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GNU Emacs VS iTerm

Compare GNU Emacs VS iTerm and see what are their differences

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Contents:
  1. ยป Base Details
  2. ยป Videos
  3. ยป Reviews
  4. ยป Alternatives

GNU Emacs logo GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editorโ€”and more.

iTerm logo iTerm

iTerm is a full featured terminal emulation program written for OS X using Cocoa.
  • GNU Emacs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-19
  • iTerm Landing page
    Landing page //
    2019-05-04

GNU Emacs features and specs

  • Highly Extensible
    GNU Emacs is highly customizable, allowing users to configure nearly every aspect using Emacs Lisp. This makes it remarkably adaptable for various workflows.
  • Rich Plugin Ecosystem
    There is a wide array of plugins available for Emacs, extending its functionality for programming, text editing, project management, and more.
  • Versatile
    Aside from text editing, Emacs can function as an email client, web browser, terminal emulator, and more, making it a powerful multi-purpose tool.
  • Free and Open Source
    GNU Emacs is free to use and modify, with source code available under the GNU General Public License, encouraging collaborative improvement and transparency.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Emacs runs on many different operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and various Unix-like systems, ensuring a wide reach and consistent experience across platforms.

Possible disadvantages of GNU Emacs

  • Steep Learning Curve
    Due to its vast array of features and unique keybindings, new users often find Emacs difficult to learn initially.
  • Performance
    Emacs can be slower compared to more lightweight text editors, especially when heavily customized or handling large files.
  • Keyboard-Centric Interface
    Emacs relies heavily on keyboard shortcuts, which can be overwhelming and complex, leading to potential finger strain from extensive use.
  • Complex Configuration
    While its customizability is a strength, configuring Emacs to fit personal needs can be time-consuming and complex, requiring knowledge of Emacs Lisp.

iTerm features and specs

  • Multiple Tabs and Panes
    iTerm allows users to open multiple tabs and split panes, increasing productivity and making it easier to manage multiple sessions.
  • Customizability
    Users can extensively customize iTerm, from changing themes and colors to creating profiles and personalized shortcuts.
  • Search and Highlighting
    iTerm provides powerful search features, including the ability to highlight matches, which can help users quickly find information within terminal outputs.
  • Scripting Support
    iTerm supports AppleScript and Python scripting, which allows users to automate tasks and integrate with other applications.
  • Persistent Sessions
    This feature enables users to maintain session states, allowing them to resume work exactly where they left off, even after restarting applications.

Possible disadvantages of iTerm

  • Complexity
    The vast number of features in iTerm might be overwhelming for new users or those who prefer simpler terminal applications.
  • Resource Usage
    iTerm can consume more resources compared to simpler terminal applications, which might be a concern for users with limited computing power.
  • Learning Curve
    Due to its extensive features, iTerm requires a certain amount of time and effort to learn to fully utilize its capabilities.
  • MacOS Exclusive
    iTerm is only available for MacOS, which excludes users on other operating systems who might want to use it.

Analysis of GNU Emacs

Overall verdict

  • GNU Emacs is widely considered to be a powerful and versatile text editor, especially among programmers and developers.

Why this product is good

  • Highly Customizable: Emacs can be extensively customized with Emacs Lisp, enabling users to tailor the editor to fit their specific workflow.
  • Rich Ecosystem: There is a large variety of plug-ins and extensions available, which can transform it into much more than just a text editor.
  • Built-in Tools: Emacs includes numerous built-in tools such as a debugger, calendar, email client, and file manager, making it a comprehensive development environment.
  • Cross-Platform: Emacs runs on multiple platforms, which makes it accessible to a broad audience.

Recommended for

  • Programmers and developers who appreciate a customizable and extensible tool.
  • Users who want to integrate various development tools into a single environment.
  • Individuals comfortable with learning Emacs Lisp to create and understand custom scripts and configurations.
  • People interested in a text editor that has a strong and supportive community.

Analysis of iTerm

Overall verdict

  • iTerm is generally considered a robust and versatile terminal emulator, especially favored among macOS users who require advanced features and customizability. Its comprehensive set of tools makes it a solid choice for power users who need more than the basic Terminal app.

Why this product is good

  • iTerm is a popular terminal emulator for macOS that provides users with a range of features such as split panes, search functionality, autocomplete, and support for various text encodings. It is customizable, supports profiles, and has features like instant replay and paste history, which can enhance productivity for developers and system administrators.

Recommended for

    iTerm is recommended for software developers, system administrators, and IT professionals who work extensively on the command line and require advanced features like split windows, custom key bindings, and session management. It is also suitable for users who value flexibility and customizability in their terminal applications.

GNU Emacs videos

+ Add

Switching to GNU Emacs

iTerm videos

+ Add

I Dumped iTerm for Warp, Should You?

