Re: Emacs history, and "Is Emacs difficult to learn?"

[Phillip Lord]

> Some of the reasons are simply noob-acclimatization issues like tutorial uses
> C-f/b/n/p instead of cursor keys, non-use of cua keystrokes etc.
>
> However some things are from the pov of an old user more crucial:
>  - poor support for refactoring
>  - poor support for mainstream languages like java

It is a shame that Java support is in the state it is. I used Emacs for
many years for coding Java, and wrote of the smaller parts of JDEE. But,
it's functionality is quite a bit lacking now compared to things like
eclipse. 

Having said that, I haven't written any Java seriously for quite a few
years now. The only reason I use it these days is when I am teaching it,
and then I still use Emacs; the amount of effort it takes to set up a
new project in Eclipse is a huge problem when you want to write three
classes to demonstrate inheritance or whatever and then move on. And,
then I need to build the classes into a website, all of which would have
to be done outside eclipse.

Perhaps this is where Emacs is at it's best. If I were writing in one
language, on one project for several months at a time, I'd use eclipse.
But I use many languages, with custom tools, for specific purposes. At
the bleeding, chaotic edge, it's Emacs every time.

Phil