don't use org-mode in emacs config

The immense popularity of org-mode is completely justified, but I would like to caution new users against starting their Emacs journey by creating their configuration file in org-mode.

Because that approach is useful when we want to comment code extensively, elaborate on the reasons behind specific settings in the configuration.

This is particularly relevant when the configuration is complex or when creating tutorials for others. A great example of such configuration is https://protesilaos.com/emacs/dotemacs. However, these needs do not apply to beginners or even moderately advanced users. And these functionalities come with significant costs:

• increased difficulty and complexity
• increased boilerplate with +begin/end src blocks
• complicates debugging
• requires additional steps before editing code - using the `org-edit-special' command - otherwise:
  • no autocompletion
  • no function arglist or variable docstring in the echo area
  • no jump to function/variable definitions
  • code formatting issues - very frustrating

Unfortunately, I made this mistake myself because this approach was heavily promoted online. So, I thought it was some new and better method.

As a beginner, my configuration kept breaking, and I often just wanted to quickly make a change, save, and reset. So, I always skipped that extra `org-edit-special' command. And this led to many of the aforementioned problems.

However, I thought it was all worth it for 'folding,' which greatly aids in visually dividing a file into smaller sections. And as a PHP programmer, I was accustomed to code being divided into several smaller fragments - files. So, the ability to manage such code with 'folding' is invaluable.

However, after about two years, I discovered that 'folding' is not an exclusive feature of org-mode. And I can turn it on in my elisp configuration file. In fact, almost all elisp packages support 'folding,' and each has a structured division into sections. So, it is entirely natural to adopt such a convention for a configuration file. https://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/manual/html_node/elisp/Comment-Tips.html

Thus, it turned out that using org-mode in the config is an unnecessary complication, another layer of abstraction that separates me from Emacs Lisp.

Immediately, I began migrating my configuration to pure elisp. This allowed me to quickly become familiar with 'emacs-lisp-mode.' I started using syntax highlighting, navigating the Emacs source code more easily and efficiently. Gigantic elisp files, whose sections could be folded and divided into smaller fragments, suddenly became less intimidating.

For folding, I use https://github.com/jdtsmith/outli, which includes keybindings beloved by everyone from org-mode.

In conclusion, based on my experience, I strongly believe that it is better for new users to start with a configuration in pure Emacs Lisp.