[rkangel]

You're probably right about the autocompletion. I've never been able to get it to work particularly well in emacs (although I'm probably due another attempt). If you're focused on a particular target with a good IDE (i.e. Visual Studio, something by IntelliJ and probably nothing else) then they can be a good tool to use.

Among other things, I'm current developing some code for an Atmel chip. The environment for this is Atmel Studio (VisualStudio based), which has excellent Intellisense based autocomplete/navigation etc.. The thing is, I keep finding myself using emacs. Apart from the obvious 'force of habit' reasons for this, I think there are two factors:

1) Even with the autocomplete I still code faster in emacs. The various features like being able to load up multiple files at once on split windows, better facilities for swapping code around (I could go on) mean that it just goes faster. I still use the IDE for bits and pieces - it's particularly convenient for when I'm using unfamiliar parts ofthe hardware libraries - but I keep going back to emacs.

2) Developing for the Atmel is only ONE of the devices I'm targeting at the moment. I've got another ARM device (using Keil), a whole host of Python bits and pieces, a Windows GUI app. Being able to write the code for all of these in one place is unmatchable. Particularly as they interrelate and share code. It even helps the style look the same (where appropriate). A well configured emacs gives you a great development environment for anything.