From: Will Frank <wmfrank at stwing.org>
To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at keithlynch.net>
Subject: [WSFA] Re: Geeky humor...
Date: Thu, 18 Jan 2007 22:03:57 -0500
Reply-To: WSFA members <WSFAlist at KeithLynch.net>

Also Sprach Ted White:

> A "powerful text editor" in what way?  Wherein does the power lie?  Why
> should anyone editing text prefer Emacs?  What are the rest of us
> missing?

Its syntax highlighting alone puts it head and shoulders above Notepad...but
that's damning with faint praise.

The real advantages of Emacs are its internal compilation features (a few
commands, and your Java or C or TeX has compiled; take a look at the
output, readjust), its LISP language (useful for settings and list-based
tasks), a host of other customizable options, its syntax highlighting (as
mentioned above) and tabbing--in this, more generally, its understanding of
context, its flexibility, its standard features such as find-replace and
search which can use regular expressions...

But most of those features are true of vi, too; in my opinion, of course,
the big difference is that Emacs has a more flexible and understandable
interface--vi's dual-mode, single-letter commands bug me.

(If you're not a programmer, it's unlikely most of these features are
relevant. Then again, any coding, even HTML, benefits greatly from syntax
highlighting and search.)

--
Will "scifantasy" Frank - wmfrank at stwing.org
"J'accuse, mon petite fromage!"
  "You speak four languages. How come none of them is French?"
"There's nothing wrong with my French."
  "You just called me your little cheese."
"That's right."
--President Josiah Bartlet and Abbey Bartlet, "The Indians In The Lobby"