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From: k p c <kpc@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov>
Subject: Re: Best Emacs for Lisp Development
In-Reply-To: lynbech@cobalt.daimi.aau.dk's message of 23 Oct 1995 13:18:49 GMT
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Date: Tue, 24 Oct 1995 03:03:17 GMT
Xref: glinda.oz.cs.cmu.edu comp.lang.lisp:19675 comp.lang.lisp.franz:586

That is a wonderful expression, "it sort of depends, I guess".  :-)

Here are some random comments from a user of both that might help
further.

CL comments:

	o ilisp is definitely worth trying even for Allegro users.
	  Its main drawback is that it can't handle multiple processes
	  well and you have to be careful about interrupts.
	o Xemacs' version of elisp appears to be moving towards Common
	  Lisp faster than the RMS version.

Emacs version comments:

	o There is a possibly widening rift between RMS Emacs and
	  Xemacs that makes source and byte-compiler elisp
	  compatibility difficult.  There are few compatibility
	  primitives such as compile-file-pathname.
	o On the other hand, there is active development of both.
	o You need to recompile all .el files before switching from
	  one to the other or even from one version to another.  This
	  is a practical step, the difference between theory and
	  practice being bigger in practice, alas, than in theory.
	o Several package developers appear to definitely favor
	  Xemacs.  Also, Xemacs seems to bundle more packages.
	o Xemacs is reputed to be slower over TTYs.  TTY support is
	  recent.  It's nice to see ANSI colors, but some people say
	  they switched away from Xemacs 19.13 for slow lines.  Maybe
	  this will change.
	o Xemacs 19.13 crashes on me too much (hanging 10 minutes into
	  every session is too much, IMHO :-)) on Solaris 2.4 for me
	  to use it.  RMS 19.29 crashes perhaps twice a week.  19.28
	  did not install on both SunOS and Solaris.  We have had
	  memory problems on SunOS with just about all versions of RMS
	  emacs.  I am waiting for X19.14 and R19.30 to see if there
	  is more stability.  Note: others on the net have reported no
	  problems with either version.
	o Between R19.29 and X19.13, I'd install whichever works on
	  all your machines.

The bottom line is that you might want to just try them both, and if
one of them does not crash, use it.  You might need to download ilisp
if you use RMS Emacs, but I think Xemacs comes with it.

If you post a followup to this article, a verbatim copy by email to
help work around potentially unreliable feeds will be appreciated.

---
kpc@ptolemy.arc.nasa.gov.  AI, multidisciplinary neuroethology, info filtering.
On a superhighway, existing roads are destroyed, it is easy to monitor traffic,
you can't make your on-ramp, politics controls development; and they arrest you
if you go too fast, travel in your own direction, or use unapproved technology.
