Yes, thank you for saying this, because that's exactly the type of argument I
just don't agree with! :)
... because, you can type code in Emacs almost exactly like in gedit.
What keys does a basic user use in gedit and similar programs 99% of the
time? Arrows for moving, Ctrl-c for copy, Ctrl-x for cut, Ctrl-v for paste,
Ctrl-z for undo and maybe Ctrl-s for save. That's pretty much everything.
In Emacs you use still can use the arrow keys for moving arrow, just like
gedit. So now you need to learn only 5 commands to be able to type just as
fast as in gedit:
C-w (cut)
M-w (copy)
C-y (paste)
C-/ (undo)
C-x C-s (save; but you can also use the mouse)
'C-' means 'Ctrl' and 'M-' means 'Alt' or 'Meta'.
How hard is to learn 5 commands? You learn them and gedit is pretty much
useless. ;)
Emacs can do a lot more than that, but you don't need to learn more then 5
commands in order to being using Emacs.
You can also use a mouse and menus to do those commands, just like a complete
novice user would do in other programs.
You don't need to spend weeks learning so things aren't painful. You don't
need to spend hours on a tutorial before using Emacs. When you want to learn
something that will help become better at typing code compared to someone who
uses gedit, then you can spend some time learning about Emacs. And you can
spend as much as you like, even 5 minutes at a time if you want.
Emacs is very easy to use and to start with. It may seem hard only if start
using it with the presumption that it's hard - thinking that you need to know
everything first.
