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termbox VS GNU Emacs

Compare termbox VS GNU Emacs and see what are their differences

termbox logo termbox

Termbox is a library that helps making terminal-based pseudo-GUIs.

GNU Emacs logo GNU Emacs

GNU Emacs is an extensible, customizable text editor—and more.
  • termbox Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-09-23
  • GNU Emacs Landing page
    Landing page //
    2023-01-19

termbox features and specs

  • Cross-Platform Support
    Termbox is designed to work on multiple operating systems, including Linux, Windows, and macOS, making it a versatile choice for developers who need to target various environments.
  • Simple API
    The library offers a straightforward API that allows developers to easily create text-based user interfaces without dealing with complex low-level terminal handling.
  • Minimal Dependencies
    Termbox is a lightweight library with minimal dependencies, which makes it easy to integrate into projects without having to manage a large dependency tree.
  • Event Handling
    Provides a robust event system to handle keyboard, mouse, and resize events, enabling developers to create interactive terminal applications with ease.

Possible disadvantages of termbox

  • Limited Feature Set
    While Termbox is simple to use, it may lack some advanced features found in more comprehensive terminal libraries, limiting its suitability for more complex applications.
  • Maintenance Status
    As of the latest updates, the project may not be actively maintained, which could lead to issues with compatibility or unresolved bugs over time.
  • Lacks High-Level Components
    Termbox does not provide high-level UI components like buttons or menus, which means developers might need to implement these themselves for more sophisticated interfaces.
  • Unicode and Character Encoding
    Handling of Unicode and character encoding can be challenging, and developers might need to perform additional work to support internationalization and ensure correct rendering.

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.

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.

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GNU Emacs videos

Switching to GNU Emacs

Category Popularity

0-100% (relative to termbox and GNU Emacs)
IDE
13 13%
87% 87
Text Editors
0 0%
100% 100
URL Shortener
100 100%
0% 0
Bookmark Manager
100 100%
0% 0

User comments

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Reviews

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

termbox Reviews

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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, GNU Emacs should be more popular than termbox. 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.

termbox mentions (2)

  • Writing TUI with Ratatouille
    Most answers were a code-golf style with writing the full functionality in least number of lines of code. I took a different approach. Since some time already I wanted to try out Ratatouille - an Elixir toolkit for writing TUI (Terminal UI), based on termbox. - Source: dev.to / almost 2 years ago
  • I looking for a TUI liberary/framework with good aesthetics.
    If you want to go lower-level, then I would recommend against ncurses, and instead start with notcurses or termbox. termbox has lots of language bindings, but the author is no longer maintaining it. Still, not a bad place to start from. If you do decide to get into ncurses, this doc can get you over some of the humps with keyboard/screen/mouse. Source: over 3 years ago

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