EMACS is a real-time display editor that can be extended by the user while it is running. Developed as part of the GNU Project, it allows users to add new editing commands or change existing ones during an editing session to match their specific needs.
The editor supports extensibility through a modular design composed of separate components. Its organization includes an editing language distinct from a programming language, a library system paired with a command dispatcher, a display processor, and interpreters that enable runtime changes. Language features for extensibility encompass global variables, dynamic binding, variables local to a file, hooks, and mechanisms for errors along with non-local control transfers. Self-documentation is integrated with extensibility. The system also addresses editing meaningful units of text, redefining self-inserting characters, editing programs including large ones, and editing other content. Applications of customization and the use of an interpreter are discussed in a 1981 paper by Richard Stallman.
EMACS is delivered as free software. The paper references its distribution and notes successors along with related editors and systems.
EMACS sits in PulseGate's IDEs & code editors category. It focuses on editing text, code, and structured content without being limited by the fixed feature set of a traditional editor. EMACS is an open-source project aimed at developers and power users. The project is open source (Open Source). EMACS is available on the web, the command line, Linux, macOS, and Windows, and it can be self-hosted.
It is developed by GNU Project (United States). Among its 5 catalogued features are extensibility, customization, and self-documentation.
Latest indexed changes and source events
Emacs: The Extensible, Customizable Display Editor (1981) verified by the PulseGate indexer
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