From: Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org>
Cc: monnier@iro.umontreal.ca, emacs-devel@gnu.org, dgutov@yandex.ru,
thibaut.verron@gmail.com, raman@google.com
Date: Thu, 01 Oct 2020 23:49:10 -0400
C-z is the normal character to suspend any program, under the shell.
Emacs is unusual in that it detects C-z by hand and suspends itself.
For most programs, C-z generats SIGTSTP to suspend the process.
I understand. However, suspending Emacs is a very infrequent
operation these days, what with most everyone working in a windowed
environment. And OTOH there are some very frequently-used commands
that can be conveniently bound to C-z; suspending is still possible
with C-x C-z.
That said, I'm not necessarily arguing to unbind C-z or rebind it by
default, I'm just explaining why I did that myself, long time ago. I
assume there are others like me.