If you like Emacs, and are looking for version that plays well in OS-X land, it looks like Aquamacs is what you want.
As an aside, following the instructions here, to download and install MIT Scheme, will get you ready to self study Structure and Interpretation of Computer Programs. Eli Bendersky blogged his effort to read the book.
If you’re concerned about learning Lisp to use Emacs, you don’t have to. But if you care to dip in, defmacro’s The Nature of Lisp is a good read.
If you’re looking for Python support, check out this write up (M-x run-python just worked out of the box – nice Aquamacs!).
There are many versions of Emacs available for OS-X beyond Aquamacs and the one that Apple bundles. You can find them on the EmacsWiki. The CarbonEmacsPackage is a popular choice, so is Emacs App. I’ll probably end up experimenting a bit with them both.
There is a great set of Emacs tutorials at IBM’s developerWorks.
Emacs’s Org-mode might be the answer to my note taking needs.
Thanks for the pingback 🙂
I’m using Carbon Emacs on OS X and I like it quite well. I did briefly try Aquamacs but I found it pretty foreign to what I’m used to (GNU Emacs on Linux). It seemed odd to me that every file I opened would open up a new frame. It is still Emacs so you can probably disable that behavior, but it was a bit standoffish when I tried it.
What specifically do you like about Aquamacs?
Thanks for the instructions!
I had modified Emacs in my previous environment (Windows) to recognize windows command shortcuts. Emacs on Windows seemed to render fonts well.
The few times I’ve tried the Emacs that was bundled with Leopard, the fonts looked bad, and I found myself switching contexts a little too much – Aquamacs just felt more native to OS-X.
I’ll probably try and modify the config for the file opening behavior though 🙂
I’ll give Carbon Emacs a try however.
http://homepage.mac.com/zenitani/emacs-e.html