis Solanos's Xcode-RuntimeHeaders.
Boris Bügling's Xcode-RuntimeHeaders fork.
Building the Xcode plugin snapshots.
Xcode Explorer enables you to explore Xcode events/notifications.
Creating an Xcode4 plugin.
Common Xcode plugin techniques.
XcodeExplorer to monitor Xcode internals.
Debugging your Xcode plugin.

Uninstalling Alcatraz from Xcode

Sun, 15 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

$ rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Plug-ins/Alcatraz.xcplugin
$ rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Alcatraz

ps. Removing all plugins:

$ rm -rf ~/Library/Application\ Support/Developer/Shared/Xcode/Plug-ins/*

Prefill Emacs swiper with current region

Sat, 14 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

The new swiper Emacs package is proving to be a great alternative to helm-swoop. Here's how to prefill with current region:

(defun ar/prefilled-swiper ()
  "Pre-fill swiper input with region."
  (interactive)
  (if (region-active-p)
      (let ((region-text (buffer-substring (region-beginning)
                                           (region-end))))
        (swiper region-text))
    (swiper)))

(global-set-key (kbd "C-s")
                #'ar/prefilled-swiper)

Change macOS app icon

Sat, 14 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Open the new icon (.icns) in Preview.
Click on large image
Select all (⌘-a).
Copy (⌘-c).
Ctrl-click on app icon.
Select Get Info.
Click on app icon (top-left).
Paste (⌘-v).
Done!

Hack on Emacs London meetup bookmarks

Wed, 11 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

European Lisp Symposium.
guide-key displays available key bindings.
iplayer-el Emacs interface to the BBC's iPlayer.
swankr REPL (swank protocol for R).

Working with OS X and Emacs tips

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

From M-x all-things-emacs, Ryan McGeary's OS X/Emacs workflow.

Frequently used apps:

Dotfiles

Github.

Building ycmd

Mon, 09 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Build

id: build-3

$ git clone https://github.com/Valloric/ycmd.git
$ cd ycmd
$ git submodule update --init --recursive
$ ./build.sh --clang-completer

Test

$ python ycmd
  serving on http://127.0.0.1:54265

More info

Regular bookmarks

Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Photography bookmarks

Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Paris travel bookmarks

Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Atelier Maitre Albert (known for its rotisserie chicken).
Au Passage. Small plates in fun atmosphere.
Berthillon Ice Cream.
Breizh Café (traditional gallete, savory buckwheat crepes).
Buvette Gastrotheque. Wine bar with small dishes.
Cheri Bibi, possibly hipster, underneath Sacre Coeur, good cocktails.
Creperie Josseline. Worth the queue. Drink Breton cider with crepes.
Holybelly Canal Saint Martin.
How To Spend a Culinary Weekend In Paris.
L'Aller Retour. The place for steak-frites.
L'Office. Wine bar/bistrot.
Le Barav'.
Le Petit Poucet (restaurant next to Place de Clichy, Paris).
Le Reminet (Paris restaurant).
Marché d'Aligre. Authentic neighbourhood market.
Marché des Enfants Rouge. Small covered market. Eat at food stalls.
Mosquee de Paris. City mosque. Drink mint tea at courtyard under olive trees or eat in restaurant inside. North African food.
Musee d'Orsay.
Paris: A Guide To Some Of The Best Cafes In Canal St. Martin.
Pierre Herme. For great pastries and macarons.
RATP for transport info including the "carnet" of 10 tickets.
Rodin Museum.
West Country Girl (crepes).
What are the best boulangeries and patisseries in Paris for each arrondissement? (Quora).
What are the best places to buy cheese in Paris? (Quora).
Where are best vintage stores in Paris? (Quora).
Where are the best flea markets in Paris? (Quora).

Org mode bookmarks

Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

London bar backlog

Tue, 11 Sep 2018 00:00:00 GMT

Soho

68 and Boston (cocktails and wine bar).

London food backlog

Sun, 08 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

B_acklog

Saporitalia (Italian/pizza), Notting Hill.

Menus | Lunch, Dinner, Sunday Roast - Blacklock.

Food & Drink - The Barbary | Covent Garden Restaurant | Neal's Yard | London.

Pophams Bakery.

Yipin China | Restaurants in Islington, London.

Sunday (breakfast).

The Quince Tree Cafe London (Cafe), Paddington.

Bombay Bustle (Indian), Mayfair.

Kyseri (modern turkish), Fitzrovia.

Pied a Terre (fine dining), Fitzrovia.

The Ledbury (fine dining), Notting Hill.

Flour and Grape (Pasta), Bermondsey.

Honi Pokē (poke), Soho.

ZIA LUCIA (pizza), Highbury Islington.

Yeast Bakery.

Pavillion Cafe.

Palm Vaults.

Angel

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Shawarma Bar - Berber and Q.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Bombay Burrito (Indian burrito takeaway & restaurant: Angel, Islington).

Baker Street

[DONE]{.done .DONE} L’ANTICA PIZZERIA DA MICHELE (Pizza), Baker Street.

Barbican

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sushi Tetsu (must book, well in advance).

Barnsbury

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sunday (breakfast, cafe, working).

Battersea

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Tonkotsu (ramen).

Brick Lane

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Chez Elles (french).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Fika (Swedish, cinnamon buns, coffee).

Bermondsey

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Druid Street market

FAT London (Kimchee ).
& Cultured butter.

Bethnal Green

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Lahpet (Burmese) <2018-12-02 Sun> <2018-12-27 Thu>

id: lahpet-burmese-2018-12-02-sun-2018-12-27-thu

Brixton

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Nanban (Japanese soul food).

Borough

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Padella (great fresh pasta).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Roasting Plant: Fresh Roasted Coffee <2019-01-15 Tue>

Camberwell

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sun of Camberwell (Roast beef, Yorkshire, and sticky toffee pudding).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Silk Road (Chinese, Lamb/cumin skewers).

Canada Water

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Chuck burger (truck).

Cannon street

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Brigadiers (Indian) <2019-01-22 Tue>

Chiswick

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Coffee Traveller <2019-01-16 Wed>

Covent Garden

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Punjab (Punjabi).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 鼎泰豐・Din Tai Fung・ディンタイフォン・딘타이펑 (soup dumplings) <2019-03-12 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Little Kolkata (London Restaurant - Kolkata Spirits) <2019-03-12 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Duende (modern Spanish).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Rock & Sole Plaice (fish and chips).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Timber Yard (coffee, working).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Chicks 'n' Sours.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Jidori (chicken yakitori) <2018-12-02 Sun>

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Dishoom (Indian), try Lamb raan.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Sagar (South Indian): Great food!

Clapham

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Joe Public Pizza.

Crouch end

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Haberdashery (coffee, working).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Blend (coffee, working).

Ealing

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Kiraku (Sushi).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Wa Cafe (Japanese Patiserie).

Earls court

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} MAM (Vietnamese) <2018-12-02 Sun>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Jollibee UK (filipino fried chicken/fast food) <2019-03-12 Tue>

Edware road

[DONE]{.done .DONE} GOGI (korean): Average. Also, they lied to me and apologized with £10 credit.

