My first GNU ELPA package
=========================
Emacs packages are distributed mainly through two channels, one
for GNU ELPA packages, and one for non-GNU packages.
The difference is that GNU ELPA packages are part of Emacs and
owned by the Free Software Foundation.
I created a package, and now it's available through GNU ELPA.
History
-------
After about 20..25 years using Vim, I started in 2020 learning how
to use Emacs.
Before the turn of the century, I already bought the O'Reilly
Emacs book. Over the years I had done a few attempts, but never
went deep enough to actually start using Emacs.
Funfact: This O'Reilly Emacs book is so old, it shows screenshots
with the older top-menu, and mentions XEmacs as a way to use a
graphical version.
During the Old Computer Challenge in 2023 I used ERC, an
IRC-client in Emacs.
The idea, to use IRC from within Emacs stayed with me, and in
December 2023 I started using rcirc, another IRC client in Emacs.
I liked this client more, mostly because it looks and feels more
like your general IRC client.
However, the format of the timestamp bugged me. rcirc uses this
format for both the screen and the log files. In the log files I
prefer to see the full date, but on screen this is a waste of
screen estate.
So, I wrote a patch and submitted it.
Philip Kaludercic, one of the Emacs maintainers, in return asked
me if I would care to create a package to use SQLite for the IRC
logs. He was willing to guide me along the process.
After that, things went fast, and within eight weeks the
package has become part of Emacs :)
Learning experience
-------------------
I learned a lot in these eight weeks. I had little Elisp
experience, with only about two thousand lines of code under my
belt. Philip provided feedback on my code and code suggestions.
This was very beneficial and advanced my skills at an
unanticipated rate.
The package required also a deep dive in the Emacs internals,
like using `advice-add', `tabulated-list-mode' and so on.
All in all, it was fun. I really enjoy coding in Elisp :)
