TECO nostalgia
The forerunner of Emacs, TECO was a full-featured, if suitably inscrutable, text editor. From the VAX/VMS manual for TECO:
TECO is implemented in VAX/VMS as a half-native, half-compatibility mode program. The command processor and editor proper is the same as TECO-11 and runs in compatibility mode. Operating system interface and file service logic run in native mode.
Got that? Good.
However, TECO did have some functions that would shame some modern applications.
You can type the / command immediately after an error. TECO will respond with a one-paragraph description of the error.
More than once I've wished Windows or OS X had a WTF? key I could hit when presented with a cryptic, and usually terminal, alert box.
Read more about the TEXT EDITOR AND CORRECTOR FOR THE VAX-11, PDP-11, PDP-10, and PDP-8.