Euston

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Roti King (Indian/Pakistani/Singaporean): 40, Doric Way, Euston, NW1 1LH.

Farringdon

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quality Chop House.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Daddy Donkey (Mexican).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} J+A (coffe, working).

Fitzrovia

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Indian YMCA (inexpensive Indian).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Pastificio al dente (Italian, fresh pasta) <2019-03-12 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} House of Ho (Vietnamese).

Golders Green

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Cafe Japan (Sushi).

Hackney

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Pidgin.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} DabbaDrop (Indian delivery subscription).

Hammersmith

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Indian Zing (Indian): It was OK (not great).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Dragon cat cafe (bubble tea and wheel cake). <2019-07-14 Sun>

Hamstead

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Jin Kichi (Japanese).

Harrow

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mazar (Afghan).

Hatch End

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Chuck Burger.

Holborn

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Prufrock Café (coffee, working).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Good & Proper (coffee, tea, working).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Noble Rot (wine bar/food) <2019-01-22 Tue>

Holloway Road

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Xi'an impression (Xi'an)

Islington

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Delhi Grill (Indian), try chicken makhani and naan.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} BabaBoom (the kebab makers) <2018-12-02 Sun>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Roots N1 (Indian).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The pig and butcher (sunday roast).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Busan BBQ (Korean meets American diner/burgers and fried chicken).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Smokehouse Islington.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Katsuke 100 (Japanese tea/cake room). <2019-07-14 Sun>

Kensington

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Clarke's, try the burger.

Kensal Green

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Centro Galego de Londres (Gallician).

Kentish town

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Fields Beneath (coffee, working).

King's Cross

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Itadaki Zen.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} German Gymnasium.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Yeah! Burger at Star of Kings.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Wing Wing (Korean fried chicken)s.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sambal Shiok known for laksa and satai burger. <2019-07-14 Sun>

Leicester square

Curry House Ichibanya UK Japanese Restaurant London WC2H <2019-03-12 Tue>.

Leytonstone

Singburi (Thai) <2019-05-07 Tue>.

Liverpool street

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Gunpowder (Indian).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Cinnamon Kitchen (Indian).

London Bridge

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Santo Remedio (Mexican).

Marylebone

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Fischer's (Austrian). Great atmosphere and schnitzel. Not cheap.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Nambutei (Sushi).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Lurra (Basque).

Mayfair

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mayfair chippy (Fish and chips).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ikeda (Japanese).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} THE ARAKI (Sushi) / pricey.

Mornington Crescent

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Asakusa (Japanese).

Notting Hill

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Blend (coffee, working).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The continental pantry.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} MAM (Vietnamese) <2018-12-02 Sun>

Old Street

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sardine (French).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sasuke (ramen).

Olympia

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Aborz (Iranian). <2018-12-27 Thu>

Oxford street

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Roti Chai (Indian).

Peckham

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ganapati (South Indian).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Begging Bowl (Thai) <2019-05-07 Tue>.

Piccadilly

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Urban tea rooms (coffee/tea/brunch) <2019-03-12 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Machiya (Japanese comfort) <2018-12-02 Sun>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} YORI-Korean Restaurant <2019-03-12 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Rochelle Canteen @ The Institute of Contemporary Arts (ICA) (Pie and ping Sunday special) <2019-02-12 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Dark Chocolate Coated Chocolate Pearl, 190g - Fortnum & Mason <2020-06-14 Sun>.

Putney

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} authentic Japanese restaurant in Putney - Tomoe, London Traveller Reviews - TripAdvisor.

Sheppherds bush

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Caco & Co (Portuguese cafe). <2019-07-14 Sun>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Chop chop (Noodle bar). <2019-07-14 Sun>

Shoreditch

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mast Brothers chocolate makers.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sagardi (basque).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Look mum no hands (cofee, working).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} J+A (coffe, working).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Good & Proper (coffee, tea, working).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Smokestak (BBQ).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Pho Viet 68 (Banh mi).

Sloane Square

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Rasoi (Indian).

Soho

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Le Hanoi (Vietnamese) <2018-12-02 Sun>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Cay Tre (Vietnamese) <2018-12-02 Sun>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Viet Food (Vietnamese) <2018-12-02 Sun>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Tao Tao Ju (Dim sum) <2018-12-02 Sun>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Lokhandwala London (Top Indian Tapas Restaurant & Bar in London) <2019-01-15 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} DUM biryani (Indian) <2019-01-15 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Pastaio (Italian, fresh pasta) <2019-01-15 Tue>.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Bun House (ie. pork buns).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Temper restaurant (BBQ/tapas).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Golden Union (fish bar).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Melt Room (Cheese toasties).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Shotgun (BBQ).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Smack Lobster (Lobster rolls).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Smoking Goat (Thai), highly recommended.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Atari Ya (Sushi).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Yumi Izakaya (Japanese).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Jugemu (Japanese).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Darjeeling Express (Indian).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Hoppers Dosas, Rice, Roast, Kothu & Arrack (Sri Lanka and Tamil Nadu).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Timber Yard (coffee, working).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Pizza Pilgrims.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Kiln (Thai), highly recommended.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} BAO (Bao buns! enough said).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} SAID (italian chocolate shop). Awesome hot chocolate.

Southhall

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Brilliant restaurant (healthier Indian). <2018-12-27 Thu>

id: brilliant-restaurant-healthier-indian.-2018-12-27-thu

Southbank

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Tonkotsu (ramen).

South Kensington

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Hour Glass (Pub restaurant).

Smithfield

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Bird of Smithfield (Sheppherd's pie, ox cheek, cheesecake).

Spitafields

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Som Saa (Thai), highly recommended. <2018-12-27 Thu>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Lahpet (Burmese) <2018-12-02 Sun>

Strand

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} India Club (around for 50 years) <2019-05-21 Tue>

Stoke Newingtom

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Haberdashery (coffee, working).

Tottenham Court Road.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Kanada-Ya (rammen): Not bad.

Tower Hill

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} M. Manze (pie and mash).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Maltby street market.

Tufnell Park

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Monsoon (Indian), try lamb naga.

Turnham Green

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Chief Coffee.

Victoria

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Dominique Ansel Bakery (Bakery) <2019-01-22 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Dominique Ansel Bakery <2018-12-11 Tue>

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Bleeker (burger) <2019-01-22 Tue>

Walthamstow

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Grillstock BBQ.

Waterloo

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Laughing Gravy.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Zen China.

West Hamstead

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Nautilus (fish and chips).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mamacita (Mexican).

Whitechapel

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Lahore Kebab House, try seekh kebabs with roti.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sushinoen.

Wimbledon

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Dalchini (Indian), try spicy cocunut fish curry.

