One difference (I assume?): it’s programmable. It’s a directory editor written in the same VM in which the editor (Emacs) is written. This makes it compostable

One difference (I assume?): it’s programmable. It’s a directory editor written in the same VM in which the editor (Emacs) is written. This makes it compostable with your existing IDE toolset of macros, plugins, hotkeys, etc. For example: I never thought of using total commander to augment some custom hotkey in vim. But in Emacs it’s just another set of functions available right there.