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GNU Emacs Lisp

     Most of the GNU Emacs text editor is written in the programming language called Emacs Lisp.  You can write new code in Emacs Lisp and install it as an extension to the editor.  However, Emacs Lisp is more than a mere ``extension language''; it is a full computer programming language in its own right.  You can use it as you would any other programming language.

     Because Emacs Lisp is designed for use in an editor, it has special features for scanning and parsing text as well as features for handling files, buffers, displays, subprocesses, and so on.  Emacs Lisp is closely integrated with the editing facilities; thus, editing commands are functions that can also conveniently be called from Lisp programs, and parameters for customization are ordinary Lisp variables.

     This manual describes Emacs Lisp.  Generally speaking, the earlier chapters describe features of Emacs Lisp that have counterparts in many programming languages, and later chapters describe features that are peculiar to Emacs Lisp or relate specifically to editing.