Some of my Emacs defaults (in .emacs)

(defvar my-dir-root (expand-file-name "~/elisp"))
(set-default-font "-apple-consolas-medium-r-normal--13-0-72-72-m-0-iso10646-1")
; appending to the elisp load path for our stuff
(setq load-path (cons my-dir-root load-path))
; stop that splash screen
(setq inhibit-splash-screen t)
; set the fill column
(setq-default fill-column 79)
; set the default tab width
(setq-default tab-width 4)
; always show the line number
(line-number-mode t)
; always show the column number
(column-number-mode t)
; allow selection deletion
(delete-selection-mode t)
; yes-or-no will always take "y" or "n"
(fset 'yes-or-no-p 'y-or-n-p)
; stop automatic insertion of new line
(setq next-line-add-newlines nil)
; enable selection highlighting
(setq transient-mark-mode t)
; enable search highlighting
(setq search-highlight t)
; show matching parens
(show-paren-mode t)
; have backspace be backspace
(normal-erase-is-backspace-mode 1)
; have emacs scroll line-by-line
(setq scroll-step 1)
; prevent emacs from making automatic backups
(setq make-backup-files nil)
; switch dabbrev-expand to hippie-expand
(global-set-key "\M-/" 'hippie-expand)
; turn off backups
(setq backup-inhibited t)