Learning GNU Emacs, 3rd Edition
by Debra Cameron, James Elliott, Marc Loy, Eric S. Raymond, Bill Rosenblatt
About the Emacs Display
When you enter Emacs, you see a large workspace near the top of the window where you do your editing. (See Figure 1-1.)

Figure 1-1. Understanding the Emacs display
A cursor marks your position. The cursor is also called point, particularly among people who are more familiar with Emacs and in the online help system; therefore, it's useful to remember this term.
You don't have to do anything special before you start typing. As long as you type alphanumeric characters and punctuation, Emacs inserts them into your buffer. The cursor indicates where Emacs inserts the new characters; it moves as you type. Unlike many editors (particularly vi), Emacs does not have separate modes for inserting text and giving commands. Try typing something right now, and you'll begin to see how easy Emacs is to use. (If you get stuck for any reason, just press C-g.)
The Toolbar
The toolbar is a new feature in Emacs 21. Its basic icons and their functions are listed in Table 1-3. Note that the toolbar is context sensitive; in some modes, such as the Info mode for reading the Emacs manual, the toolbar changes to provide browsing help. We'll discuss those icons when we cover the relevant modes.
Table 1-3. Icons on the Emacs toolbar
|
Icon |
Function |
Where to learn more |
|---|---|---|
|
|
Find a file or create ... |