[h-e-w] OT: Neal Stephenson uses Emacs

[rob . davenport]

(Just a little semi-off-topic post that I hope some will find
interesting.)

Neal Stephenson, prominent science-fiction author ("Snow Crash",
"Diamond Age", "Cryptonomicon")
wrote an book in 1999 that recently attracted my attention, titled "In
the Beginning ... Was the Command Line".
Being a command-line afficianado and reader of science-fiction, I had to
try it.

It's a good rant on operating systems in general, explaining things to a
non-computer-literate audience,
and with some interesting insights. (He compares the command-line to the
precise written word, and the GUI
to the filtered, chaparoned, diluted entertainment approach of Disney.)
He gets around the GNU, Linux, and
yes, he uses Emacs.

Here's what he had to say:

"I use emacs, which might be thought of as a thermonuclear word
processor." p95

"It is written in Lisp, which is the only computer language that is
beautiful." p96

"If you are a professional writer - i.e. if someone else is getting
paid to worry about how your words are formatted and printed - emacs
outshines all other editing software in approximately the same way
that the noonday sun does the stars."  p96


They'll soon be added to my .sig collection.

Regards,

Rob

--
Rob Davenport
address@hidden