It usually display file contents among other examples with ~butterfly~, ~doctor~, or the starting buffer when you first open Emacs.
While buffers usually have an associated file path, a buffer doesn't need one.
This is one of the concepts that is applied to other text editors (Vim, Atom, Visual Studio Code).
* The basics of modes
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** Front
What is a mode?
** Back
A mode is set of behavior quite similar to Vim modes.
Emacs further divides modes into two.
*Major modes are Emacs' way of supporting programming languages and file formats.*
Programming language support usually comes in major mode — e.g., ~R-mode~ for R files, ~python-mode~ for Python scripts, ~org-mode~ for Org mode documents.
Think of them as an equivalent to Vim's filetype.
Only one major mode can be activated in one buffer at a time and all buffers have a major mode.
*Minor modes usually contain little behavioral changes that improve the editing experience.*
When enabled, some of them are global modes — affecting every buffer in your session.
Others are only buffer-local — affecting only the buffer when you activated the mode.
Unlike major modes, multiple minor modes can be enabled at any given time.
* Eagle's eye view of a window
:PROPERTIES:
:ANKI_DECK: Emacs
:ANKI_NOTE_TYPE: Styled cards
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** Front
What is a window?
** Back
A window is where the buffers are being displayed.
One window can display all buffers but only one at a time.
To display two buffers at a single time, just add another window.
All windows display the same buffer;
if the buffer is modified in one of the window, it will show the changes in all windows.
* Point and marker
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** Front
What is a point and a marker?
** Back
A point is the current location of the cursor in the buffer.
You can get the point with ~point~ function.
Often helpful for interacting with buffers.
A marker is another point in the buffer.
It is usually found when interacting with regions when asked for the two points (i.e., the beginning and the ending position).
Furthermore, a marker can be used to save locations and jump back to that marker when asked.
