Source : Free On-Line Dictionary of Computing

Emacs
     
         /ee'maks/ (Editing MACroS, or Extensible MACro
        System, GNU Emacs) A popular {screen editor} for {Unix} and
        most other {operating systems}.
     
        Emacs is distributed by the {Free Software Foundation} and was
        {Richard Stallman}'s first step in the {GNU} project.  Emacs
        is extensible - it is easy to add new functions; customisable
        - you can rebind keys, and modify the behaviour of existing
        functions; self-documenting - there is extensive on-line,
        context-sensitive help; and has a real-time "what you see is
        what you get" display.  Emacs is writen in {C} and the higher
        levels are programmed in {Emacs Lisp}.
     
        Emacs has an entire {Lisp} system inside it.  It was
        originally written in {TECO} under {ITS} at the {MIT} {AI
        lab}.  AI Memo 554 described it as "an advanced,
        self-documenting, customisable, extensible real-time display
        editor".
     
        It includes facilities to view directories, run compilation
        subprocesses and send and receive {electronic mail} and
        {Usenet} {news} ({GNUS}).  {W3} is a {web browser}, the
        ange-ftp package provides transparent access to files on
        remote {FTP} {servers}.  {Calc} is a calculator and {symbolic
        mathematics} package.  There are "modes" provided to assist in
        editing most well-known programming languages.  Most of these
        extra functions are configured to load automatically on first
        use, reducing start-up time and memory consumption.  Many
        hackers (including {Denis Howe}) spend more than 80% of their
        {tube time} inside Emacs.
     
        GNU Emacs is available for {Unix}, {VMS}, {GNU}/{Linux},
        {FreeBSD}, {NetBSD}, {OpenBSD}, {MS Windows}, {MS-DOS}, and
        other systems.  Emacs has been re-implemented more than 30
        times.  Other variants include {GOSMACS}, CCA Emacs, UniPress
        Emacs, Montgomery Emacs, and {XEmacs}.  {Jove}, {epsilon}, and
        {MicroEmacs} are limited look-alikes.
     
        Some Emacs versions running under {window managers} iconify as
        an overflowing kitchen sink, perhaps to suggest the one
        feature the editor does not (yet) include.  Indeed, some
        hackers find Emacs too {heavyweight} and {baroque} for their
        taste, and expand the name as "Escape Meta Alt Control Shift"
        to spoof its heavy reliance on keystrokes decorated with
        {bucky bits}.  Other spoof expansions include "Eight Megabytes
        And Constantly Swapping", "Eventually "malloc()'s All Computer
        Storage", and "Emacs Makes A Computer Slow" (see {recursive
        acronym}).  See also {vi}.
     
        Latest version: 20.6, as of 2000-05-11.  21.1 ({RSN}) adds a
        new redisplay engine with support for {proportional text},
        images, {tool bars}, {tool tips}, toolkit scroll bars, and a
        mouse-sensitive mode line.
     
        {FTP} from your nearest {GNU archive site}.
     
        E-mail: (bug reports only) .
     
        {Usenet} newsgroups: {news:gnu.emacs.help},
        {news:gnu.emacs.bug}, {news:alt.religion.emacs},
        {news:gnu.emacs.sources}, {news:gnu.emacs.announce}.
     
        [{Jargon File}]
     
        (1997-02-04)