Emacs works everywhere (windows, linux, mac, etc). It is not
specific to any language so I can use it for many projects.
It works on remote systems as well as local systems. It has
decades of extensions (rmail, slime, org mode, etc). It works for HUGE files, can follow compiler errors, does xref lookups, make a shell unbelievable useful, and is very productive. On some days it seems that at least half of my productivity is due to emacs, especially due to keystroke macros. The only valid complaint I ever heard about emacs was that it is a great operating system which could use a good editor.
On the other hand things like IDEs try to hide everything. You don't know what the build system actually does. You don't know how "resource files" get attached. You are presented with a bunch of menus which focus your attention and skills toward a "standard" style. The Java IDEs are not as bad as the XCode IDE (proprietary files?) but they still hide information.
Your tools shape how you think and what you can think. Emacs is "just there" waiting for your commands. IDEs limit your thoughts and hide things from your understanding.
As a programmer, I need to know how my code calls the operating system, how the operating system runs the hardware, how the hardware fetches and caches, how the bits get turned into voltages, and how the voltages affect the world. Emacs is just a logical extension of the same philosophy.
Comments
Emacs works everywhere (windows, linux, mac, etc). It is not specific to any language so I can use it for many projects. It works on remote systems as well as local systems. It has decades of extensions (rmail, slime, org mode, etc). It works for HUGE files, can follow compiler errors, does xref lookups, make a shell unbelievable useful, and is very productive. On some days it seems that at least half of my productivity is due to emacs, especially due to keystroke macros. The only valid complaint I ever heard about emacs was that it is a great operating system which could use a good editor.
On the other hand things like IDEs try to hide everything. You don't know what the build system actually does. You don't know how "resource files" get attached. You are presented with a bunch of menus which focus your attention and skills toward a "standard" style. The Java IDEs are not as bad as the XCode IDE (proprietary files?) but they still hide information.
Your tools shape how you think and what you can think. Emacs is "just there" waiting for your commands. IDEs limit your thoughts and hide things from your understanding.
As a programmer, I need to know how my code calls the operating system, how the operating system runs the hardware, how the hardware fetches and caches, how the bits get turned into voltages, and how the voltages affect the world. Emacs is just a logical extension of the same philosophy.