[linux-audio-user] Opening up the discussion

[Brett McCoy]

Shayne O'Connor wrote:

> too true ... i've gotten the idea from this thread that emacs is a
> really powerful editor, that can do many a thing ... however, i'm too
> busy figuring out how to install/configure programs to actually learn
> how to use it. i mean, there should be *some* parts of linux that are
> "plug-n-play" ... especially a text editor!!!!

There are 'plug and play' text editors, like gedit or nano, and they are 
excellent for dealing with config files and README docs.  But emacs is 
more than just a text editor, it's essentially a text-based IDE and can 
do some very powerful things that the smaller editors can't.  But for 
the price of a higher learning curve.  Emacs is is still highly 
respected even on non-Unix platforms -- many Java IDEs like JBuilder or 
Eclipse will let you configure your editor keybindings to the emacs style.

And this is the point we keep coming back to -- for some things, the 
simpler 'click and use' software is just what is needed.  For other 
things, a deeper understanding and bigger learning curve will lead to 
more powerful capabilities that the former can't provide.

-- Brett
-- 
Programmer by Day, Guitarist by Night
http://www.chapelperilous.net
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