25 Jul
2005
25 Jul
'05
9:54 p.m.
Brett McCoy wrote:
Shayne O'Connor wrote:
yeah, i get the idea that it's more of a programmer's tool rather than
something ordinary users would use. which sort of makes it irrelevant in
the context of this discussion (?).
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.
true. i think one of those linux keywords - "scalability" - should come
to the fore here ... most linux audio applications have the
potential/power to be "click and usable" for the beginner *as well as*
highly configurable in a more advanced/complicated way for the power user.
shayne