UX bookmarks

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Recipes

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Jeera rice (cumin rice)

Sizzle spices (40 seconds)

1 tablespoon oil
1 teaspoon cumin seeds
4 cloves
2 black cardamon pods
1 cinnamon stick

Sautee onion (2 mins or browned/opaque)

1 small yellow onion (chopped)

Sautee rice + salt (1 minute)

2 cups of basmati rice
1.2 teaspoon of salt

Boil, then partially cover and simmer (8 minutes or water gone)

4 cups water

Rest 5 minutes (covered)

Slow-cooked lamb

Preheat oven: 240°C (no fan) 220°C (fan).
Lamb face up in tray.
Cook for 30 mins (or brown).
Take lamb out.
Add to tray: broth, onions, rosemary.
Lamb face down (broth covers 1/3 or 1/4).
Cover with lid (or baking/parchment paper then 2 layers of foil).
Bake for 3.5 hours at 180°C (no fan).
Take out.
Turn lamb face up (over again). Check if liquid needs top-up.
Cook for 2 more hours.
Check if ready. Does meat fall off the bone with fork?
If not, keep for another 30 mins. Check again.
You are done ø/.

Tom Kha Gai soup

Chicken or Prawns
2 kaffir lime leaves
1 lemongrass stalk
1 1/2 cocunut milk
3/4 sliced fresh galaghal
1 1/2 chicken stock or water
1/2 cup mushrooms
3 1/2 tbsp sugar
1/2 cup of cilantro
1-4 thai chillies
1-2 tbsp chili oil
1 green onion

Veg-Fruit juice

Lime
Ginger
Apple
Chilly
Celery
Fig
Blueberries

Berry Hempster

Hemp milk
Hemp protein
Strawberry
Blueberry
Date

How to cook Beef Chow Fun.

Cavolo nero with anchovies, chilli and garlic.

Vietnamese Pork Lettuce Wraps (my own versions)

Pork Mince.
Chopped garlic.
Chopped chillies.
Chopped ginger.
4 tablespoons of soy sauce.
2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar.
Sesame oil (for cooking mince).
Half tablespoon of coconut sugar.
Lettuces (for wrapping).

Music backlog

Sat, 07 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} CatMeows: A Publicly-Available Dataset of Cat Vocalizations | Zenodo.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Pay What You Want (bandcamp).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Zontali on Twitter: "Name one of your most emotionally resonant songs, and I ….

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Generative.fm.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Diminished Fifth.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Archive of Indian music.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Budhaditya Mukherjee.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Debashish Bhattcharya.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Halim Jafar Khan and his Disciples - Sitar Quintet - LP published in India in 1968.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Harjinderpal Singh.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Jayanthi Kumaresh.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Kayhan Kalhor.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Malaya Chalo.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mehboob Nadeem.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Nirmalya Dey.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Zia Mohiuddin.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Music sites

UX scrapbook bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Travel blog bookmarks

Fri, 09 Oct 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Travel bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Startup bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Romania travel bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Productivity tips backlog

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} AnyBar: OS X menubar status indicator (color dot).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} mercury (fuzzy tab search).

Productivity bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

10 fast fingers (improve typing skills).
Day One Journal
Dotfiles for insane productivity in bash, git, and vim.
EricaJoy on Twitter: "so folks, what are your #1 tools for remote work?.
How to Get Things Done When You Don't Feel Like It (Hacker News).
How to return to the flow faster (Hacker News).
How to return to the flow faster | Code Jamming.
jrnl: Likely what I've been looking for journaling from command line.
Noisli - Improve Focus and Boost Productivity with Background Noise.
Pocket.
Reflecting On One Year of Remote Work - DEV Community.
The Ultimate Guide to Personal Productivity Methods.
Tricks to start working despite not feeling like it | Hacker News.
Yan's dot files: For peeking.
Yan's productivity tips: Also to try.
Zotero.

Privacy bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Lifestyle/wellbeing/health bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Graphics bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

gif.js.
Icicles: Data viz.
inkpanther2 graphics or logo commissions.
List of best websites for downloading free SVGs.
Protoviz: Data viz.
Svg animation info: Potentially useful for some ideas in mind.
Svg within svg: Potentially useful for some ideas in mind.
where to find svgs.

Nexus Q bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Golang bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

GitHub bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Courses bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Reload inputrc

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Reload .iputrc from bash prompt: C-x C-r. More at bashref manual.

Learning Emacs lisp

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Use nreverse and nconc to operate on lists in-place.
Set buffer local variables:

(setq-local my-clever-var)

Execute before saving buffer:

(add-hook 'write-file-hooks
          (lambda ()
            (message "about to save!")))

Possibly use to start processes and send file content:

(make-comint NAME PROGRAM &optional STARTFILE &rest SWITCHES)

Creating markers:

(setq my-marker (copy-marker (point)))
  #

(marker-buffer my-marker)
  #

(marker-position my-marker)
  10251 (#o24013, #x280b, ?⠋)

Get org heading at point:

(org-get-heading 'no-tags 'no-todo)

Remove string text properties. From manual:

(substring-no-properties STRING &optional FROM TO)

Return a substring of STRING, without text properties. It starts at index FROM and ends before TO. TO may be nil or omitted; then the substring runs to the end of STRING. If FROM is nil or omitted, the substring starts at the beginning of STRING. If FROM or TO is negative, it counts from the end.

Skip org entry metadata/drawers:

(org-end-of-meta-data-and-drawers)

Random access to org entry using id (or CUSTOM_ID):

(org-open-link-from-string "[[#%exciting-custom-id]]")

From Debugging Elisp Part 1: Earn your independence:

Go to where the function is defined.

Press C-u C-M-x. Edebug breakpoint for function.

Invoke function in question.

n/c will get you around.

q when done.

Pretty printing objects:

(let ((my-var (list "val1"
                    "val2"
                    "val3")))
  (pp-to-string my-var))

Search and/or replace in curent buffer:

(re-search-forward "needle"
                   nil t)
(match-beginning 0) ;; Start location of match from last search.
(match-end 0) ;; End location of match from last search.
(replace-match "love")

;; needle-in-haystack

Restrict buffer editing to a region:

(narrow-to-region (point)
                  (point-max))

Restore restriction:

(save-restriction (narrow-to-region (point)
                                    (point-max))

Restore point, mark, and current buffer:

(save-excursion (goto-char (point-max))
                (insert "Hello elisp."))

Concatenating strings:

(concat "Hello " "elisp " "world.")

Grabbing thing at point:

(thing-at-point 'word)
(thing-at-point 'symbol)
(thing-at-point 'line)

Unit test with ert.
Basic iteration with dolist:

(dolist (v '("a" "b" "c"))
  (print v))

Output to other buffer:

(with-current-buffer (get-buffer-create "*some buffer*")
  (princ '(some list to print)
         (current-buffer)))

For a temporary buffer, use with-temp-buffer:

(with-temp-buffer
  (insert "abc")
  (point))

Cons cells bookmark.
Check for substring:

(string-match-p REGEXP STRING &optional START)

Matching substrings and accessing groups:

(setq haystack "Always click [[http://reddit.com/r/emacs][here]].")
(setq needle-re "\\[\\[\\(.*\\)]\\[\\(.*\\)]]")
  "\\[\\[\\(.*\\)]\\[\\(.*\\)]]"

(string-match needle-re haystack)
  13 (#o15, #xd, ?\C-m)

(match-string 0 haystack)
  "[[http://reddit.com/r/emacs][here]]"

(match-string 1 haystack)
  "http://reddit.com/r/emacs"

(match-string 2 haystack)
  "here"

Return argument unchanged (noop):

(identity ARG)

Org insert today's timestamp

(org-insert-time-stamp (current-time))

OS version in .emacs: Determine OS in emacs lisp.
First element

(car LIST)

All but first element

(cdr LIST)

Add NEWELT to front of PLACE

(push NEWELT PLACE)

Invoke 'FUNCTION for each in SEQUENCE

(mapcar FUNCTION SEQUENCE)

Search/replace

(while (search-forward "Hello")
  (replace-match "Bonjour"))

Save to kill ring = copy.
Point = cursor position.
Mark = a buffer position.
Kill = cut text.
Yank = paste.
Buffer:File = 1:1.
Window:Buffer = 1:1.
Frame:Window = 1:many.
Font lock = syntax highlighting.

