I’ve decided to write an editor. Silly idea I know – there are already two out there: both vim and emacs are quite good. I’ve heard rumors that there might be others, but investigation always shows they are just toys, not real editors. They don’t support reading email, unless that is all that they do.
And I know that I’m supposed to be designing a new language: ocean. And I will… maybe. But how can one write code for a new language without a new editor (though one could equally wonder what language a new editor might be coded in if not a new language…). Ocean will have to wait.
So why a new editor? Well I really love emacs. Really. But I also hate it. I’ve tried programming in emacs and I just can’t manage it. It isn’t just the LISP (though that doesn’t thrill me), it is the low-level hacking at the attributes in the buffer to create the image that I want to display. It feels like assembly programming. It is probably a personal weakness on my part – other people seem to manage. But isn’t it always out of personal weakness that great genius emerges? I’m sure it is.