Book details of 'Learning Gnu Emacs'

Title	Learning Gnu Emacs
Author(s)	Debra Cameron, Bill Rosenblatt, Eric S. Raymond
ISBN	1565921526
Language	English
Published	October 1996
Publisher	O'Reilly & Associates

---

Back to shelf Computer
Amazon.com info for Learning Gnu Emacs

Score:

Vote for this book

The Virtual Bookcase Reviews of 'Learning Gnu Emacs':

Reviewer Rob Slade wrote:
In a class in "human factors engineering," an instructor set up an experiment. The half of the class that described themselves as "computer familiar" were to teach themselves the vi editor from the man pages. They were then to teach themselves emacs and, paired with one of us from the unfamiliar group, teach us. There were some tests being applied here to determine how well and how fast people learned. I must have skewed the results somewhat. The first word processor I ever learned was called Perfect Writer and I had loved it. I immediately recognized the emacs interface; obviously Perfect Writer had been a commercial knock-off from the days prior to the Free Software Foundation and the General Public License. I still love emacs and recommend it often as a word processor. Now I have a book to recommend along with it. (Yes, I know, emacs is not a word processor: it's a text editor. It's still a lot better than a lot of word processors.) This book is probably not for the complete novice dealing with text manipulation for the first time. Then again, very few texts are. Anyone who has used any text editor to any extent can follow the material. Those who want the more advanced functions will follow it farther. The preface, in fact, gives a guide for the different types of users, and what sections they should read. The material is a complete introduction to the emacs editor and environment. Basics, file functions, search and replace, and windows and buffers are covered. Then there is the emacs environment, the Internet functions, simple formatting, use of emacs with formatters, macros, customization, the language modes, emacs LISP, X Window System use, version control, and online help. Appendices tell how to get and configure emacs as well as technical details. This edition extends coverage to version 19 of emacs. Those who think they are familiar with emacs may also find this useful as an introduction to features they've never used before. copyright Robert M. Slade, 1994
Add my review for Learning Gnu Emacs