GNU Emacs is the most popular and widespread of the Emacs family of editors. It is also the most powerful and flexible. Unlike all other text editors, GNU Emacs is a complete working environment—you can stay within Emacs all day without leaving.
, 3rd Edition tells readers how to get started with the GNU Emacs editor. It is a thorough guide that will also "grow" with you: as you become more proficient, this book will help you learn how to use Emacs more effectively. It takes you from basic Emacs usage (simple text editing) to moderately complicated customization and programming.The third edition of
describes Emacs 21.3 from the ground up, including new user interface features such as an icon-based toolbar and an interactive interface to Emacs customization. A new chapter details how to install and run Emacs on Mac OS X, Windows, and Linux, including tips for using Emacs effectively on those platforms.
, third edition, covers:
Learning GNU Emacs
Learning GNU Emacs
Learning GNU Emacs
• How to edit files with Emacs
• Using the operating system shell through Emacs
• How to use multiple buffers, windows, and frames
• Customizing Emacs interactively and through startup files
• Writing macros to circumvent repetitious tasks
• Emacs as a programming environment for Java, C++, and Perl, among others
• Using Emacs as an integrated development environment (IDE)
• Integrating Emacs with CVS, Subversion and other change control systems for projects with multiple developers
• Writing HTML, XHTML, and XML with Emacs
• The basics of Emacs Lisp
The book is aimed at new Emacs users, whether or not they are programmers. Also useful for readers switching from other Emacs implementations to GNU Emacs.
9.7.1 Prerequisites
9.7.1 Prerequisites
Before we get started with SQL queries, you do need to have a few things in place. Most of the SQL interaction modes require an actual client application for their particular database. For example, we use the MySQL server. We have to install the MySQL client programs (mysql, at a minimum) on any system where we want to use SQL mode. Even though the MySQL version of SQL mode is built-in, we still need access to a real client. This is true for every type of database you expect to access.
And speaking of communicating with the database, you must also have the basics of communication taken care of. You need to have network access to the server in question. You also need to have a valid username and password for connecting to that server. A good rule before jumping into SQL mode in Emacs is to make sure you can connect and interact with your database server from your machine. If it works from a terminal window or other client application, you can make it work in Emacs.
One last thing to remember: the various SQL modes in Emacs are just helpers, so you can't do anything with them that you couldn't do with your normal database client. You won't magically have access to that restricted table with everyone's salaries. Sorry. Even so, it's just more convenient to stay in Emacs when possible, so let's forge ahead.
