Re: [comp.emacs] "Emacs" defined in Collins English Dictionary

[GianUberto.Lauri@eng.it (Gian Uberto Lauri)]

>>>>> "RJC" == Robert J Chassell <bob@rattlesnake.com> writes:

RJC>     Emacs is an editor ...  At some point, an `editor' ceases to

Nope. Emacs can do it, but doesn't do it.

I think that even Microsoft Word could be programmed to do such things
but I' pretty  sure that nobody would call it  anithing else than word
mangle\b\b\b\b\b\bprocessor.

RJC> People like RMS do not see any difference between changing a file
RJC> name and changing a word within that file, but others do.

They  see the  difference IMHO.  They  understand that  they are  just
specializations of altering information. 

RJC>  When
RJC> you speak the word `editor' and wish to communicate, you must
RJC> either tell your listener that you are using an uncommon
RJC> definition,

I tell them I use an uncommon Editor, that's true.

RJC> As written, the definition misleads people into thinking that
RJC> Emacs falls into the same category as VI or Notepad.

<kidding>
Putting  vi side  by  side with  notepad  is unfair  to  vi. While  is
notorious that vi is penance, notepad is almost useless. Therefore vi
is much more useful.
</kidding>

vi  is a  powerful  editor I'm  not  comfortable with  unless for  the
shortest and  quickest tasks.  Anyway, using vi  and (a lot  of) shell
scripts you can implement an Emacs.

RJC> Yes, indeed.  That does not means that Emacs is not an integrated
RJC> envirnonment;

Emacs can  turn into a sort  of integrated environment  by loading the
appropriate modules  (auctex, jdee), but  after all is an  editor that
does much more than other editors  do and often by delegating the work
to external programs.

It's a sort of integrating  editor more than an integrated environment
(or collection of integrated environments). Something that could be as
extensible as Emacs could be Eclipse. That's an integrated environment
that does it all.

But Emacs does  editing. If you want it does tetris,  but it's goal is
to edit and  to do it in  the most productive way, often  doing it for
you.

The editing  capabilities of  Emacs are so  powerful that you  can put
them behind its ability to integrate other software work. That's why I
disagree with you.

-- 
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