Apple Watch bookmarks

Fri, 06 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Swift, Apple Watch, and Dynamic Graphs.

iOS bookmarks

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Kerala travel bookmarks

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Bagel Shop, 30 Pali Mala Road, off Carter Road, Bandra (W) (+91 22 2605-0178). Daily 9.00AM-10.00PM. Meal for two R500-R800.
Hotel Natraj, 22-24 City Station Road, Udaipur (near Bapu Bazaar), +91-294-2487488, +91-94147-57893,
Kala Ghoda Café,10 Ropewalk Lane, Kala Ghoda (+91 22 2263-3866). Daily 8.30AM-11.30PM. Meal for two R600.
Kochin (Fort Kochin) - old port town with Chinese, Portuguese, Dutch, British and Jewish heritage.
Munnar - hill station and centre of tea, coffee and spice growing. Great hiking and spectacular views.
Periyar Wildlife Sanctuary.
Suzette, Atlanta Building, Nariman Point (+91 22 2288-0055). Daily 9.00AM-11.00PM. Also at Bandra. Meal for two R600-R1,000.
Varkala - chilled out beach resort.
Yoga House, 53 Chimbai Road, behind St Andrew's Church, off Hill Road, Bandra (W)(+91 22 6554- 5001). Daily 7.00AM-10.30PM.

India travel bookmarks

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

A Guide to the Breads of India (Hacker News).
A route: blore - pune - mumbai - ahmedabad - mt abu - udaipur - jaipur - amritsar - chandigarh - jammu - srinagar - kargil - leh.
Abandoned Bhangarh Fort, India | Grounds View.
Abandoned Bhangarh Fort, India | Temple Detail.
Abandoned Bundi Palace, India | Grand Wedge.
Abandoned Cannon Factory, India | Elephant Columns.
Abandoned Cannon Factory, India | Interior Room.
Abandoned Jahangir Mahal Palace, Orchha India | Lovely Symmetry.
Abandoned Laxminarayan Temple, Orchha India | Hallway View.
Abandoned Raniji Ki Baori Stepwell, Bundi India | Columns.
Akshardham (Delhi).
Archeological survey of india sites.
Belur temple mysore.
Bhaja caves, pune, maharashtra.
Bhang.
Bodh gaya.
Budbudyanchi tali (bubbling pond) at netravali, sanguem, goa.
Chand baori (Wikipedia).
Chand baori.
Chandipur Beach.
Chittorgarh.
Darjeeling Himalayan Railway Toy Train: Essential Guide.
Daulatabad fort.
dawnoflife07's India trip/pictures.
Descent of the Ganges (Mahabalipuram).
Dining with the Dead at the New Lucky Restaurant.
Dr. Bhau Daji Lad museum.
Emergencies: +1-650-253-5555.
Gaya, Bihar.
Gwalior.
Halibid temple.
Hampi.
India on zeef.
India's most beautiful stepwells and how to visit them - Lonely Planet.
IRCTC Tourism (A government of India enterprise).
Jil jil jigarthanda.
Jodhpur.
Kalyani/Pushkarini at Hulikere near Halebeedu,KA built by Hoysalas.
Karni Mata (rats temple).
Khajuraho.
Khandala.
Khotachi Wadi.
Kovalam beach.
Lonavala.
Mahabaleshwar.
Mahabalipuram.
Manali travel | India, Asia - Lonely Planet.
Manali, Himachal Pradesh.
Manali.
Mumbai - Bademita: chicken tikka.
Mumbai - Bagdadi restaurant.
Mumbai - Banaganga lake (Banganga cross lane).
Mumbai - Bhel puri (find in stalls).
Mumbai - Cafe Britannia (Kumtha St or Adi Murzaban Path with Shahid Bhaghat Singh Rd).
Mumbai - Crawford market: revivat Indian thali.
Mumbai - Eat Mumbai – make the most of India's foodie capital.
Mumbai - Elephanta caves.
Mumbai - Pali Market.
Mumbai - The times of India: masala dosa.
Mumbai - University of Mumbai.
Mumbai - Vada pav (find in stalls).
Mumbai - Victoria station: chai.
Mumbai- 10 of the best food in Mumbai.
My India travel Bucket List.
Nagpur.
New Taj Mahal cafe, Mangalore Buns (banana).
Orchha.
Panchgani.
Pandavleni caves, nashik, maharashtra.
Radhanagar beach.
Rishikesh.
Sabarmati Ashram.
Satyagraha Ashram (founded by Gandhi).
Shimla (forest/trees) - Lonely Planet.
Things to do in Pune (Quora).
Uttarakhand travel | India, Asia - Lonely Planet.
Varanasi.
Vijaya Nagara, India Centuries-old temples and statues surround Hampi, in southwest India, making up what’s left of the once-powerful city..
Vipassana pagoda.
Welcome Ajanta, India (Shishu's site).
Western Ghats.

Git bookmarks

Thu, 05 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Language learning bookmarks

Wed, 04 Mar 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Git conflict resolution déjà vu?

Wed, 18 Feb 2015 00:00:00 GMT

use git rerere. here's a post.

Graphics design tools bookmarks

Sat, 17 Jan 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs key bindings and maps

Thu, 23 Apr 2015 00:00:00 GMT

based on masteringemacs.org.

bonus tip

prefix key, followed by c-h, lists keys in prefix.

keymap

maps key to action.

keymap found in buffer and most major modes.

keys

undefined: self explanatory.
prefix key: ie. c-x (part of complete key).
complete key: complete input executes associated command.

mapping

(define-key keymap key def): add to current buffer map.
(local-set-key key command): add to active buffer (no map option).
(local-unset-key key)
(global-set-key key command): add to global keymap (all buffers).
(global-unset-key key)

key codes

kbd: macro transaltes human-readable key to emacs readable.
function and navigation keys must be surrounded by <>.
example: (kbd "c-c p") or (kbd "") of (kbd "").

remapping

use remap to replace mapping (ie. kill-line with my/kill-line).
(define-key keymap [remap original-function] 'my-own-function).

reserved keys

"c-c ?" generally reserved for you, but third party packages use it.
function keys (ie. f1-f12).
hyper and super (ancient).

lookup order

in a nutshell: minor mode keys, local keys, global keys.
full order:
1. overriding-terminal-local-map: terminal-specific key binds.
2. overriding-local-map: override all other local keymaps (avoid if possible).
3. char property at point: useful for yasnippet.
4. emulation-mode-map-alists: advanced multi-mode keymap.
5. minor-mode-overriding-map-alist: minor modes in major modes.
6. minor-mode-map-alist: as previous (preferred for minor modes) <—–
7. current-local-map: buffers current local map.
8. current-global-map: last place to look (ie. global).

mode hooks

(local-set-key (kbd "c-c q") 'my-awesome-method)) in hook-method.
for key-chord-define, use current-local-map.

