1 \input texinfo @c -*-texinfo-*-
2 @c This is part of the GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual.
3 @c Copyright (C) 2001-2015 Free Software Foundation, Inc.
4 @c See the file elisp.texi for copying conditions.
7 @setfilename back-cover
8 @settitle GNU Emacs Lisp Reference Manual
13 @center @titlefont {GNU Emacs Lisp}
17 Most of the GNU Emacs text editor is written in the programming
18 language called Emacs Lisp. You can write new code in Emacs Lisp and
19 install it as an extension to the editor. However, Emacs Lisp is more
20 than a mere ``extension language''; it is a full computer programming
21 language in its own right. You can use it as you would any other
24 Because Emacs Lisp is designed for use in an editor, it has special
25 features for scanning and parsing text as well as features for handling
26 files, buffers, displays, subprocesses, and so on. Emacs Lisp is
27 closely integrated with the editing facilities; thus, editing commands
28 are functions that can also conveniently be called from Lisp programs,
29 and parameters for customization are ordinary Lisp variables.
31 This manual describes Emacs Lisp. Generally speaking, the earlier
32 chapters describe features of Emacs Lisp that have counterparts in
33 many programming languages, and later chapters describe features that
34 are peculiar to Emacs Lisp or relate specifically to editing.