Tim Bradshaw <tfb(a)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.