Finding Emacs - Why?

 v 0.3

Updated 12 Oct 11

A sometime series I thought I'd post as I work out how to use this amazing piece of software.

At first blush, you look at Emacs and think:

• "Hey, it is only an editor - what can the fuss be?  There are heaps of editors out there that do great stuff, and are easier to use to boot!"
• Then you hear more, about the wars with Vim and then the extensibility or something.
• And then you find out about Orgmode and discover that many people only come to Emacs because of this.  And then they are lost forever.

Why is Emacs Different?

Emacs is different because at its heart, it is a Lisp interpreter around which all the routines are built.  It is putty and it is extensible to do whatever you want.  Start using it as an editor, then discover the calculator, the calendar and then the games.  Use orgmode for outlines, agendas and then export to latex.  Discover the newsreader, email client and then the web-browser.

Perhaps a tour is in order.


Which Computers will it Run on?


What system do you use?  You can download and run Emacs on pretty much any platform you can think of.  If you run Unix or Linux then you probably already have Emacs included - at least in the Terminal, if not on the desktop.

Emacs for Windows
Emacs for OSX
Aquamacs for OSX


Investment in the Future

Learn Emacs and you have it for life.  Doesn't sound like much, but the more you invest in learning to use Emacs, the richer your long-term rewards.  It can do so much that replaces those one-off programs you buy and use for a while.  Emacs can stay with you no matter which computer you buy in the future.  It will always be there to get you out of that hole.

Update 12 Oct 11

It's been a year since I wrote this, and can only say that it understates the case for Emacs.  As I've learnt how to manipulate this piece of software, I can only say that the effort has been well worth it.

Learn Emacs and its tools, such as Orgmode and you will have a highly capable authoring and organising tool that you can use on any computer for as long as you wish.


disclaimer - this worked for me, it may not work for you.


more later ......