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Aucbvax.2081 fa.works utzoo!duke!decvax!ucbvax!lwa@mit-csr@mit-multics Sat Jul 4 11:29:23 1981 Re: Re: Tools for personal workstations To me, what is "elegant" about Emacs is its user extensibility, an aspect which I agree is not adequately addressed by UNIX. Unfortunately, even in Emacs it is difficult for the average user to make any extensions beyond simple key redefinitions, because the language provided (TECO) is arcane in the extreme.

The real problem with user extensibility is that to provide for extensions beyond those contemplated by the original designer it is necessary to provide some form of user programmability. As previously pointed out in this forum, users often tend to learn only as much about a system as they need to solve the immediate problem at hand. I do not believe that most users will spend the effort required to learn to "program", even if doing so ultimately makes their jobs simpler. -Larry Allen -------

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