Date: Wed, 13 Apr 1994 12:28:55 -0600 (MDT) From: "Rob Slade, Ed. DECrypt & ComNet, VARUG rep, 604-984-4067" Subject: "Learning GNU Emacs" by Cameron/Rosenblatt BKGEMACS.RVW 940104 O'Reilly & Associates, Inc. 103 Morris Street, Suite A Sebastopol, CA 95472 800-998-9938 707-829-0515 fax: 707-829-0104 info@ora.com "Learning GNU Emacs", Cameron/Rosenblatt, 1992, 0-937175-84-6 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, simple formatting, use of emacs, with formatters, macros, customization, the language modes, emacs LISP, X Window System use and online help. Appendices tell how to get and configure emacs as well as technical details. 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 BKGEMACS.RVW 940104 ====================== DECUS Canada Communications, Desktop, Education and Security group newsletters Editor and/or reviewer ROBERTS@decus.ca, RSlade@sfu.ca, Rob Slade at 1:153/733 DECUS Symposium '95, Toronto, ON, March, 1995, contact: rulag@decus.ca