Emacs Lisp is interpreted (or byte-interpreted), and (GNU) Emacs is written almost exclusively in it, so startup can be dog-slow. Once it's up and running, thou

Emacs Lisp is interpreted (or byte-interpreted), and (GNU) Emacs is written almost exclusively in it, so startup can be dog-slow. Once it's up and running, though, I've always found it pretty snappy.