More videos:

  • Review - Productive MacOS Terminal Setup with Vim, Iterm2, and Oh My Zsh
  • Review - Alacritty vs iTerm vs Terminal vs Hyper

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to GNU Emacs and iTerm)

GNU Emacs

iTerm

Text Editors
100 100%
Text Editors
0% 0
SSH
0 0%
SSH
100% 100
IDE
100 100%
IDE
0% 0
Server Management
0 0%
Server Management
100% 100

User comments

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Reviews

These are some of the external sources and on-site user reviews we've used to compare GNU Emacs and iTerm

GNU Emacs Reviews

14 BEST LaTeX Editor for Mac & Windows in 2022
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It is one of the best LaTeX editor for Mac that allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com
The Top 7 Notepad++ Alternatives for You
Emacs has been around in its various forms since 1976 and is another very worthy Notepad++ alternative. When I first started using Emacs I have to admit that I didnโ€™t find it the easiest to use. But once I got used to it I realized just how powerful Emacs is for the programming community.
Source: www.technize.com
10 Best Notepad++ Alternatives in 2020
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com
7 open source alternatives to Dreamweaver
Vim or Emacs. Without participating in the holy war between these two traditional text editors, I can safely say that there are a number of enhancements for web editing available for both. So if you're already a terminal junkie, take your pick. Or, if those don't satisfy, try one of these Emacs/Vim alternatives.
Source: opensource.com
10 Best Sublime Text Alternatives in 2019
Emacs is a Unix based text editor tool which is used by programmers, engineers, students, and system administrators. It allows you to add, modify, delete, insert, words, letters, lines, and other units of text.
Source: www.guru99.com

iTerm Reviews

We have no reviews of iTerm yet.
Be the first one to post

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, GNU Emacs should be more popular than iTerm. It has been mentiond 6 times since March 2021. We are tracking product recommendations and mentions on various public social media platforms and blogs. They can help you identify which product is more popular and what people think of it.

GNU Emacs mentions (6)

  • Emacs daemon as sytemd service in debian 12 (gnome)
    Cat .config/systemd/user/default.target.wants/emacs.service [Unit] Description=Emacs text editor Documentation=info:emacs man:emacs(1) https://gnu.org/software/emacs/ [Service] Type=notify ExecStart=/usr/local/bin/emacs --fg-daemon # Emacs will exit with status 15 after having received SIGTERM, which # is the default "KillSignal" value systemd uses to stop services. SuccessExitStatus=15 # The location of the... Source: about 3 years ago
  • Why does emacs exec path variable not just copy the users path variable?
    ## If your Emacs is installed in a non-standard location, you may need ## to copy this file to a standard directory, eg ~/.config/systemd/user/ . ## If you install this file by hand, change the "Exec" lines below ## to use absolute file names for the executables. [Unit] Description=Emacs text editor Documentation=info:emacs man:emacs(1)... Source: over 3 years ago
  • Hi DM's, what medium do you use to organise your campaign?
    For gathering notes, writing and organizing, Org-Roam which implies Org and Emacs. Source: almost 4 years ago
  • This Guy is getting out of control at this point.
    I was heading to gnu.org/software/emacs to prove my point and it said:. Source: over 4 years ago
  • opam doesn't see emacs?
    <><> Version-specific details <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> ๐Ÿซ Version 1 Repository default Homepage: "http://gnu.org/software/emacs" Bug-reports: "https://github.com/ocaml/opam-repository/issues" Authors: "anil@recoil.org" Maintainer: "anil@recoil.org" License: "GPL-1.0-or-later" Flags: conf Synopsis Virtual package to install the Emacs editor Description This... Source: over 4 years ago
View more

iTerm mentions (1)

  • Why Does The Business Care? with Michael Heap
    Michael: Terminal-wise, it's iTerm2. There are lots of new ones that I like the idea of things like Fig. But I've just used iTerm for so long that that's my go-to. Use Zsh as your shell. Don't go for something like Oh My Zsh as a framework. I like to build the config file myself, so I know exactly what each piece is doing. I think my config file is less than 100 lines, and it does 90% of what the frameworks do. - Source: dev.to / over 4 years ago

What are some alternatives?

When comparing GNU Emacs and iTerm, you can also consider the following products

VS Code - Build and debug modern web and cloud applications, by Microsoft

KiTTY - KiTTY is a fork from version 0.70 of PuTTY. It adds extra features to PuTTY.

Sublime Text - Sublime Text is a sophisticated text editor for code, html and prose - any kind of text file. You'll love the slick user interface and extraordinary features. Fully customizable with macros, and syntax highlighting for most major languages.

Console - Console is a Windows console window enhancement.

Vim - Highly configurable text editor built to enable efficient text editing

MobaXterm - Enhanced terminal for Windows with X11 server, tabbed SSH client, network tools and much more

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