Video backlog

Tue, 30 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Frank Ostaseski: "Inviting the Wisdom of Death into Life".

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Adam Curtis HyperNormalisation HD - YouTube.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} YouTube’s top creators are burning out (Hacker News).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Donald Knuth Lectures - YouTube.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Rashomon by Akira Kurosawa.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Seeing spaces.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} An exclusive seminar with Julian Assange.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The (Secret) City of London, Part 1: History.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The (Secret) City of London, Part 2: History.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The UK Gold.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Terra Plana - Learning the skill of barefoot running.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Science of Compassion ॐ Mata Amritanandamayi ॐ Documentary.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Rich Hickey Talks (clojure).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Redux: The Single Immutable State Tree screencast.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Anders Hejlsberg and Lars Bak: TypeScript, JavaScript, and Dart.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} How To Travel… The Slow Hustle Way.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 2015-12-10 Emacs Chat - John Wiegley.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} How To Order Salads From Inside Emacs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} An introduction to Emacs Lisp.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 12 Challenging Steps to Being a Better Interviewer – Cate Huston at The Lead Developer 2015.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Born Rich: Children Of The Insanely Wealthy.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Emacs for writers.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Frugal fire 002: justin mccurry (rootofgood).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Graham Hancock – The War on Consciousness.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Griefwalker.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} How to win the loser's game.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} John Green's "Crash Course History" videos.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Matthieu Ricard Leads a Meditation on Altruistic Love and Compassion.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Matthieu Ricard: "Altruism" | Talks at Google.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Nick Hanauer – Rich People Don’t Create Jobs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Programming is terrible — Lessons learned from a life wasted.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Rupert Sheldrake – The Science of Delusion.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Surya Namaskar stretches.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Emacs of distros.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Known Universe by AMNH.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Juliet Schor Iris Nights: Re-Thinking Materialism.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} The Internets own boy.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} BBC's secret of levitation.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Hold Fast.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} This is water, commencement speech.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} This is water.

Flight-booking bookmarks

Fri, 12 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Frugal bookmarks

Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Charities bookmarks

Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Toilet paper that builds toilets (Who Gives A Crap UK).

Origami bookmarks

Thu, 18 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Movie backlog

Tue, 30 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Watch The Åre Murders | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Watch SAKAMOTO DAYS | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mishima: A Life in Four Chapters (1985) - IMDB.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Drive My Car (2021) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Suicide Squad (2021) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Movies that feel like you're watching an adaptation of the Cyberpunk RPG?.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Movies that get better with more viewings.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Zhang Yimou: China's Greatest Director | Part 2 .

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Take your pill.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A handful of choices, but Hundreds of Beavers caught my attention.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} https://www.metacritic.com

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Chalk line.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Anime Scene Search Engine - trace.moe.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Poorly Drawn Lines.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} VHYes (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Sandman (comic book) - Wikipedia

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Sandman (TV Series 2021– ) - IMDb

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Korean films/shows to watch

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Gemini man.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Tigertail (2020) - Rotten Tomatoes.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Buffaloed (2019) - Rotten Tomatoes.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 12 Hour Shift (2020) - Rotten Tomatoes.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} What's your favorite Kurosawa film?.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Korean Pork Belly Rhapsody | Netflix.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Back to Life | Netflix.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Best Movies of 2020 – Best New Films of the Year.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} if something happens.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Essentials Movie Recs - Google Sheets.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Hipsters (2008) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Den radio (2008) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Alyosha Popovich i Tugarin Zmey (2004) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Brilliantovaya ruka (1969) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Stalker (1979) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Solaris (1972) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Miss Hokusai (2015) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Hunt (2012) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Attack the Block: Trailer #2.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Upgrade (2018) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Way Back (2011) - Rotten Tomatoes.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Big Nothing (2006) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A Most Violent Year (2014) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Peanut Butter Falcon (2019) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Technotise - Edit i ja (2009) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Tetsuo: The Bullet Man (2009) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sleep Dealer.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sky Blue.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Paycheck (2003) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Returner (2002) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Cypher (2002) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Little Shop of Horrors (1986) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} To the Lake.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Throne of Blood (1957) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Raised by Wolves (TV Series 2020– ) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Untouchable (2011) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Midnight in Paris (2011) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Paris, je t'aime (2006) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Watch Alice in Paris | Prime Video.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Plan Coeur (TV Series 2018– ) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} what good shows are streaming rn?.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} First Cow | Where to Stream and Watch | Decider.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 'She Dies Tomorrow' Movie Review: A Person-to-Person Paranoia Pandemic.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} ‘Palm Springs,’ 2020’s Most Fun Movie.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 'Spaceship Earth': Why crazy new doc is must-watch quarantine viewing.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 'Don't Breathe' is latest movie to use Detroit as its scary setting.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Spaceship Earth (2020) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Reviews - zerokspot.com.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} TSP2013: Only Lovers Left Alive – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} TSP2008: Burn After Reading – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} TSP2009: The Limits of Control – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} TSP2002: Adaptation. – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} TSP2015: Trainwreck – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} If you could wave a wand and instantly have more episodes of one TV series that has already concluded, which series would you pick?.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Advisors Alliance - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The 300 Coda: My Top 50 Movies of 2018 and My Top 40.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Green Room (film) - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 'Relic' is a Masterclass in Independent Horror | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Hidden (Caché) (2005) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} OTB#1: Tokyo Story – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Into the Night | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Undone (TV Series 2019– ) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quarantine Staff Picks: Part 7 | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quarantine Staff Picks: Part 6 | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quarantine Staff Picks: Part 5 | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quarantine Staff Picks: Part 4 | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quarantine Staff Picks: Part 3 | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quarantine Staff Picks: Part 2 | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quarantine Staff Picks: Part 1 | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Quarantine Staff Picks: Part 8 | MovieBabble.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Gary Hustwit (filmography).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Helvetica, a documentary on typography.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} twitter: black documentaries that assist in understanding racism, prejudice, police brutality, and more.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} MovieBabble - The Casual Way to Discuss Movies.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} bitdepth.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Burning (2018) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} American Honey (2016) - Rotten Tomatoes.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Undone.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Wire - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ajin: Demi-Human - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Halt and Catch Fire.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A Beginner's Guide To Afrofuturism: 7 Titles To Watch And Read.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sunbeam city wiki: Solarpunk.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Goldmund on Twitter: Watched Fight Club, thought about it, and realized why ….

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Chance on Twitter: Post your favorite movie..

