Re: Code snippets/template consolidation and potential improvements

[Stefan Kangas]

Martin Marshall <law@martinmarshall.com> writes:

> Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org> writes:
>
>>> From: Martin Marshall <law@martinmarshall.com>
>>> Date: Wed, 17 Jan 2024 16:48:52 -0500
>>>
>>> Hello, there's an item in the TODO file regarding Emacs's template
>>> systems[1], but I'm not sure if I understand it the way it's intended.
>>>
>>> What is meant by "consolidate", and what specific improvements should
>>> be prioritized?
>>
>> I believe by "consolidate" the intent is to have a single package that
>> provides the features of those 3.  CC'ing Stefan, who added that TODO
>> item.

[I guess you meant to Cc Stefan Monnier, so I did that here.]

Why not start the work with considering both yasnippet and tempel, both of
which are on GNU ELPA.  Perhaps either of them are already good enough?

FWIW, I've used yasnippet since forever and I find it much easier to use
than anything in core.  I haven't really had occasion to consider any of
the other alternatives that exist.

This is from Tempel's documentation:

  List of alternatives (built-in or separate packages):

  • abbrev.el: Abbreviation expansion, builtin
  • expand.el: Abbreviation expansion, builtin
  • skeleton.el: Lisp syntax for templates, builtin
  • tempo.el: Lisp syntax for templates, builtin
  • srecode.el: CEDET template manager and code generator, builtin
  • [aas.el]: Auto activating snippets
  • [cdlatex.el]: Fast LaTeX insertion
  • [laas.el]: Latex auto activating snippets
  • [muban.el]: Lightweight template expansion
  • [placeholder.el]: Treat buffers as templates
  • [tempo-abbrev.el]: Abbrev integration for Tempo
  • [snippet.el]: Original snippet mode, with inline expansion
  • [tempo-snippets.el]: Interface like snippet.el for Tempo
  • [yasnippet.el]: Template system inspired by Textmate snippets