Zmacs
Encyclopedia
Zmacs is one of the many variants of the Emacs
text editor
. Zmacs was written for the MIT Lisp machine
and runs on its descendants (Symbolics Genera, LMI Lambda, TI Explorer
). Zmacs is written in Lisp Machine Lisp
(called ZetaLisp on Symbolics
Lisp Machines
). It was based on the ZWEI
programming substrate, which stood for "Zwei Was Eine Initially"; Zwei was a collection of routines which could be used to easily implement other programs, like the Symbolics mail program, Zmail- Eine stood for "Eine is not Emacs". Eine and zwei are German for one and two respectively.
A distinctive feature of Zmacs, which can also be found in Hemlock
and LispWorks
, is that commands look like "M-x Compile Buffer" instead of "M-x compile-buffer" as modern Emacsen, like GNU Emacs, generally format commands.
Zmacs also supports buffers and modes. Zmacs also uses the window system of the Lisp Machine with support for mouse and windows. Zmacs supports unlimited backup of files, since the file system of the Lisp Machine supports file versions. It is not compatible with GNU Emacs and its Emacs Lisp.
Emacs
Emacs is a class of text editors, usually characterized by their extensibility. GNU Emacs has over 1,000 commands. It also allows the user to combine these commands into macros to automate work.Development began in the mid-1970s and continues actively...
text editor
Text editor
A text editor is a type of program used for editing plain text files.Text editors are often provided with operating systems or software development packages, and can be used to change configuration files and programming language source code....
. Zmacs was written for the MIT Lisp machine
Lisp machine
Lisp machines were general-purpose computers designed to efficiently run Lisp as their main software language. In a sense, they were the first commercial single-user workstations...
and runs on its descendants (Symbolics Genera, LMI Lambda, TI Explorer
TI Explorer
The Texas Instruments Explorer is a family of Lisp Machine computers. These computers were sold by Texas Instruments in the 1980s. The Explorer is based on a design from Lisp Machines Incorporated, which is based on the MIT Lisp Machine....
). Zmacs is written in Lisp Machine Lisp
Lisp Machine Lisp
Lisp Machine Lisp is a dialect of the Lisp programming language, a direct descendant of Maclisp, and was initially developed in the mid to late 1970s as the systems programming language for the MIT Lisp machines. Lisp Machine Lisp was also the Lisp dialect with the most influence on the design of...
(called ZetaLisp on Symbolics
Symbolics
Symbolics refers to two companies: now-defunct computer manufacturer Symbolics, Inc., and a privately held company that acquired the assets of the former company and continues to sell and maintain the Open Genera Lisp system and the Macsyma computer algebra system.The symbolics.com domain was...
Lisp Machines
Lisp Machines
Lisp Machines, Inc. was a company formed in 1979 by Richard Greenblatt of MIT's Artificial Intelligence Laboratory to build Lisp machines. It was based in Cambridge, Massachusetts....
). It was based on the ZWEI
ZWEI
ZWEI was an early Emacs-like text editor written by Daniel Weinreb and Mike McMahon for the Lisp machine. It is the successor of the editor EINE . Innovations by it include programmability in Lisp, and a new and more flexible method of internally representing buffers...
programming substrate, which stood for "Zwei Was Eine Initially"; Zwei was a collection of routines which could be used to easily implement other programs, like the Symbolics mail program, Zmail- Eine stood for "Eine is not Emacs". Eine and zwei are German for one and two respectively.
A distinctive feature of Zmacs, which can also be found in Hemlock
Hemlock (editor)
Hemlock is a free Emacs-style text editor for most POSIX-compliant Unix systems. It follows the tradition of the Lisp Machine editor ZWEI and the ITS/TOPS-20 implementation of Emacs, but differs from many other Emacs variants in that is written in Common Lisp rather than the usual Emacs Lisp — that...
and LispWorks
LispWorks
LispWorks is a commercial implementation and IDE for the Common Lisp programming language. The software runs on Microsoft Windows, Mac OS X , Linux, FreeBSD, Solaris and HP UX....
, is that commands look like "M-x Compile Buffer" instead of "M-x compile-buffer" as modern Emacsen, like GNU Emacs, generally format commands.
Zmacs also supports buffers and modes. Zmacs also uses the window system of the Lisp Machine with support for mouse and windows. Zmacs supports unlimited backup of files, since the file system of the Lisp Machine supports file versions. It is not compatible with GNU Emacs and its Emacs Lisp.
External links
- Zmacs Manual (PDF) -- For the Texas InstrumentsTexas InstrumentsTexas Instruments Inc. , widely known as TI, is an American company based in Dallas, Texas, United States, which develops and commercializes semiconductor and computer technology...
' Explorer Lisp MachineLisp machineLisp machines were general-purpose computers designed to efficiently run Lisp as their main software language. In a sense, they were the first commercial single-user workstations...
implementation.