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 January 4th: Lionheart – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 January 18th: Soni – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 December 31st: Ghost Stories – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 November 15th: Klaus – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 October 18th: Seventeen – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 August 2nd: Otherhood – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 May 30th: Chopsticks – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 May 24th: The Perfection – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} NFLX2019 July 31st: The Red Sea Diving Resort – Random Thoughts.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Paris is Us.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Directors’ top 100 | BFI.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} It Follows - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The 20 Best Cyberpunk Movies of All Time.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ragnarok | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Home – Neon Dystopia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Patriot (Amazon)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Expanse (Amazon)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Boys (Amazon)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Last Kingdom (Netflix)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Witcher (Netflix)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Travelers (Netflix)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} If I Only Hadn’t Met You (Netflix)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Peaky Blinders (Netflix)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Catch-22 (Hulu)

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} American Factory - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} October Faction | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Transfers | Netflix.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ad Vitam | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} On Children | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Perfume | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Gift | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ares | Netflix Official Site.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Demon Slayer: Kimetsu no Yaiba - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Yuri on Ice.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Twitter: "Has anyone here seen Parasite?".

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} White House Down (2013) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} American Sniper (2014) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Hannibal Burress, Hasan Minhaj, Neal Brennan, Dave Chappelle.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Insider (film) - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} I need recommendations for shows/movies (preferably on Netflix).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Taste of Tea.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Japanology Episodes List.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Japanology Plus - TV | NHK WORLD-JAPAN Live & Programs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} David Attenborough's Our Planet.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Infernal Affairs - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Victoria Aveyard on Twitter: "when your roommate asks for a Marvel watch list with commentary… ".

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} ROMA.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Killing of a Sacred Deer (2017).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Private Life.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} You Were Never Really Here.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sorry to Bother You.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Game Night.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Support the Girls.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Steven Yeun, Burning.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A Simple Favor.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ask HN: Mind blowing documentaries?.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The 21st Century’s Most Acclaimed Films (including films from 2000).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Koyaanisqatsi.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mifune: The Last Samurai (2015) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sunshine Superman (2014) - IMDb.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Under the Sun (Netflix): "Under the Sun keeps forcing us to ponder why we watch representations of real life and what we think we’re learning about reality in the process".

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Peter and the Farm (Netflix).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Lessons of Darkness - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The story of stuff.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Immortality.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ichi the killer.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Audition.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Happiness of the Katakuris.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Agitator.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Gozu.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Outrage.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Minbo.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Blues harp.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Goyokin.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The hidden blade.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Wild Tales.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Road.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Moon.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Who am I.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Tarkovsky films.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Snowpiercer.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Kubo and the two strings.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Spotlight.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Creed.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Innocence of memories.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The revenant.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Big short.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Pressure Cooker.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Bob and David.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Akira kurosawa director.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} All About Eve.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Babadook.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Death to Smoochy.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Enter the void, by gaspar noe.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Four horsemen.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Hirokazu koreeda director.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Naomi kawaze director.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Nostalghia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sion sono director.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Solyaris

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Stalker

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Takashi kitano director.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Takashi miike director.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The connection.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The mirror

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Silent Partner.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Uncle boonmee who can recall his past lives, by apichatpong weerasethakul.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Waking life, by rickard linklater.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Xah Lee's movie list.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Halt and Catch Fire (TV Series 2014–2017) - IMDb.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Twinsters.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Mindhunter (Netflix)

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Altered Carbon (Netflix)

OBSOLETE Narcos (Netflix)

[DONE]{.done .DONE} The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel (Amazon)

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Sneaky Pete (Amazon)

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Ozark (Netflix)

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Midnight Diner: Tokyo Stories (Netflix)

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Dark (Netflix)

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Altered Carbon | Netflix Official Site.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} The Men Who Made Us Spend - a really amazing 3 part documentary from the BBC on spending and consumerism.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Annihilation (film) - Wikipedia.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} 13 Assasins <2018-12-27 Thu>.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} 7 Samurai <2018-12-27 Thu>.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Dogs of Berlin (TV Series 2018– ) - IMDb.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Tidying Up with Marie Kondo.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} The True cost.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Awake, the life of yogananda.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Birdman.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Boyhood.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} She A Chinese.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Wet Hot American Summer.

Microservices bookmarks

Mon, 29 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Books backlog

Tue, 30 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Frank Bennett: "20 books that have had an impact on who you are. …" - Indiewe….

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} ‎Swift Secrets on Apple Books.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Island: Amazon.co.uk: Aldous Huxley: 9780099477778: Books.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Amazon.com: Hieroglyph: Stories and Visions for a Better Future eBook.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Meredith: The Future of Silicon Valley (fiction).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Working in Public: The Making and Maintenance of Open Source Software eBook.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} No More Mr Nice Guy: A Proven Plan for Getting What You Want.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Thread on Wask Factory (more titles).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Wasp Factory - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Book recommendation thread by Maris Kreizman.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Extreme Privacy: What It Takes to Disappear: Bazzell, Michael: 9798643343707.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 'You Are Not So Smart': Why We Can't Tell Good Wine From Bad - The Atlantic.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Deficit Myth - Stephanie Kelton.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Metadata: Forty book recommendations.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Solarpunk (62 books).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Bolo’bolo | The Anarchist Library.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The velvet monkey wrench : Muir, John, 1918-.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Solarpunk Community Discord List (108 books).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Launch: An Internet Millionaire's Secret Formula to Sell Almost anything online.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Psychology of Money: The Psychology of Money: Timeless lessons on wealth, greed, and happiness.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Recommendations | The Quill to Live.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} My 2020 Reading List · FumbLing.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Auto by David Wailing.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ask HN: Book recommendations for understanding financial systems? | Hacker News.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Andromeda (novel) - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} SOLARPUNK : A REFERENCE GUIDE - Solarpunks - Medium.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Final Circle of Paradise - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Here's a visual of my 35 favorite books of the decade..

