It's easy to learn C-x C-s to save, C-x C-c to quit, C-x C-f to open a file. That's how I got by with emacs for about 6 months, just because I liked the tab/in

It's easy to learn C-x C-s to save, C-x C-c to quit, C-x C-f to open a file. That's how I got by with emacs for about 6 months, just because I liked the tab/indent behaviour so much. Then after that it's easy to learn the C-x chords for splitting windows, and you're at about the level where I used emacs for about 5 years, with maybe some C-c C-c to compile things. Honestly emacs is not that hard and you can be pretty productive with just the bare minimum. I still don't use the arcane commands to move the cursor around. I don't even know what they are. I use the arrow keys and pgup/pgdown.