GNU Emacs Manual Version 20 [Paperback]

Richard M. Stallman (Author), M. Richard Stallman (Author)

Editorial Reviews

From the Back Cover

Emacs is the premier text editor and programming environment for workstations and high-end PCs. This manual tells you how to get started with Emacs, how to write simple messages as well as complex documents, and how to use special modes for editing, compiling, and debugging programs. It also explains how to handle multiple files and directories and multiple windows, and how to customize your environment.

GNU Emacs provides autosave, multiple undos and redos, transparent access to remote file systems, multiple backups, support for version control systems, and a Lisp interpreter. In addition, Emacs integrates make, grep, diff, and other utilities into a single environment. There are modes for programming in over a dozen different languages. Emacs not only works with plain character terminals but also is fully integrated with the X Window System.

Emacs includes an on-line, easy to follow tutorial and a built-in help system that describes all of Emacs's features.

This is the 13th edition of the GNU Emacs Manual. It is written by Richard M. Stallman, who wrote the original Emacs. This edition describes the new features and improvements in version 20.

All funds raised from the sale of this book are used to support the development of free software and free documentation.

Product Details

• Paperback: 540 pages
• Publisher: Free Software Foundation; 13 edition (July 1997)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188211406X
• ISBN-13: 978-1882114061
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7 x 1.4 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.9 pounds (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 5.0 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #3,661,062 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

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Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars The big enchilada, December 20, 2001

By 

Mark Guzowski (Idaho Falls, Idaho USA) - See all my reviews

This review is from: GNU Emacs Manual Version 20 (Paperback)

In the emacs world, this is 'The Book' by 'The Man.' Emacs is an indispensible tool imho. I use it, to this very day, under Windows XP.

What's the best way to learn emacs? Buy a book, like this one, dive in and don't come out until you start to 'get it.'

When I sit back and think why I still use emacs, and ferret out all the reasons, it truly ends up being completely non-bigotry related. Emacs just literally does many things better for a certain class of text-processing activities. It's a tool in the same way UNIX shell scripting is; a tool I'll probably never live without.

What does emacs have/do that's head & shoulders better than other editors? Well, literally the list is quite long, but for starters: Regular expressions everywhere, navigation keystrokes for every conceivable structure & sub-structure of a text document, real unlimited undo, non-trivial keyboard macros, and of course for ultimate flexibility an embedded lisp interpreter.

Word is nice - I did write a fairly large novel with it - but to this day I write many many shorter documents with emacs first. Truly. Word does have some amazing features, no joke, but for a certain class of text processing activities emacs will probably always rule.

Software takes money to write, and emacs is, imho, one of the software 'pyramids' that have withstood the test of time. If you believe in the free software movement and want to learn emacs, why not buy a copy of a book by one of the men who was truly instrumental in the free software movement?

5.0 out of 5 stars This guy knows what he is talking about, December 15, 2001

By 

G. Hobbs - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: GNU Emacs Manual Version 20 (Paperback)

Great book about an essential software development tools. Emacs has shown it value for decades and its extensiblity keeps is up-to-date and useful for every software programming task.

I believe money for the sale of this book goes to support free software, a great cause.

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