bug#74488: Why not modernize Emacs

bug#74488: Why not modernize Emacs

[Raj Divecha via Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text editors]

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Hi, I am an occasional Emacs user. I know that Emacs is a very capable editor. In fact, most modern editors provide similar features, just that the learning curve for them is close to nothing. They simply work out of the box. Thus, I am wondering, why not Emacs? How difficult would it be to provide a different interface, a simpler one yet fully capable? For example, while I can use Emacs for simple text editing, I still can't use it as my developer IDE. I want some feature that will help me easily install a project explorer like extension. The project explorer could help create workspaces, project, help me navigate them with ease etc. Think MS's VS Code. On the same lines, I would like a LaTeX window with its own extensions. Emacs already supports all this but the learning curve is so steep that I don't feel like opening it anymore! Thus wondering why can't Emacs come out with a simpler interface (and allow one to switch to an advance interface when needed) and throw the learning curve out the window? -OR- Am I missing something? Thanks, Raj

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bug#74488: Why not modernize Emacs

[Stefan Kangas]

tags 74488 + notabug
close 74488
thanks

Raj Divecha via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs, the Swiss army knife of text
editors" <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> writes:

> Hi, I am an occasional Emacs user. I know that Emacs is a very capable
> editor. In fact, most modern editors provide similar features, just
> that the learning curve for them is close to nothing. They simply work
> out of the box. Thus, I am wondering, why not Emacs? How difficult
> would it be to provide a different interface, a simpler one yet fully
> capable? For example, while I can use Emacs for simple text editing, I
> still can't use it as my developer IDE. I want some feature that will
> help me easily install a project explorer like extension. The project
> explorer could help create workspaces, project, help me navigate them
> with ease etc. Think MS's VS Code. On the same lines, I would like a
> LaTeX window with its own extensions. Emacs already supports all this
> but the learning curve is so steep that I don't feel like opening it
> anymore! Thus wondering why can't Emacs come out with a simpler
> interface (and allow one to switch to an advance interface when
> needed) and throw the learning curve out the window? -OR- Am I missing
> something? Thanks, Raj

Thanks for sharing your ideas about how to improve Emacs.

We always aim for at least feature parity with typical IDEs, and in many
cases we actually have a much stronger set of features than they do.
But it is true that the Emacs interface is fundamentally different from
that of VSCode.  It's challenging to provide a different user interface
along the lines that you suggest, while also providing all the features
that we do.

However, this bug list is not really appropriate or intended for very
wide-ranging discussions about what Emacs could look like in the future.
It is intended for much more focused discussions about specific and
reproducible bugs in Emacs, and narrowly scoped feature requests.  For
that reason, I will close this bug report now.

I believe you might have more success discussing these and other similar
ideas in forums such as the Emacs Reddit page or on IRC.  Thanks.

bug#74488: Why not modernize Emacs

[Eli Zaretskii]

severity 74488 wishlist
thanks

> Date: Fri, 22 Nov 2024 23:27:09 +0000 (UTC)
> From:  Raj Divecha via "Bug reports for GNU Emacs,
>  the Swiss army knife of text editors" <bug-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
> 
> Hi, I am an occasional Emacs user. I know that Emacs is a very capable editor. In fact, most modern editors provide similar features, just that the learning curve for them is close to nothing. They simply work out of the box. Thus, I am wondering, why not Emacs? How difficult would it be to provide a different interface, a simpler one yet fully capable? For example, while I can use Emacs for simple text editing, I still can't use it as my developer IDE. I want some feature that will help me easily install a project explorer like extension. The project explorer could help create workspaces, project, help me navigate them with ease etc. Think MS's VS Code. On the same lines, I would like a LaTeX window with its own extensions. Emacs already supports all this but the learning curve is so steep that I don't feel like opening it anymore! Thus wondering why can't Emacs come out with a simpler interface (and allow one to switch to an advance interface when needed) and throw the learning curve out the window? -OR- Am I missing something? Thanks, Raj

The simple answer to your questions is "because no one has yet
proposed code changes to implement those features."

Emacs is developed by a loosely-coupled group of volunteers, each one
of whom contributes changes in the areas that are of interest to
him/her and match their domains of expertise.  We acknowledge the need
and the advantages of having the advanced IDE-related features work
out of the box, but have no way of assigning someone to the job of
actually doing that non-trivial job.  It is non-trivial because
different users of Emacs have different interests and needs (e.g.,
develop in vastly different programming languages), and setting up the
tools we have to fit the needs of a particular user is a complex task.
In addition, unlike VS Code, we don't want to promote non-free servers
and services, so it is much more difficult for us to provide OOTB
configuration for features that rely on external programs and servers.

But if and when someone comes with code that does one of these jobs,
we embrace that very quickly.  Examples include Tree-Sitter based
major modes, LSP support via Eglot, etc.  Thus, volunteers are welcome
to contribute additional features that will make Emacs a better IDE,
and ease the learning curve for newcomers.

Thank you for your interest in Emacs.