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Emacs Text Editor Celebrates 50th Anniversary
Key points
- Emacs turns 50 years old this year.
- It originated from the TECO text editor at MIT in 1976.
- Emacs concepts influenced the free software movement and GNU/Linux.
- It was one of the first full-screen text editors.
Early Programming Environments
Programming in the mid-20th century involved physical configuration of switches, paper tape, and punch cards. Early interactive computing used line editors on teletypes, where programmers typed one line at a time and saved work on large hard disks. Full-screen text editors, which allow viewing and modifying multiple lines simultaneously, did not exist at this time.
The Birth of Emacs
One of the first full-screen text editors, EMACS, is celebrating its 50th anniversary. It first ran on video terminals at the MIT Artificial Intelligence Laboratory in 1976. Its core concepts led to rewrites for many operating systems, and Apple even distributed it with Mac OS X.
Influence on Free Software
The software-sharing community that formed around EMACS contributed to the modern free software movement and the development of the GNU/Linux operating system.
Evolution from TECO
EMACS's origins trace back to the TECO text editor, created by Dan Murphy in 1962 for the PDP-1 computer at MIT. TECO allowed users to create new commands, called macros. In 1971, Carl Mikkelsen created Control-R, an add-on for TECO that provided immediate on-screen display of changes using 'glass teletype' terminals, a precursor to full-screen editing.
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Reporting from
The Emacs text editor, a foundational tool in software development, is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Its development from early line editors to a full-screen editor influenced the free software movement and modern operating systems.