Apparently a great deal of code is devoted to handling images and
fonts for different languages. That might take some space, but it's
still difficult to see how that could add up to 30 megs.
The basic idea of extensibility is the key advantage. Here is a 1981
paper by Richard Stallman, describing the design of the original
Emacs:
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
EMACS is a real-time display editor which can be extended by the
user while it is running.
Extensibility means that the user can add new editing commands or
change old ones to fit his editing needs, while he is editing.
EMACS is written in a modular fashion, composed of many separate
and independent functions. The user extends EMACS by adding or
replacing functions, writing their definitions in the same
language that was used to write the original EMACS system. We will
explain below why this is the only method of extension which is
practical in use: others are theoretically equally good but
discourage use, or discourage nontrivial use.
Extensibility makes EMACS more flexible than any other editor.
Users are not limited by the decisions made by the EMACS
implementors. What we decide is not worth while to add, the user
can provide for himself. He can just as easily provide his own
alternative to a feature if he does not like the way it works in
the standard system.
A coherent set of new and redefined functions can be bound into a
library so that the user can load them together conveniently.
Libraries enable users to publish and share their extensions,
which then become effectively part of the basic system. By this
route, many people can contribute to the development of the
system, for the most part without interfering with each other.
This has led the EMACS system to become more powerful than any
previous editor.
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Sprint is also an extensible editor that runs in DOS. You can write
your own macros and make it do whatever you want. You can exchange
macros with other users and take advantage of the time they spent
debugging their code.
This is much better than editors with canned instructions that you
cannot change.
Regards,
Mike Monett
Antiviral, Antibacterial Silver Solution:
http://silversol.freewebpage.org/index.htm
SPICE Analysis of Crystal Oscillators:
http://silversol.freewebpage.org/spice/xtal/clapp.htm
Noise-Rejecting Wideband Sampler:
http://www3.sympatico.ca/add.automation/sampler/intro.htm
