I've always told people: You can be a power Emacs user without learning elisp.
I myself used Emacs heavily for 9 years before learning elisp (clicked on my 3rd attempt).
IMO, the included Elisp guide is not good for beginners. My recommendation:
Separate the language from the ecosystem. First focus on simply learning the basics. How do you set a variable? How do you write a loop? How do you write a function? These things are as easy in Elisp as they are in other languages. Perhaps use Exercism to practice.
Of course, also learn the related keybindings (C-M-x to evaluate, C-x C-e, etc).
Only then start understanding some of the basics of integrating with the rest of Emacs (unwind-protect, save-excursion, save-restriction, etc).
I myself used Emacs heavily for 9 years before learning elisp (clicked on my 3rd attempt).
IMO, the included Elisp guide is not good for beginners. My recommendation:
Separate the language from the ecosystem. First focus on simply learning the basics. How do you set a variable? How do you write a loop? How do you write a function? These things are as easy in Elisp as they are in other languages. Perhaps use Exercism to practice.
Of course, also learn the related keybindings (C-M-x to evaluate, C-x C-e, etc).
Only then start understanding some of the basics of integrating with the rest of Emacs (unwind-protect, save-excursion, save-restriction, etc).