Introduction On a very basic level, Emacs is a text editor. However it is much more versatile than other less sophisticated editors in the UNIX environment, such as for example pico. More specifically, Emacs can work together with other applications, such as TEX, L TEX, and S-Plus, to provide a sort of graphical A user interface. We will get an example of this when we begin to use ESS (Emacs Speaks Statistics) and LTEX. A Dot Emacs Files These files make your life a lot easier. By color coding the syntax (for example in TEX?les), it is easy to see if youve made a syntax error, because it wont look right.

In your Tutorial folder, there is a beginners .emacs ?le. Copy this to your home directory before proceeding-it will make things a lot easier (it is intended for use on the stat network with ESS and includes keybindings- see the ESS reference sheet, http://www.stat.rice.edu/helpdesk/FAQ/ess.ps).

Download Basic Emacs Tutorial Statistics Orientation PDF Sheet