25 lines
1.3 KiB
Text
25 lines
1.3 KiB
Text
Most of the GNU Emacs text editor is written in the programming
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language called Emacs Lisp. You can write new code in Emacs Lisp and
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install it as an extension to the editor. However, Emacs Lisp is more
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than a mere ``extension language''; it is a full computer programming
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language in its own right. You can use it as you would any other
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programming language.
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Because Emacs Lisp is designed for use in an editor, it has special
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features for scanning and parsing text as well as features for handling
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files, buffers, displays, subprocesses, and so on. Emacs Lisp is
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closely integrated with the editing facilities; thus, editing commands
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are functions that can also conveniently be called from Lisp programs,
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and parameters for customization are ordinary Lisp variables.
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This manual attempts to be a full description of Emacs Lisp. For a
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beginner's introduction to Emacs Lisp, see ``An Introduction to
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Emacs Lisp Programming,'' by Bob Chassell, also published by the Free
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Software Foundation. This manual presumes considerable familiarity with
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the use of Emacs for editing; see ``The GNU Emacs Manual'' for this
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basic information.
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Generally speaking, the earlier chapters describe features of Emacs
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Lisp that have counterparts in many programming languages, and later
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chapters describe features that are peculiar to Emacs Lisp or relate
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specifically to editing.
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