Jorgen Grahn wrote:
Based on the comments here, it seems that emacs would have to be the
editor-in-chief for programmers. I currently use SciTE at work; is it
reasonable to, effectively, bill my employer for the time it'll take
me to learn emacs?
Editor-in-chief is a bit strong... but many folks that process text
files use nothing else... programming is just one venue where emacs shines.
I learned vi early on at the IBM lab @Rochester back in the very early
'90s on the RS6000; IBM's Unix version AIX. Back in the day the machines
did not have graphics monitors; rather, they used Info Windows like the
3151 (basically, dumb terminals with RS-232C connection on a short 25
pin cable). So, I became proficient at vi and use it profusely even to
this very day... the ESC key is worn out on my keyboard ! (but, I
digressed, as usual)
I didn't take the time to learn emacs when I first heard of it because
it was presented to me as "just another gui editor" with strange meta
key relationships (and besides, I was told, real men use vi).
I didn't try emacs until I got to know RMS (by reading his books,
listening to his speeches on-line, interacting on the FSF) and I wanted
to know a little bit more about how he ticked... how better than to
learn to use the editor he developed. It was then that I realized that
this so-called "gui editor" was actually a Lisp environment capable of
extension and expansion applicable to all sorts of activities from email
to program development. I have been using emacs ever since and loving it
too. Yes, I still use vi and always will.
Having said all of that, I was able to learn emacs 2.3 from the built-in
tutorial in about an hour (I'm a little slow). Emacs could take a person
many years to fully master and appreciate, but the basics come pretty
easily for a good hour's effort and a cup of coffee. Learning how to
extend its capabilities with Lisp might take a while longer obviously.
Bottom line for my two cents worth here, put emacs in your tool-kit...
you'll be glad you did it.
kind regards,
m harris
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