Re: GNU Emacs raison d'etre - 1981-ish version

[excalamus--- via "Emacs development discussions." <emacs-devel@gnu.org>]

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May 14, 2020, 02:24 by eduardoochs@gmail.com:

> this is so different from the raisons d'être for Emacs that are being
> discussed in the other thread that I felt that it would be better to
> create a new thread to discuss it...
>
> Emacs lets people with very little experience in programming write
> useful programs that are just one or two lines long - and this turns
> non-programmers into programmers magically, sometimes without them
> noticing. In many cases new users start writing one-liners in Lisp in
> their first days using Emacs - so for them it takes just a few days to
> be magically transformed into a programmer.
>
> This is very different from having to invest time in energy in Emacs
> during years to be adequately rewarded.
>
Agreed! I brought this up in the other thread: https://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2020-05/msg01872.html  I concluded that Emacs seems unique because it occupies a unique space between user and creator.  Your observations match mine, so maybe a unique space *does* exist.

My questions to you:
1. What makes that space the way it is?
2. Do other editors, like VSCode, exist in it, too?  If yes, why does GNU Emacs feel different?  If no, why not?

The best description of that space that I can think of is the Zone of Proximal Development (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development) <https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zone_of_proximal_development>:

The zone of proximal development is an area of learning that occurs when a person is assisted by a teacher or peer with a higher skill set.  The person learning the skill set cannot complete it without the assistance of the teacher or peer. The teacher then helps the student attain the skill the student is trying to master, until the teacher is no longer needed for that task.

For example:

Emacs presents a challenge to the user.  The challenge can be solved through programming, but the user is unable to do this.  To help, Emacs provides ready made components, functions bound to keys, which complete the task when chained together.  The user realizes at some point that 1) these actions are functions and 2) they have the ability to write them.  Emacs provides the structure required for the user to learn through source code (higher skill set) and C-h f (assistance).

I believe that other editors could occupy this space but do not.  Other editors are either word processors or IDEs.  Emacs is a hybrid; there are authors who use Emacs solely for writing and the are developers who use it solely for programming.  Emacs feels different because it shortens the distance between question and answer.  Other editors require searching externally (does MS Word even still have F1 help?).  Emacs can be searched inside and out.


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