I am using Emacs as my development tool almost exclusively. The biggest advantage to me is, that Emacs supports all languages and most file formats. I work in a

I am using Emacs as my development tool almost exclusively. The biggest advantage to me is, that Emacs supports all languages and most file formats. I work in an environment, where I have certainly main languages, but also occasionally have to edit files from other languages or very varying text format. Emacs is one of the few tools which supports them all. And if not, can be easily tweaked to do so. When I edit Java code, I of course grab for IntelliJ, but I am not doing much of Java any more. Yet, immediately I noticed, that while the Java support is great, you have to switch tools quickly when you want to edit something else than Java. Emacs is very customizable, even if it is some effort, long time it is worth it. And I think Emacs is still way more optimized to be usable without a mouse than most IDEs. Reaching for the mouse is a distraction. Finally, Emacs runs in almost any conceivable environment. If you have to switch to a different machine, sometimes with a different OS, it is easy to get an Emacs there if it isn't installed already, but getting your favorite IDE there is another task (if it is available at all).