Learning GNU Emacs, Second Edition

Acknowledgments

Debra Cameron: There are many people who helped shape this second edition of the book. Readers sent in comments. Emacs changed, from Version 18 to Version 19. Still, no book can really encompass all that Emacs offers. Emacs is much more than an editor; it is a universe for ongoing exploration. It’s also somewhat like a house that you move into and then turn into the home you want, building on additions and changing things to reflect the way you work and live.

I’d like to thank Bill Rosenblatt, who helped me get two versions of Emacs up and running, guiding me step by step through the build process. By the time I installed the third version of Emacs 19, thanks to input from Lar Kaufman and Matt Welsh, I’d discovered Linux and the FSF had streamlined the installation process to the point that it only took a few hours to FTP and compile Emacs. I would also like to thank Lenny Muellner who patiently helped me in producing review versions of the book.

I’d especially like to thank my husband Jim for his support and encouragement and our children, Meg and David, who gave up my time and attention so that “the Emacs book” could be finished.

Bill Rosenblatt: I would like to thank the following people: Professor Richard Martin (Princeton Classics Department), for planting the seed in me that eventually turned writing from a chore to a pleasure; Intermetrics, Inc., for giving me little enough to do that I could fritter away my workdays delving into GNU Emacs; Hal Stern, for getting me this gig; Sandy Wise, for his help with the X Window System chapter; Jessica Lustig, for her love and support; and most importantly, my grad-school housemates for putting up with a tied-up phone line at all hours of the day and night.

Eric Raymond: My thanks go first to the hacker community at large, all the people who created the rich tradition of Emacs LISP programming that brings Emacs customization from elegant theoretical possibility to practical tool. I learned what I know partly from reading code written by the likes of Olin Shivers, Jamie Zawinski, Kyle Jones, Barry Warsaw, Roland McGrath, Richard Stallman himself (of course), and many others. Secondly, my thanks and warmest love go as always to Catherine C. Olanich, who supported me on many levels while I worked on my bits of this book. Finally, my thanks and respect to the hip, professional and clueful people at O’Reilly. They know how to produce a good book and how to treat an author right. They care, and it shows.

We’d all like to thank our technical reviewers who gave of their time and expertise under strict time constraints. Thanks to Ellen Siever’s skillful review, the book is more cohesive and useful. Bob Glickstein read the book with the careful eye of a LISP expert and made us strive for precision in our language.

Most of all, we’d like to thank our editor, Mike Loukides, who kept the book on track throughout the process of creating this second edition. He provided guidance as well as editing skills. We’d also like to thank him for bringing on board Eric Raymond as our third coauthor to revise some chapters and add an important new chapter on version control, a feature he helped to develop. Eric’s expertise has enriched this edition. Special thanks also to Gigi Estabrook, who took on the project under severe time pressure and coordinated authors, editors, and technical reviewers from various far-flung locations.

Finally, a big round of applause to the design and production staff at O’Reilly & Associates. Mary Anne Weeks Mayo was the production manager. Robine Andrau copyedited the manuscript. Quality was assured through the services of Clairemarie Fisher O’Leary, Kismet McDonough-Chan, and Sheryl Avruch. Seth Maislin wrote the index, with production assistance from Cynthia Grabke. Erik Ray, Ellen Siever, and Lenny Muellner contributed their tool-tweaking prowess. Michael Deutsch and John Files helped in the production process. Chris Reilley was responsible for illustrations, Nancy Priest and Mary Jane Walsh for the interior design, Hanna Dyer created the back cover, and Edie Freedman designed the front cover.