Emacs

EMACS
 /ee'maks/, n.

   [from Editing MACroS] The ne plus ultra of hacker editors, a
   programmable text editor with an entire LISP system inside it. It was
   originally written by Richard Stallman in {TECO} under {ITS} at the
   MIT AI lab; AI Memo 554 described it as "an advanced,
   self-documenting, customizable, extensible real-time display editor".
   It has since been reimplemented any number of times, by various
   hackers, and versions exist that run under most major operating
   systems. Perhaps the most widely used version, also written by
   Stallman and now called "{GNU} EMACS" or {GNUMACS}, runs principally
   under Unix. (Its close relative XEmacs is the second most popular
   version.) It includes facilities to run compilation subprocesses and
   send and receive mail or news; many hackers spend up to 80% of their
   {tube time} inside it. Other variants include {GOSMACS}, CCA EMACS,
   UniPress EMACS, Montgomery EMACS, jove, epsilon, and MicroEMACS.
   (Though we use the original all-caps spelling here, it is nowadays
   very commonly `Emacs'.) Some EMACS versions running under window
   managers iconify as an overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest
   the one feature the editor does not (yet) include. Indeed, some
   hackers find EMACS too {heavyweight} and {baroque} for their taste,
   and expand the name as `Escape Meta Alt Control Shift' to spoof its
   heavy reliance on keystrokes decorated with {bucky bits}. Other spoof
   expansions include `Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping' (from
   when that was a lot of {core}), `Eventually malloc()s All Computer
   Storage', and `EMACS Makes A Computer Slow' (see {recursive acronym}).
   See also {vi}.
    

Emacs
GNU Emacs

   <text, tool> /ee'maks/ (Editing MACroS, or Extensible MACro
   System, GNU Emacs) A popular {screen editor} for {Unix} and
   most other {operating systems}.

   Emacs is distributed by the {Free Software Foundation} and was
   {Richard Stallman}'s first step in the {GNU} project.  Emacs
   is extensible - it is easy to add new functions; customisable
   - you can rebind keys, and modify the behaviour of existing
   functions; self-documenting - there is extensive on-line,
   context-sensitive help; and has a real-time "what you see is
   what you get" display.  Emacs is writen in {C} and the higher
   levels are programmed in {Emacs Lisp}.

   Emacs has an entire {Lisp} system inside it.  It was
   originally written in {TECO} under {ITS} at the {MIT} {AI
   lab}.  AI Memo 554 described it as "an advanced,
   self-documenting, customisable, extensible real-time display
   editor".

   It includes facilities to view directories, run compilation
   subprocesses and send and receive {electronic mail} and
   {Usenet} {news} ({GNUS}).  {W3} is a {web browser}, the
   ange-ftp package provides transparent access to files on
   remote {FTP} {servers}.  {Calc} is a calculator and {symbolic
   mathematics} package.  There are "modes" provided to assist in
   editing most well-known programming languages.  Most of these
   extra functions are configured to load automatically on first
   use, reducing start-up time and memory consumption.  Many
   hackers (including {Denis Howe}) spend more than 80% of their
   {tube time} inside Emacs.

   GNU Emacs is available for {Unix}, {VMS}, {GNU}/{Linux},
   {FreeBSD}, {NetBSD}, {OpenBSD}, {MS Windows}, {MS-DOS}, and
   other systems.  Emacs has been re-implemented more than 30
   times.  Other variants include {GOSMACS}, CCA Emacs, UniPress
   Emacs, Montgomery Emacs, and {XEmacs}.  {Jove}, {epsilon}, and
   {MicroEmacs} are limited look-alikes.

   Some Emacs versions running under {window managers} iconify as
   an overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest the one
   feature the editor does not (yet) include.  Indeed, some
   hackers find Emacs too {heavyweight} and {baroque} for their
   taste, and expand the name as "Escape Meta Alt Control Shift"
   to spoof its heavy reliance on keystrokes decorated with
   {bucky bits}.  Other spoof expansions include "Eight Megabytes
   And Constantly Swapping", "Eventually "malloc()'s All Computer
   Storage", and "Emacs Makes A Computer Slow" (see {recursive
   acronym}).  See also {vi}.

   Latest version: 20.6, as of 2000-05-11.  21.1 ({RSN}) adds a
   new redisplay engine with support for {proportional text},
   images, {toolbars}, {tool tips}, toolkit scroll bars, and a
   mouse-sensitive mode line.

   {FTP} from your nearest {GNU archive site}.

   E-mail: (bug reports only) <[email protected]>.

   Usenet newsgroups: news:gnu.emacs.help,
   news:gnu.emacs.bug, news:alt.religion.emacs,
   news:gnu.emacs.sources, news:gnu.emacs.announce.

   [{Jargon File}]

   (1997-02-04)
    

EMACS
       Editing MACroS (GNU)
       
    

EMACS
       Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping (slang, EMACS)