This year, I will write a GUI for my Emacs clone
3 days ago
- #Emacs
- #Text Rendering
- #GUI Development
- The author plans to create a basic GUI for their Emacs clone, acknowledging the complexity of Emacs' redisplay system.
- Emacs' rendering involves large C source files like xdisp.c, xterm.c, and sfnt.c, handling display generation, X window system support, and font rendering.
- Glyph matrices are central to Emacs' redisplay, supporting GUI windows, TUI frames, and nested buffer windows.
- Bidirectional text display in Emacs is complex, requiring support for right-to-left languages like Hebrew.
- Ligatures, especially in languages like Arabic, are essential and handled via libraries like HarfBuzz.
- Emacs allows extensive customization of text rendering through Lisp code, including composition-function-table and text properties.
- Text properties in Emacs function like CSS for text, with dynamic and programmable features.
- The author outlines a minimalistic approach for their GUI, excluding some complex Emacs features like synchronous Lisp execution from redisplay.
- Planned features include a buffer sync mechanism and proper display of text properties, with asynchronous Lisp execution support.