I am enticed by the prospect of playing a game of chess with my text editor one minute, and frightened by the potential mix of Major and Minor Modes the next. emacs' and then gazed at my configuration file, trying to figure out what it all means?!? Verily, in using the editor, I am astounded at its speed and cleanness one minute, and frustrated by its crappy fonts and inability to automatically handle word wrap the next. How many times have I typed 'ctrl-x ctrl-f. And then suddenly I feel dirty and realize that I may be consorting with the world's most evil application, at least with respect to home row key command configurations. In its simplicity it is a nude, virginal beauty that seems to acknowledge that I alone exist in all the world, and it alone exists to serve my modal desires. Emacs is so arcane that it must be pure evil. Emacs is so powerful that it must be the best editor.

So in this way, Emacs is exactly like God in all but two ways: Emacs is useful, and we can prove Emacs exists.īut the true mystery of Emacs comes from the question: Is it the best editor or not?!?! In my personal journey in search of an answer to this question, over two years now, I have gone back and forth, bouncing between two utterly opposite ends of the spectrum, with respect to this question. With self documentation and the ability to execute the contents of a buffer, they truly become one.

Emacs and the Operating System are separate, yet in its maximally configured glory, Emacs is so like an Operating System that the two form a duality. Emacs can be the Operating System, yet it cannot exist without the Operating System. Yet, in so doing, Emacs transcends the sphere of applications and becomes like The Operating System, thus obviating the second rule. Emacs, though Gnu, adheres to the First Unix Commandment, Thou Shall Do It Well, but it violates the Second Unix Commandment, Thou Shall Solvith One Small Problem at a Time. It is impossible to really know if Emacs is truly the One True Editor. It could really go either way, which is why so many object to religious pursuits. But this questioning followed by resolve, strengthens character. That we mortals have faith that this is a loving and intelligent, all knowing god causes us to question reality itself, our selves, our church or temple, and our religious leaders. The god coldly allows babies to die of unexplained illnesses, violence to affect the innocent, wars to break out, natural disasters to ruin everything. A western religion, at least, operates by testing the faith of its participants.

Text mode in aquamacs