[TUHS] Un-released/internal/special UNIX versions/ports during the years?

[Lars Brinkhoff]

Tim Bradshaw <tfb at tfeb.org> writes:
> There's also no real doubt that RMS was responsible for Emacs *as an
> idea* as opposed to any particular implementation (Guy Steele is I
> think the other person who might be held responsible, but I believe
> he's said that it was RMS, which is good enough for me).

Here's what they wrote about that 6 Jul 1978.

RMS:

    The work done by GLS was
      a) to consider a large number of possible command sets, and
         suggest many interesting possible commands, and
      b) to begin doing actual work (on the purifier and start-up).
         Although none of this code survived after a week or so, I might
         never have been able to start doing anything if left to myself.
         I often have trouble getting off the ground.

GLS:

    The account of my involvement given by RMS is essentially accurate.
    I started [EMACS] because I was getting tired of the kludginess of
    the TCMAC command arrangement, and saw in other editors neat
    commands that could not be fit cleanly into TECMAC.  I therefore
    decided to perform a total reorganization of the command structure,
    and carefully examine all the other existing TECO-based editors,
    such as RMODE, DOC, and the ever-popular TMACS.  Most of my work
    involved playing with assignments of commands to keys, and running
    around organizing discussions and soliciting comments.  I made an
    initial stab at a loader, and I think I invented (or re-invented)
    the notion of a compressing loader, and invented most of the
    specific conventions for the EMACS loader (such as using _ for a
    space), though these conventions were greatly refined later.  It was
    at about this point that RMS and others took over the development
    work, and did a much better job, much faster, than I could have.
    For this reason, as well as the pressure of classes and the
    maintenance of LISP, I was happy to let others take over [EMACS].
    Thus, while I provided initial impetus and much of the original
    user-level command structure, most of the development work and
    succeeding refinements is to the credit of other people.