andy@Shasta.ARPA (08/26/85)
> > There are some pretty good crib sheets summarizing the forty to fifty > commands you will need to know to be effective. > I've been using Twenex EMACS for at least five years (probably closer to seven) and I don't know forty commands yet. My init file just loads the buffer completion library and tells EMACS to use less space below the mode line. I use the time that wizards save (by using more commands) to think. (I don't use the version of Gosling EMACS that we have because I saw no reason to relearn everything. This problem may not exist in later or commercial versions or GNU. I've taken to using elle instead, but it is a bit weak.) I'm glad that a zillion commands exist. I learn a new one every once in a while, other people work differently, and power tools are fun. Still, it is not true that you have to learn "lots" of commands to use EMACS. I got by with fewer than 20 for quite a while; the basic cursor movement and text manipulation commands are very mnemonic. -andy