It's been said (and I agree) that Emacs is an operating system in disguise as an editor.
Thanks to its built-in LISP interpreter/compiler, there are many substantial applications written in Emacs-LISP, many of which ship with Emacs itself. This includes e-mail clients, web browsers and news readers.
The code is also extremely portable. The Emacs sources can be compiled for Microsoft Windows and macOS as well as just about every UNIX-derived system ever built. So I can use the same editor on every computer I own, regardless of its operating system. That is, in many respects, worth more than everything else.
Sadly, at this point in my career, I'm doing far more business-type activities and far less coding, but I can still tell you that there is nothing more painful than being "in the zone" writing code and then being interrupted by a phone call or a coworker asking a question.
I also think that the night-owl attitude starts in college. You go to your classes by day. You hang out with your friends in the afternoon and evening. And then you need to work on your projects - which means at night, because that's the only time you have left.
Authored Comments
It's been said (and I agree) that Emacs is an operating system in disguise as an editor.
Thanks to its built-in LISP interpreter/compiler, there are many substantial applications written in Emacs-LISP, many of which ship with Emacs itself. This includes e-mail clients, web browsers and news readers.
The code is also extremely portable. The Emacs sources can be compiled for Microsoft Windows and macOS as well as just about every UNIX-derived system ever built. So I can use the same editor on every computer I own, regardless of its operating system. That is, in many respects, worth more than everything else.
Sadly, at this point in my career, I'm doing far more business-type activities and far less coding, but I can still tell you that there is nothing more painful than being "in the zone" writing code and then being interrupted by a phone call or a coworker asking a question.
I also think that the night-owl attitude starts in college. You go to your classes by day. You hang out with your friends in the afternoon and evening. And then you need to work on your projects - which means at night, because that's the only time you have left.