## title: Writing an Emacs package based on nix-converter
       ## date: "2026-01-18"
       
       ## Introduction
       
       As a GNU Emacs user, I spend most of my time there. Not long
       ago I released version 1.0.0 of nix-converter, a CLI for
       converting Nix code into a configuration language and vice-
       versa. I thought it might be fun to be able to use it
       through Emacs' features rather than through a command-line
       shell.
  HTML nix-converter
       
       The aim of this post is to show the interesting things you
       can do with Emacs, it won't necessarily cover all the
       technical aspects of the project.
  HTML project
       
       Also, in this post, Emacs refers to GNU Emacs and ELisp
       stands for Emacs Lisp.
       
       ## My goal
       
       My goal is to write an Emacs package for at least version
       30.1 that allows me to use nix-converter through ELisp. In
       particular, I'd like to have a feature that lets me convert
       the active region directly by modifying the Emacs buffer.
  HTML nix-converter
       
       ## Learning Lisp/ELisp
       
       Of course I use Emacs, and I've spent some time configuring
       it, but before starting this project I wasn't able to write
       in ELisp in a meaningful way, I didn't know enough about the
       language and how it worked.
  HTML project
       
       That's why I decided to deepen my ELisp theory and practice.
       For that, I reread my few notes from last year on Emacs Lisp
       Intro and Masterring Emacs, then actively watched System
       crafter's youtube video series to learn ELisp.
  HTML System crafter
  HTML youtube video series
       
       ## Writing the project
       
       After improving my knowledge of ELisp, I was able to start
       writing the project, which in the end went rather well. I
       haven't encountered many problems, apart from one that
       forced me to transform the path to the source file into an
       absolute path.
  HTML project
       
       I was able to write a coherent ELisp interface that allowed
       me to use nix-converter's functionality.
  HTML nix-converter
       
       ## Results
       
       I managed to achieve my goal, which was to convert the
       active region directly by modifying an Emacs buffer. Below
       is a gif showing this functionality with a conversion from
       YAML to Nix, without additional nix-converter flags.
       
       /nix-converter-el-result.gif
   GIF /nix-converter-el-result.gif
       
       The package provides other features such as ad-hoc expression
       conversion. Below is a gif showing an on-the-fly conversion
       from Nix to YAML.
       
       /nix-converter-el-result2.gif
   GIF /nix-converter-el-result2.gif
       
       ## Conclusion
       
       It was a stimulating and enriching experience that
       introduced me to Emacs and its language, Emacs Lisp, in
       greater detail. I love ELisp more than ever, and I'm looking
       forward to writing more! If you want more technical details
       about the project feel free to check out the GitHub
       repository.
  HTML GitHub repository