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1761

answers:

14

For those of us that like to use the graphical version of Vim or Emacs, instead of the console version, which version do you recommend?

For Vim, there's Mac OS X Vim, MacVim, Vim-Cocoa.

For Emacs, CarbonEmacs, XEmacs, and Aquamacs.

Are there more? Which of these are ready for prime-time? If it's a tough call, what are the trade-offs? Are all of these still being maintained?

No discussion of Vim vs. Emacs, if you don't mind, or comparisons with other editors.

+13  A: 

MacVim works well and certainly looks more mature than Vim-Cocoa, moreover there is a Cocoa plugin architecture in the pipeline for MacVim (and someone is already working on a TextMate style file browser tray plugin which is a huge ++ IMHO).

There was also a Carbon version of Vim, but this didn't offer a great deal over the Terminal version. i.e. only allowed one window open, not very OSX in appearence...

Aquamacs is very usable and looks pretty good. Supports both traditional Mac OS style keyboard shortcuts (command-O, command-S) and the Control/Meta shortcuts for those raised on traditional Emacs. It is definitely more Mac-like than Carbon Emacs. It seems stable and fast, but I am not an Emacs guru so I don't stress it all that much when I use it. I can't speak to the extensiveness of the included elisp packages, either.

Someone syncs Carbon Emacs with the upstream tree quarterly I think. Aquamacs has a more irregular schedule, but it's seen some pretty major updates over the last year.

Brendan
In the interests of tact, this is the kind of answer that should probably be made community wiki editable. Can someone with the right priveleges do that and add the Emacs bits?
Brendan
MacVim rocks! It's really good and is heavily maintained and improved.
Sergio Acosta
What is is this textmate style file browser you speak of?
mikelikespie
Here is the link to the mailing list message on the TextMate style file browser, it seems some of the wind has gone from the sails of late - http://groups.google.com/group/vim_mac/browse_thread/thread/34a3e23bcc9ee977
Brendan
+1  A: 

@Brendan: I just downloaded Mac OS X Vim and it's definitely a graphical version. I didn't know about the TextMate plugin - great news, can't wait!

Michiel de Mare
+5  A: 

I've tried Aquamacs and it's very usable and looks pretty good. Supports both traditional Mac OS style keyboard shortcuts (command-O, command-S) and the Control/Meta shortcuts for those raised on traditional Emacs. It is definitely more Mac-like than Carbon Emacs. It seems stable and fast, but I am not an Emacs guru so I don't stress it all that much when I use it. I can't speak to the extensiveness of the included elisp packages, either.

Someone syncs Carbon Emacs with the upstream tree quarterly I think. Aquamacs has a more irregular schedule, but it's seen some pretty major updates over the last year.

jaredg
+3  A: 

I just download the Emacs source from the GNU site and build it myself. I don't like too many Mac-specific features, because I want Emacs behavior to be consistent on all the platforms I use.

Kristopher Johnson
+1  A: 

I get all my unixish/GNU support using Fink (which provides Debian-like package control) with the emacs22-carbon package which means I also get a clickable application. It does everything I expect it to do, and automagically starts using emacs extensions loaded with fink.

Good times.

dmckee
+1  A: 

I use the CarbonEmacs version on the Macports progam. It installs all the dependencies with just one line:

sudo port install emacs

For anyone intesrested in Macports (www.macports.org)

Alotor
I inherited an ancient G4 Mac running Tiger... and being neither a Mac expert nor a native Unix user, this was the only option I could get working quickly. (And MacPorts hides tons of other useful stuff behind the handy CLI. :) )
Don Womick
+1  A: 

Some time ago, I was searching for a text editor for my new Mac. Since this was some months ago, some points might have been corrected in the meantime.
I feel that Aquamacs is by far the best OSX-Emacs. However, it feels a bit too Mac-like in some areas. For example, it rather uses several windows instead of several buffers and the coloring schemes are not "normal" Emacs-style.
If you look for a more basic set, Carbon Emacs might do it as well, though you might want to add some additional packages to add PHP support or AucTeX.
Emacs.app feels broken in my oppinion. It not even opens files using drag and drop.

BastiBechtold
+2  A: 

I like the Nextstep-derived Emacs.app formerly at http://emacs-app.sourceforge.net/ now integrated in Emacs-23 CVS (as of August 2008).

Emacs.app feels more zippy than Aquamacs to me but its just bare CVS-Emacs and doesn't come with the same amount of stuff (you have to install your own AucTeX etc.).

robcast
Aquamacs also is a problem for people who use non-English keyboards. I have a Portuguese keyboard and the standard layout for the modifier keys in Aquamacs makes me lose the "@"symbol (I have to use the option key to access it). No such problems with the CVS version though.
Pinochle
You can change that in Aquamacs' options under use-alt-as-meta (the first thing I switch off). Also, Aquamacs version 2 is based on Emacs.app (out of Emacs-CVS) but adds lots of tweaks.
robcast
+1  A: 

Personally, I've been using fink to install xemacs. It requires X but I've been using xemacs for so long that I need what it has.

Additionally, I have installed gnu emacs. It's nice because it is a completely integrated mac os x application with a dock icon and everything. I find it useful when dragging a file on top of the gnu emacs icon to open it.

Last, I should mention that mac os x uses the emacs keystrokes all over the place. stuff like ^A for beginning of text, ^E for end of text, ^N next line, ^P previous line, etc... These work in most text boxes throughout the OS.

mike511
A: 

I love CarbonEmacs because it sticks very close to the standard GNU Emacs distribution, while still fitting in nicely with the Mac desktop. To me, it "felt" like Emacs on my Ubuntu desktop even if it looked like a Mac application.

Just Some Guy
A: 

Emacs 22 has worked pretty well for me.

Ingrid
+1  A: 

Of the emacsen for Mac OS X, I have to say that after the console version of 22, CarbonEmacs is the most usable. Aquamacs just does too many non-standard, read unexpected, things with configuration. Aquamacs questions generally aren't answered in any sort of timely manner in #emacs on freenode for whatever that is worth. It seem to be held in disdain simply because it does such a terrible job of handling standard configuration options in .emacs.

docgnome
A: 

I prefer Vim built from the Subversion repository. I run it in the console where I don't need to use the mouse while editing.

Michael McCarty
+1  A: 

I'm using MacVim on Mac OS X. It's very, very nice.