It is important to know your way around an emacs window. Figure 1.1 shows the standard features, most of which are self-explanatory.
Please note that at the bottom of the File menu (not displayed) there is an ``Quit'' selection. It is important to use this method to exit emacs. You may have noticed that your window manager also comes with a Kill or Quit feature for the emacs window (that little ``X'' at the top right). Don't use it to exit emacs. You risk losing some of your work if you do.
Emacs does editing inside ``buffers''. Usually buffers are associated with files and they have the same name as the file. The title bar near the bottom of the window shows the name of the buffer currently being displayed. A pair of asterisks on the left of this bar indicates that the current buffer has not been saved. The editing mode determines the way some of the keys, such as the tab key, behave. In this example the mode is ``Fundamental'', which is the generic choice. Emacs has a very useful C++ mode, which is automatically selected if you edit a file with the usual C++ filename extensions. In C++ mode emacs knows how to indent your code according to standard practice. There is also a mode for LaTeX and HTML, which are also automatically invoked if you use standard filename extensions. Finally, the cursor line number is shown. This can be very useful information.
The command minibuffer shows the commands you are typing. It is also a dialog box for entering emacs command parameters.
