-*- coding: utf-8 -*- the following is from http://groups.google.com/group/comp.lang.lisp/msg/f97b1774564c6137 accessed on 2008-06-26 See also 〈The Modernization of Emacs (Simple Changes Emacs Should Adopt)〉 http://ergoemacs.org/emacs/modernization.html ssss--------------------------------------------------- Newsgroups: comp.lang.lisp, comp.emacs From: dan Date: Thu, 26 Jun 2008 07:59:06 -0700 (PDT) Local: Thurs, Jun 26 2008 7:59 am Subject: Re: history of the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual Howdy folks, Thanks to Dan Weinreb for pointing me at this recent exchange. You guys have done a fine job of digging up this ancient history, but I am glad to offer any more tidbits I can recall. Starting with Emacs 17, and transitioning to Emacs 18, I was trying to develop a rather substantial extension and I was forced to learn what I could from the very limited doc strings, and the source itself. I started putting together a document for my own use of all the functions, variables, etc, and at some point started sharing this with others. I didn't think I had time to really finish this documentation, but I recall announcing my offer to coordinate the efforts of others if they would help out. With a group of about a dozen volunteers, we hobbled along for a year or so, and then we learned that Bil Lewis had offered to write up a first draft of the entire manual, which he then did in cooperation with our group. I received his work as it was being written and edited it, reorganizing the material substantially over the next year or two. My graduate research work was delayed as a result, but I was having fun, getting into it and receiving the reward of compliments from grateful readers. I'd have to say that most of the first year of work was overwritten a couple times by this process, so we probably dropped some of the minor acknowledgments as well. Although I had a major hand in every chapter, the one on the Edebug source-level debugger was all mine, of course, since I had written the software. Having mastered everything about the language and environment, it became obvious to me in a flash how to build Edebug, and the first version was hacked out in a couple weeks. This little diversion turned into a major project, and a new subject for my masters research. Shortly before Emacs 19 started to come out, I was finishing up the indexing (including a very useful permuted index) and we were "done" and then RMS wanted to take control. After a few more months of his reediting, cleaning up all my rampant use of passive voice and such, it was published in a two-volume book. Later editions by RMS and others incorporated the Emacs 19 features. I got back into my research and lost touch. Since the web grabbed my attention around 1994, I haven't done much of anything with Emacs, except I continue to be a reluctant user, stuck with emacs bindings to my brain, frustrated by its archaic UI as the world moves on. Now JavaScript is my favorite language, and the web browser would be the environment in which one might do everything, except we are not quite there yet. Daniel LaLiberte libe...@hypernews.org (go ahead, spammers, make my day) (also first.l...@gmail.com)