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Cyberpunk: Then and Now | Hacker News.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Accelerate: The Science of Lean Software and Devops.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Drive: The Surprising Truth About What Motivates Us | Hacker News Books.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Pachinko (novel) - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Paul Hudson on Twitter: Can you recommend some manga?.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Dan Abramov: Please point me to a book about programming that isn't boring.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} John's Amazon wishlist.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Super Thinking: Upgrade Your Reasoning and Make Better Decisions with Mental Models.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Gut: the inside story of our body's most under-rated organ.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Evan Sandhoefner on Twitter: Which books/papers/talks/etc have blown your mind / changed your worldview significantly?.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} JOY ON DEMAND: The Art of Discovering the Happiness Within.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 8 Minute Meditation Expanded : Quiet Your Mind. Change Your Life.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mindfulness in Plain English: 20th Anniversary Edition: Amazon.co.uk.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Bettina Bauer: What is your favorite Science Fiction novel? (twitter).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Altered Traits: Science Reveals How Meditation Changes Your Mind, Brain, and Body.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Junk Food Japan: Addictive Food from Kurobuta.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ask HN: Recommend one book I need to read this summer?.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} I am a cat (Soseki Natsume).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Thinking in Systems: A Primer: Amazon.co.uk: Diana Wright, Donella H. Meadows: 9781844077250: Books.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Casting SPELs in Lisp (Emacs edition).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Land of lisp.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Juggling for the Complete Klutz by John Cassidy.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Snow Crash - Wikipedia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Little Book of Common Sense Investing, Updated and Revised.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Little LISPer, Third Edition: 9780023397639: Computer Science Books @ Amazon.com.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Superfast Lead at speed.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A company of one.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Shoe Dog: A Memoir by the Creator of NIKE.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Caitlin Doughty's top 8 books from 2018.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Global Economy as you've never seen it.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Replay.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Siddhartha: A Novel.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Out (novel) by Natsuo Kirino.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Folklore, Folktales, and Fairy Tales from Japan: A Digital Library.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Kitchen by Banan Yashimoto.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Overspent American: Why We Want What We Don't Need Paperback.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Enough by Patrick Rhone.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Hot Air has a nice selection.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Domain-Driven Design: Tackling Complexity in the Heart of Software 1st Edition.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Seeing like a State: How Certain Schemes to Improve the Human Condition Have Failed Paperback.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Conquest of Abundance: A Tale of Abstraction versus the Richness of Being 2nd Edition.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Wisdom of No Escape: And the Path of Loving-Kindness.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Anatomy of Peace: Resolving the Heart of Conflict.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Millionaire Next Door.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Refactoring: Improving the Design of Existing Code.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Touched by the Goddess: On Ramanujan (Hacker News).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Kundalini – An Untold Story: A Himalayan Mystic's Insight into the Power of Kundalini and Chakra Sadhana.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Show HN: Top books mentioned in comments on Hacker News.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Prime of Miss Jean Brodie (novel).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Plan B.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Deskbound.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Way of Wanderlust: The Best Travel Writing of Don George (Travelers' Tales).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} We (novel).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Top Books on Amazon Based on Links in Hacker News Comments (Hacker News).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} I'm OK, You're OK (Thomas A. Harris).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mistakes Were Made (but not by me) (Tavris/Aronson).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Crucial Conversations (Patterson, Kelly…).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} When Prophecy Fails (Festinger).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Influence (Robert Cialdini).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Seven Day Weekend (Ricardo Semler).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Elements of Style (various).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Man Who Sold the Eiffel Tower (various).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} How to talk to anyone (Leil Lowndes).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and the Heroic in History by Thomas Carlyle.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Edwin Sir Arnold's The Light of Asia.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Edwin Sir Arnold's The Song Celestial or Bhagavad-Gita.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 50 great curries of india.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} 8 Week to optimum health.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Building Microservices.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} First Opium War essay.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Full catastrophe living.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} goodreads.com.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Leaving Microsoft to Change the world.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Letters from a stoic.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Michael's bookshelf.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Neil degrasse tyson's reading list.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} On the Road, by Jack Kerouac.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Public domain audio books.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Royal horticultural society's organic Gardening.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Salman Rushdie books.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Technopoly: The Surrender of Culture to Technology.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Songlines, Bruce Chatwin.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} The Walker's Guide to Outdoor Clues and Signs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Thing Explainer: Complicated Stuff in Simple Words.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Ultimate curry bible.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Veg patch.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} What Every JavaScript Developer Should Know About ECMAScript 2015.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Cameron Desautels's 2016 reading list.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Thinking Fast and Slow (Kahneman).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Autonomous by Annalee Newitz.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} This Book Is Full of Spiders by David Wong.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Why we sleep (twitter outline).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Flow: The Psychology of Optimal Experience.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Haruki Murakami.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel.

Gardening bookmarks

Mon, 29 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Emacs tips backlog

Wed, 03 Dec 2014 00:00:00 GMT

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Typit: typing game for Emacs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} pyimports.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Sriram Krishnaswamy's init.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Using a Node repl in Emacs with nvm and npm.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} arview.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} company-flx: fuzzy matching to company.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Integration of the Go 'guru' analysis tool into Emacs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} company-mode/company-statistics: Sort completion candidates by previous completion choices.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Rewrite git history with Emacs, magit and git rebase.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Code coverage highlighting for Emacs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} tramp-theme.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} cstyle.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} A go Emacs config.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Try out ox-twbs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Emacs Lisp function frequency.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} How to make yasnippet and company work nicer? (Stack Exchange).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} yasnippet-java-mode/java-snippets.el.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} font-lock-studio.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} buttercup.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} markdown-preview-eww.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} ediff-revision and magit-find-file to compare branches.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Flycheck linter for sh using checkbashisms.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} El Kanban Org: parse org-mode todo-states to use org-tables as Kanban tables.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Emacs iOS development (qiita).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Emacs iOS development (fujimisakari).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} encrypting org files.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} flycheck-pos-tip.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Writing Python Docstrings with Emacs.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Try Completion for Objective-C (Github diff).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Emacs fasd support.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} visual-regexp.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Open large files.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} company-sourcekit (Swift completion): sample config.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} emacs-java-imports.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} append-to-buffer.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} python-x: extras for interactive evaluation.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} outlined-elisp-mode.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} outlien-magic.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Gutter and linum+ config (see zvlex/dotfiles).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} kurecolor: Editing color.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} auto-insert-mode.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Buffer local cursor color: ccc.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} clang indexing tool: clang-tags.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Create custom theme: Trường's post.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} dired-hacks.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} gtd emacs workflow: Charles cave's notes.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} emacs-index-search (lookup subject in Emacs manual).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} info-apropos (lookup subject in all manuals).

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Jumping around tips: zerokspot.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Mac OS clipboard support (from terminal): pbcopy.

OBSOLETE Malabar mode: For Java.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Melpa recipe format:format.

OBSOLETE Naturaldocs for javascript: Vineet's post.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Org protocol: see irreal's post and oremacs's part 1 and part 2.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} org-multiple-keymap. More at org-multiple-keymap.el.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} org-reveal: Export org to reveal.js.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Practice touch/speed typing: speedtype.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} private configuration: private.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} project management for C/C++: malinka.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Project templates: skeletor.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Rewrite git logs. See emacs magit tutorial | rewrite older commit.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Selective display: Hide lines longer than.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} shell-command-on-region: Print inline with C-u M-|.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} shell-command: Print output inline with C-u M-!.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} Simplify media file transformations: make-it-so.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} yatemplate.

[TODO]{.todo .TODO} emacs-helm-xcdoc.

OBSOLETE Drill down org files using orgnav (helm-based).

OBSOLETE Prettier emacs. (use reformatter.el.)

OBSOLETE Spaceline walkthrough.

OBSOLETE Try out emacs Android debug (see this post).

OBSOLETE quickrun.el.

OBSOLETE Emacs for JavaScript.

OBSOLETE go-gopath.

OBSOLETE shift-number.el.

OBSOLETE https://github.com/xuchunyang/DevDocs.el.

OBSOLETE select-themes.

OBSOLETE Emacs purpose.

OBSOLETE Why are you changing gc-cons-threshold?.

OBSOLETE Corral.

OBSOLETE xcode-mode.

OBSOLETE commenter.

OBSOLETE Emacs JavaScript helpers.

OBSOLETE yahoo-weather-mode.

OBSOLETE Peek at peteyy's Javascript config.

OBSOLETE import-js.

OBSOLETE ES6 yasnippets.

OBSOLETE swank-js.

