My helpful screenshot

Emacs and Vi have several claims to fame - they are both some of the longest-running active software tools in history, and one of the longest-running rivalries in software.

Here is a heart-felt request from an Emacs user on changes that Emacs should adopt to be more relevant in today’s world:

Modernization of Emacs (Simple Changes Emacs Should Adopt)

It’s worth reading. I think it was first written in 2006 and then updated in 2013. The first part of the article rambles, but the FAQ is where the important bits are.

My favorite part of the article was the reminder that the Lisp Machine keyboard that Emacs was first written for didn’t just have a Meta key - it had:

  • Hyper
  • Super
  • Meta
  • Control

Emacs used all those keys, and still supports super and hyper to this day. By default, Alt on “modern” keyboards is the Meta key, but you can map keys to Hyper and Super if you want:

Emacs: How to Define Super & Hyper Keys

Crazy.