From The Jargon File (version 4.4.7, 29 Dec 2003) [jargon]:
EMACS
/ee'maks/, n.
[from Editing MACroS] The ne plus ultra of hacker editors, a programmable
text editor with an entire LISP system inside it. It was originally written
by Richard Stallman in {TECO} under {ITS} at the MIT AI lab; AI Memo 554
described it as ?an advanced, self-documenting, customizable, extensible
real-time display editor?. It has since been reimplemented any number of
times, by various hackers, and versions exist that run under most major
operating systems. Perhaps the most widely used version, also written by
Stallman and now called ?{GNU} EMACS? or {GNUMACS}, runs principally under
Unix. (Its close relative XEmacs is the second most popular version.) It
includes facilities to run compilation subprocesses and send and receive
mail or news; many hackers spend up to 80% of their {tube time} inside it.
Other variants include {GOSMACS}, CCA EMACS, UniPress EMACS, Montgomery
EMACS, jove, epsilon, and MicroEMACS. (Though we use the original all-caps
spelling here, it is nowadays very commonly ?Emacs?.) Some EMACS versions
running under window managers iconify as an overflowing kitchen sink,
perhaps to suggest the one feature the editor does not (yet) include.
Indeed, some hackers find EMACS too {heavyweight} and {baroque} for their
taste, and expand the name as ?Escape Meta Alt Control Shift? to spoof its
heavy reliance on keystrokes decorated with {bucky bits}. Other spoof
expansions include ?Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping? (from when
that was a lot of {core}), ?Eventually malloc()s All Computer Storage?, and
?EMACS Makes A Computer Slow? (see {recursive acronym}). See also {vi}.
From V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2013) [vera]:
EMACS
Eight Megabytes And Constantly Swapping (slang, EMACS)
From V.E.R.A. -- Virtual Entity of Relevant Acronyms (June 2013) [vera]:
EMACS
Editing MACroS (GNU)
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