From kragen@dnaco.net Sun Sep 6 17:19:09 1998 Date: Sun, 6 Sep 1998 17:19:08 -0400 (EDT) From: Kragen To: systalk@ml.org Subject: Re: [ST] Is it just me ... In-Reply-To: Message-ID: MIME-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: TEXT/PLAIN; charset=US-ASCII X-Keywords: X-UID: 1698 Status: O X-Status: On Sun, 6 Sep 1998, George Bonser wrote: > > (with emacs, you can . . . > > You can also embed "live code" in the form of macros with emacs that will > be executed when the document is opened causing problems similar to > Word Macro viruses though you might even cause destruction if the user's > files. You can, eh? How? As usual, you don't know what you're talking about. (There *is*, in fact, a way to put magic stuff in a file to control what mode Emacs puts the new buffer in when it opens the file, and even specify settings of local variables. See , or the section "How Major Modes are Chosen" aka "Choosing Modes" in your nearest emacs manual, and , or the section "Local Variables in Files", aka "File Variables" in your nearest emacs manual, for more information. There is no way to cause arbitrary Lisp code to be executed when a document is opened.) > emacs is NOT an editor. It is an operating environment. It's almost an OS > on top of an OS. Unquestionably true. (Well, I think you meant "emacs is not just an editor" -- the statement "emacs is NOT an editor" is, on the face of it, absurd.) > Of the 60+ computer pros here, only one uses it. This seems to be a cultural thing. If you come from the Lisp-hacker culture, you almost certainly use Emacs. If you come from MIT, you probably use Emacs. If you come from Berkeley, you probably use vi. When I worked at TCSI on a big ORB-based network management system project, most of the 30+ C++ jockeys on the project used Emacs. > If you want an editor, get an editor. If you want a mailer, get a mailer. > If you want a newsreader, get a newsreader. Then program your X or text > menus to select between the application. As you pointed out, Emacs is an operating system, not an editor, a mailer, or a newsreader. Such things come with Emacs, written in Lisp. > There really is no need to bog the system down with such a huge thing as > emacs when it simply is not needed. Some people prefer it. > Compile vim with GUI support, get some > good tag files and off you go. Effective, lightweight, good and what the > vast majority of the people in this world use. The vast majority of the people in this world do not use computers. Of those that do, the vast majority use some variety of the Microsoft Windows text control for their text editor. > . . . but on a system with tight disk or CPU resources, > you are not going to get the sysadmin's permission to install it. I haven't had any sysadmins yet who wouldn't let me install it. In fact, most of the ones I know have already installed it themselves. :) > It is a bloated hog that tries to be all things to all people. The same thing could be said of Linux, and it would be equally true. (Except that Emacs doesn't try to support hardware.) Kragen -- Kragen Sitaker I don't do .INI, .BAT, .DLL or .SYS files. I don't assign apps to files. I don't configure peripherals or networks before using them. I have a computer to do all that. I have a Macintosh, not a hobby. -- Fritz Anderson