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Micro VS GNU Emacs

Compare Micro VS GNU Emacs and see what are their differences

Micro logo Micro

Modern terminal-based text editor

GNU Emacs logo GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more.
  • Micro Landing page
    Landing page //
    2018-12-16
  • GNU Emacs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-19

Micro features and specs

  • User-Friendly Interface
    Micro provides an intuitive interface that is easy to navigate even for beginners, making it accessible for new users.
  • Cross-Platform Support
    Micro is available on multiple operating systems, including Windows, macOS, and Linux, ensuring compatibility across various platforms.
  • Lightweight
    The editor is lightweight and fast, which contributes to a smooth and responsive user experience without consuming significant system resources.
  • Plugin System
    Micro supports plugins, allowing users to extend the editor's functionality to suit their specific needs.
  • Built-in Terminal
    It includes a built-in terminal that enables users to execute commands without leaving the editor environment.
  • Syntax Highlighting
    Micro provides syntax highlighting for many programming languages, enhancing code readability.

Possible disadvantages of Micro

  • Limited Features
    Compared to more established editors like VSCode or Sublime Text, Micro may lack some advanced features and integrations.
  • Less Community Support
    The user community around Micro is smaller compared to that of other text editors, which may result in fewer available resources like plugins, themes, or tutorials.
  • Infrequent Updates
    Updates and new features may be released less frequently, as it is not as widely maintained as more mainstream editors.
  • Learning Curve for Advanced Use
    While basic operations are straightforward, some advanced features and customizations may require a learning curve.
  • Limited Built-in Features
    Although plugins can extend its functionality, out of the box, Micro may not have all the built-in features that other editors offer.

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.

Micro videos

Microeconomics- Everything You Need to Know

More videos:

  • Review - MICROeconomics 19 Minute Review
  • Review - Game Gear Micro Review

GNU Emacs videos

Switching to GNU Emacs

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to Micro and GNU Emacs)
Text Editors
34 34%
66% 66
IDE
29 29%
71% 71
Software Development
42 42%
58% 58
IDEs And Text Editors
0 0%
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 Micro and GNU Emacs

Micro Reviews

We have no reviews of Micro yet.
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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 didn’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.
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

Social recommendations and mentions

Based on our record, Micro seems to be a lot more popular than GNU Emacs. While we know about 80 links to Micro, we've tracked only 6 mentions of GNU Emacs. 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.

Micro mentions (80)

  • Trying out Zed after more than a decade of Vim/Neovim
    Check out micro: https://micro-editor.github.io/ It's a terminal editor with mouse support and sane key bindings. - Source: Hacker News / 3 months ago
  • Notepad++ is 21 years old
    Micro editor (https://micro-editor.github.io/) works best for me but it's terminal-based. - Source: Hacker News / 6 months ago
  • In your opinion, what is the text-editor equivalent of Openbox?
    Simple yet customizable? My thoughts go to Sublime Text if you want a GUI editor and closed-source is OK, or Micro if you want a TUI editor that is open source: https://micro-editor.github.io/ Like OpenBox, most casual users can be dropped in and know their way around their interfaces, and both options are kinda lightweight compared to other modern options. There is power available for serious customization if you... - Source: Hacker News / 8 months ago
  • GNU Nano 8 comes with modern key bindings
    This is great! I used to install micro[0] as "nano with better shortcuts", but it was always a bit of an overkill, so I'm really happy with this change. One quirk that remains: even with --modernbindings, Ctrl+X and Ctrl+C will add to nano's clipboard, instead of replacing whatever is there. [0] https://micro-editor.github.io. - Source: Hacker News / 11 months ago
  • Modeless Vim
    Is Micro[0] not a better, more purpose-fit solution to these issues? (Syntax highlighting quality, etc) Prev discussed: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=37171294. - Source: Hacker News / over 1 year ago
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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: almost 2 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 2 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: over 2 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 3 years ago
  • opam doesn't see emacs?
    <><> Version-specific details <><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><><> 🐫 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 3 years ago
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What are some alternatives?

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

Vis - A vi-like editor based on Plan 9's structural regular expressions.

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

Neovim - Vim's rebirth for the 21st century

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.

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

Microsoft Visual Studio - Microsoft Visual Studio is an integrated development environment (IDE) from Microsoft.