OBSOLETE TypeScript Interactive Development Environment for Emacs.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Try out cquery, emacs-lsp, and company-lsp.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} (setq projectile-use-git-grep t). <2018-12-27 Thu>

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Is there any easy way to make .org files password protected? (Reddit).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} use-package binding to different maps

(use-package term
  :bind
  (:map
   term-mode-map
   ("M-p" . term-send-up)
   ("M-n" . term-send-down)
   :map term-raw-map
   ("M-o" . other-window)
   ("M-p" . term-send-up)
   ("M-n" . term-send-down)))

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Emacs qrencode.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Smartparens.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Hash region.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} helm-ispell.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Pack/unpack files with atool on dired.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} company-shell.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} artbollocks-mode and writegood. More at Sacha's post.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} comint-prompt-read-only for making shell prompts read-only.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} org-page: Static blog.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} I just realized Emacs has a fast infix calculator that's not calc or quick-calc… (Reddit).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} How to get emacs key bindings in Ubuntu.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} org-autolist.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Move up by parens: More at the manual.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} sunrise-sunset.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} ace-window.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Checkdoc.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Choose magit repo c-u c-x g (magit-status).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} continue comment blocks: m-j (indent-new-comment-line).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Debug expanded elisp macros: See Wisdom and Wonder's post.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} delete-duplicate-lines

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Describe bindings: C-h b lists all bindings.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Disable furniture

(menu-bar-mode -1)
(toggle-scroll-bar -1)
(tool-bar-mode -1)

[DONE]{.done .DONE} elmacro shows keyboard as emacs lisp.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} yasnippet mirrors with transformations more at snippet development.

For example:

- (${1:id})${2:foo}
{
    return $2;
}

- (void)set${2:$(capitalize yas-text)}:($1)avalue
{
    [$2 autorelease];
    $2 = [avalue retain];
}
$0

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Emacs regex: Emacs: text pattern matching (regex) tutorial.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} export ascii art: artist mode + ditaa for uml. demo video.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} lispy.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} minimal: minimalist appearance.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Narrowing regions

c-x n n (narrow-to-region).
c-x n w (Widen).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} nxml-mode.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} org-beautify-theme: a sub-theme to make org-mode more beautiful.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Recursive query/replace

M-x find-dired RET.
Navigate to location, RET.
Add find argument (omit for all files), RET.
t (select all).
Q (query-replace).
Enter search/replace terms.
y/n for each match.
C-x s ! (save all).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Repeat last command: C-x z (and just z threreafter).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Replace char with a newline

M-x replace-string RET ; RET C-q C-j.
C-q (quoted-insert).
C-j (newline).

[DONE]{.done .DONE} smart-mode-line, sacha's sample usage.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} Toggling key bingings: ode to the toggle.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} unify-opening

[DONE]{.done .DONE} use-package: lunaryorn.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} sunshine.el.

[DONE]{.done .DONE} youtube-dl: or emacs.

Installing Emacs 24.4 on Linux

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT

sudo apt-get install texinfo build-essential xorg-dev libgtk-3-dev libjpeg-dev libncurses5-dev libgif-dev libtiff-dev libm17n-dev libpng12-dev librsvg2-dev libotf-dev

Installing Emacs 24.4 on Mac OS X

Wed, 09 Jul 2014 00:00:00 GMT

See Yamamoto's Mac OS X port. To install:

$ brew tap railwaycat/emacsmacport
$ brew install emacs-mac

Xcode6 tips

Sun, 02 Nov 2014 00:00:00 GMT

From Ray Wenderlich's tech talk And supercharging Your Xcode Efficiency (by Jack Wu).

Shortcuts

⌘⇧o Fuzzy file search.
⌘⌥j Fuzzy file search (showing in Xcode project hierarchy).
⌘⇧j Show file in Xcode project hierarchy.
⌘⌥0 Show/hide utility area (right panel).
⌘0 Show/hide navigation area (left panel).
⇧⌘Y Show/hide debug area (bottom panel).
Ctrli Indent selection.
⌘\ Toggle breakpoint on line.
⌘/ Toggle comment.
⌘[1-8] Select tabs on left panel.
Ctrl[1-x] Select top file navigation menu items.

Xcode features

Snippets.
Templates.
View debugging.
Simctl (send files to simulator).

Plugins of interest

Fuzzy autocomplete.
Uncrustify for indentation.
xcs code switch expansion.
Org and order (for properties).

Simple ssh tunnel

Sat, 12 Dec 2015 00:00:00 GMT

Via @climagic, connections to tcp localhost:9909 will be made to 192.168.1.1:80 via SSH tunnel to home.

ssh -L 9909:192.168.1.1:80 home

gpg/pgp bookmarks

Sat, 20 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

Raspberry Pi bookmarks

Tue, 04 Feb 2025 00:00:00 GMT

Raspberry Pi 5: Getting Started - YouTubee.

Emacs lisp bookmarks

Sat, 20 Sep 2014 00:00:00 GMT

xenodium.com @alvaro

agent-shell 0.47 updates

What's agent-shell?

Your employer can make a difference

So what's new?

claude-code-acp renamed to claude-agent-acp [Action Required]

New agents supported

Bootstrapped sessions (experimental)

Session resume (experimental)

Clipboard images

Status display + tool calls

Image rendering

Emacs skills

Table rendering

Usage tracking

Git worktree shell

Send context to…

Compose buffer improvements

Viewport improvements

Customizable context sources

Flycheck support

Diff improvements

Event subscriptions

Permission UX improvements

Permission responder function

Claude Code OAuth token support

Transcript improvements

Session ID display

Custom CWD function

Configurable dot-subdir location

Lambda MCP servers

Buffer name format

Inhibit minor modes during writes

File autocompletion performance

Container modeline indicator

Graphical header improvements

Busy throbber display options

New related packages

Pull requests

Bug fixes

Lots of polish

Make the work sustainable

Bending Emacs - Episode 13: agent-shell charting

Want more videos?

Bending Emacs - Episode 12: agent-shell + Claude Skills

Want more videos?

Ready Player cover download improvements

Bending Emacs - Episode 11: winpulse

Want more videos?

Make it all sustainable

Introducing winpulse

Make it sustainable

Film/TV bookmarks (chaos resolved)

Introducing Kitty Cards

Bending Emacs - Episode 10: agent-shell

Want more videos?

Bending Emacs - Episode 9: World times

Want more videos?

Make it all sustainable

My 2025 review as an indie dev

Launched a new blogging service

A journaling/note-taking app that feels like tweeting

Let's learn Japanese

A new Emacs-native AI/LLM agent (powered by ACP)

chatgpt-shell improvements

A new YouTube channel

My decade with org (Emacs Carnival)

Awesome Emacs on macOS

EverTime for macOS

A new time zone Emacs package

A new WhatsApp Emacs client

Spiff that shell up

At one with your code

Emacs can trim your videos too

Landing Emacs patches upstream

Ready Player improvements

GitHub activity

New GitHub projects

Blog posts

Journelly 1.3 released: Hello Markdown!

What's `agent-shell`?

What's `agent-shell`?

Upstreaming `wuzapi` patches

Send `dired` files