Chuck Guzis write: > Starting my trek through old tape archives, I can find EMACS (all caps) > mentioned in 1978. (MIT labs). Is there any earlier mention?
Yes. Files in MIT's ITS systems documents the early EMACS history well. For example, MC:EAK;EMACS LORE. David Moon: > In August 1976, a bunch of hackers decided it was time to write a new > editor, using the sharable-library and named-commands (MM) technology > developed by Tmacs, but intended for general use. Tmacs was not > really set up to be used by anyone but its maintainers, and I think > every user had a different set of key bindings, although by that time > it was in use by perhaps eight or ten people. The new editor, which > was initially called "?" because that was a command name which could > not be typed to DDT, was supposed to take full advantage of the TV > keyboards, to have a more sensible and consistent set of commands, to > have good self-documentation, and to be faster than Tecmac. ? was > intended to woo people away from Tecmac. > > The initial work, up to the point of a semi-usable system, was done by > GLS. Later, RMS got interested in his indefatigible fashion, put in a > large number of features, and made Teco changes to greatly increase > the efficiency and flavorfulness. The editor was renamed to Emacs > (abbreviated E) in imitation of the name of the Stanford editor, which > it otherwise does not resemble. Notes: Tmacs, Tecmac, etc were several competing macro packages for TECO. GLS = Guy Steele. RMS = Richard Stallman.
