Emacs is a free, open-source, extensible text editor. But it’s so much more than that. Think of Emacs as a live environment for manipulating text on your screen.
Do you remember the scene in the Minority Report movie when Tom Cruise is using his hands to slide, rotate, and zoom in on the holographic images on his computer? That’s what Emacs feels like, but for your writing experience. Compared with the clunky experience of formatting your docs on Word, Emacs is like a dream.
But enough of the purple prose. I’m sure you’re anxious to dive in.
From here, start by learning about the anatomy of the Emacs frame.