On Feb 11, 2010, at 7:38 PM, Chao Lu wrote:

> Dear all,
>
> I'm writing to see if there's anyway to use org-like outline in ALL  
> kinds of files, like my emacs configuration file, whose suffix  
> is .el. Could I tell Emacs
>
> ;;; headline 1
> ;; headline 2
>
> And it begin to have the ability to display my el file just as Org  
> does?
>
> Besides, is there any active mailing list of common Emacs questions?
>
> Any suggestion is welcomed, thanks!
>
> Chao

Aloha Chao,

Org-babel lets you keep source code for many languages in Org-mode  
files.  You have to tangle the Org-mode file to create the source code  
file, so there are some intermediate steps, but it does bring many of  
the advantages of Org-mode to editing and maintaining source code in  
other languages.  The Org-babel Introduction includes an example of  
how to manage an emacs configuration in Org-mode:

http://orgmode.org/worg/org-contrib/babel/intro.php#literate-programming

Eric Schulte has an emacs starter kit with a very useful  
implementation of this idea:

http://eschulte.github.com/emacs-starter-kit/

hth,
Tom