tomás writes: > It /is/ a steep learning curve at the beginning (I can confirm, having > come from vi, then vim -- in which I'm still fluent). But it is worth > every turn in that panoramic route.
I started out with Vi on UNix and eventually switched to Emacs. I still often use Vim. I think that one problem people have with Emacs is that they think they need to learn all of it before they can use it. Work with the tutorial until you are proficient enough with basic editing commands to be productive. After that whenever you come up with something such as the need to mark a block of text read-only search the documentation: a command to do it probably exists. If you then find yourself using that command frequently it will become automatic. If not you will still know that it exists and so will be able to quickly find it in the docs and refresh your memory when a need for it pops up years later. Of course, you can create function key shortcuts for the commands you use a lot: no need to constantly type long strings into the minibuffer or memorize exotic escape sequences. Also, almost everything is somewhere in the menus if you like that sort of thing. There is even a customization interface so you need not learn Elisp. -- John Hasler jhas...@newsguy.com Elmwood, WI USA