Emacs vs Sublime Text: What are the differences?

Key Differences between Emacs and Sublime Text

Emacs and Sublime Text are popular text editors used by developers for coding and text manipulation. While both share similarities in terms of functionality and customization, there are several key differences that set them apart:

1. Extensibility: Emacs is known for its high extensibility and customizability through Emacs Lisp programming language. Users have the ability to modify any aspect of Emacs, including its user interface. On the other hand, Sublime Text offers a vast number of plugins and packages for extending its functionality, making it easier for users to add features without the need for extensive programming knowledge.

2. Learning Curve: Emacs has a steep learning curve compared to Sublime Text. Emacs relies heavily on keybindings and requires users to learn and memorize its extensive set of commands. Sublime Text, on the other hand, has a simpler and more intuitive user interface, making it easier for beginners to get started.

3. Performance: Emacs is known for its performance, especially for large files and long editing sessions. It efficiently handles multiple buffers and tasks, making it an ideal choice for heavy-duty text editing and programming. Sublime Text is also performant, but it may experience slight slowdowns when handling extremely large files.

4. Multi-platform Support: Sublime Text offers better multi-platform support as it is available for Windows, macOS, and Linux. Emacs, on the other hand, originated in Unix systems and its integration with non-Unix systems can sometimes be challenging.

5. Default Features: Emacs comes with a comprehensive set of default features that include text editing, file management, email client, newsreader, calculator, games, and much more out of the box. Sublime Text, while it provides basic text editing features, relies heavily on extensions and plugins to provide additional functionalities.

6. Price: Sublime Text is a proprietary software that requires users to purchase a license after the trial period ends, making it a commercial product. In contrast, Emacs is an open-source software distributed under a free software license, allowing users to use, distribute, and modify it without any cost.

In summary, Emacs offers extensive extensibility and customization options, has a steeper learning curve, and is highly performant, while Sublime Text provides a simpler user interface, better multi-platform support, relies on extensions for additional features, and comes with a price tag.