I’ve been using Doom Emacs for a few years now. After picking it up, the configuration and customization via a text file (the config.el) caught my interest. It allows the config to grow organically, be checked into git, be versioned, breaking changes can easily be reverted and transfering the exact config to a new system becomes a non-issue.
As the yeas passed by, my config grew and grew. A lot of trial and error was still inside that I didn’t bother to clean up. Then, the other week, I had an issue with my Emacs configuration and I re-installed Doom and just used the default configuration.
Dropping everything for the default config
Quickly the realization dawned on me, that the default Doom config was much faster than my own aged configuration. And I decided to start over.
In other words, go through my existing file, only take the parts that are truly needed and leave out all of the rest.
This took my config from 588 lines to 196 (granted, not everything I used in my old config is in the new config). Importantly, I’m not really missing anything and noticed significant improvements in the default doom configuration. Like new packages being used as defaults etc.
Not only is the config file now much more readable, but the speed improvement is still there.
The default doom emacs configuration is really great.
Hitchhiking on the backs of masters
Truth is that I’m not the brightest bulb in the shed.
Other people have thought much deeper about certain issues and have much more know-how how to solve them. Instead of re-inventing the wheel, have a look at what the state-of-the-art is.
Then just copy the state-of-the-art. Or at least take inspiration from it. Especially, if your original starting point was the “state-of-the-art”.
Swimming with the swarm
I’m not one to go for what is the most popular: Not using Windows or MacOS, not using iOS or Google Android, not using Microsoft or Google products, etc.
This “swimming against the swarm” has its costs. Convenience mainly. Make no mistake, it also has it’s upside, but it’s a tough climb.
It’s not about doing the opposite of what everybody else is doing. If it were, I would be using TempleOS. It’s about having principles and within these confines picking the most viable solution. And swimming with the swarm of other individuals that have the same principles.
Conclusion
In conclusion, be encouraged to touch base with the projects that you’ve started using.
You’ll be surprised how good most of the defaults are!