first time i used tramp it felt like magic, i thought in this age where connecting multiple nodes, vpns, virtual-systems so common that everyone in interent-business would use tramp. but all i could see was people wrestling with ssh, scp, tmux/screen, lots of terminals...

i just copy the .dot file and launch emacs. in a few minutes without touching anything i have the same environment.

Yeah, that's me 3-4 years ago.

Then I ran emacs on a new machine for months before realising my .emacs refused to load correctly because I had not installed the correct fonts and cscope. So dot files are not foolproof.

(Throwaway account to discuss emacs? Do you live in a vim-only country?)

Virgin Islands, cough.

when you are looking for a tool as a programmer, the question you should be asking is not 'is it complex?', the question always is 'is it worth it?'. emacs is the only tool in existence i can confidently say yes, every bit. as a programmer you should be using emacs.

i have used visual-studio for 8 years then vim for at least 5, emacs was always there taunting me. after 'evil' i had no reason to avoid it and i wish someone told me to use it the day when i started coding. this is not vim-vs-emacs, this is not ide-wars, they are for language-lawyers and influencers spewing bullshit for internet points.

magit, tramp, org-mode, evil... every one of them are free, orthogonal to rest of the emacs-system, supported on every os.

but emacs too comes with a curse, just like lisp. after you get used to it, there is no going back. everything is going to feel inferior.