Re: OT -- An extremely dumb curiosity question?

[Edward Dodge <someone@somewhere.org>]

> Hi;
>
> What are all you people doing with emacs ?

Virtually everything.  Here are my favorites:

1) USENET (Gnus)
2) e-mail (Gnus)
3) file management (dired)
4) LISP development (SLIME)
5) Notes & Journals (text/flyspell-mode)
6) General scripting and markup in Perl/sh/html/LaTeX
7) & Sometimes IRC (ERC)

<snip>

> the point of my question is i use emacs to write an occasional bash
> script or a small c program.  i screw around with beginners level
> lisp and watch things not work.  but as i read the posts on the
> mailing list it is obvious emacs is being used for much much more.

There are four key things to remember about Emacs:

1) EMACS IS A CLASSIC. It has withstood the test of time.  It has been
   here for years and it will be here for years hence.  What you learn
   today will help you in the future.

2) EMACS IS FREE.  You aren't on somebody else's $$$-upgrade treadmill
   with Emacs.  And because of the GNU liscence this versatile editor
   is one of the most ubiquitous computer tools out there.

3) EMACS RUNS ON EVERYTHING.  I first learned to use it in 1998 at
   work, when I was on an old RS6000. Since then I've used it on a
   Sun, an HP, a PC with Linux, a PC with Windows, "Classic" Mac OS,
   and now I use it on a Mac with OSX.

4) EMACS IS AN INGENIOUS TOOL.  You are only limited by your
   imagination and your desire.  Sure the learning curve is steep,
   but reasons 1), 2), & 3) make sure you aren't always aiming at a
   moving target.

> Sometimes it seems it has replaced the Gnome or KDE desktop.
> Outside of programming, I am having trouble imagining why people
> would use it.  Do you use it full screen all the time; only in a
> terminal or a virtual terminal?  Is it the only program you have
> running at start up with everything else being done by command line?

I learned the Emacs text-editing commands and their associated
bind-keys well, including a few bindkeys for dired.  And I keep Emacs
open all the time in its own window, not in the terminal.  In fact,
using Emacs on OSX keeps me out of the terminal for all but the most
complicated command-line sequences.

> I ask here because none of my friends have any idea what I am
> talking about.

Welcome to the club! ;)

> This is a casual chatty question not to be taken too seriously, but
> if some of you are taking a break from your real work, I would be
> really interested in knowing just what people really do with it.
> Emacs I mean.

Good question.  Hope you got some good ideas here in gnu.emacs.help.

-- 
Edward Dodge