{"slug": "joe", "name": "JOE", "category": "editors", "category_name": "Editors and IDEs", "description": "", "recommenders": 4, "commenters": 6, "warners": 0, "score": 4.368, "rising": 1.35, "first": "2026-05-12", "latest": "2026-10-12", "why": "JOE [0] for editing directly in terminal (Linux, macOS)", "why_is_quote": true, "has_verdict": false, "sentiment": {"recommend": 4, "neutral": 2, "compare": 0, "warn": 0}, "spark": [0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 0, 2, 0, 0, 0, 2], "listed": true, "loved": [], "caveat": "", "short_quote": "JOE [0] for editing directly in terminal (Linux, macOS)", "icon": true, "domain": "wikipedia.org", "github_repo": null, "official_url": "https://joe-editor.sourceforge.io", "pricing": "", "aliases": ["JOE", "joe"], "verdict": null, "praise": [{"label": "", "summary": "", "quotes": [{"id": 800971072, "item_id": 50060692, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060692", "by": "josefcub", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "JOE still remains my preferred editor as a result.", "excerpt": "1995 for me and Slackware but I had the tiniest advantage in having used WordStar in DOS quite a bit beforehand. JOE still remains my preferred editor as a result.", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's the oldest software tool you still rely on every day?"}, {"id": 800934640, "item_id": 50058415, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50058415", "by": "kevinsync", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "JOE [0] for editing directly in terminal (Linux, macOS)", "excerpt": "JOE [0] for editing directly in terminal (Linux, macOS) Somebody gave me Slackware Linux [1] floppies in 1994 and schooled young me on worlds beyond MS-DOS and Windows 3.11 For Workgroups; I had accidentally discovered MS-DOS Editor [2] by being frustrated one day and typing edit into the command line (while muttering \"HOW DO I EDIT A FILE?\", barely understanding what a file was in the first place), so I was shown th", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal editing", "switched_from": "MS-DOS Editor", "story": "Ask HN: What's the oldest software tool you still rely on every day?"}, {"id": 779136112, "item_id": 48696007, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696007", "by": "EvanAnderson", "date": "2026-06-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you may appreciate JOE", "excerpt": "If you're like me and grew up using pseudo-Wordstar keybindings (me by way of Turbo Pascal and Turbo C) you may appreciate JOE: https://github.com/joe-editor/joe", "context": "grew up on WordStar-style keybindings via Turbo Pascal and Turbo C", "use_case": "WordStar-style text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)"}, {"id": 779123984, "item_id": 48695249, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48695249", "by": "toast0", "date": "2026-06-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use joe for mostly everything", "excerpt": "I thought freedos could use usb? Get something with built in ethernet or serial and you can transfer that way pretty easy too. Or just run joe as jstar and close enough, maybe? I use joe for mostly everything, but I never used WordStar (well, I ran into it once)", "context": "", "use_case": "general text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)"}]}], "caveats": [], "who": [{"by": "EvanAnderson", "context": "grew up on WordStar-style keybindings via Turbo Pascal and Turbo C", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696007", "date": "2026-06-27"}, {"by": "DeathArrow", "context": "prefers GUI and mouse", "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48117958", "date": "2026-05-12"}], "tags": [], "use_cases": ["terminal text editing", "terminal editing", "text editing", "wordstar-style text editing", "general text editing", "terminal editing without gui"], "compared": [{"slug": "emacs", "name": "Emacs", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "nano", "name": "nano", "co": 3, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "wordstar", "name": "WordStar", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "vi", "name": "vi", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}, {"slug": "micro", "name": "micro", "co": 2, "switched_from": 0, "switched_to": 0}], "makers": [{"id": 804502320, "item_id": 50281395, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50281395", "by": "jhallenworld", "date": "2026-10-28", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "It had a bad integrated editor, so I wrote my own editor as its replacement, this became the editor JOE.", "excerpt": "I was lucky enough to have access to TOPS-20 at WPI in 1986 - 1988 (The DEC-20 was replaced with an Encore Multimax running UNIX as the student mainframe). TOPS-20 had a bunch of editors, I tried them all. I remember TVI, TECO and EDT, but I'm sure there were more. I already had experience with WordStar (C and assembly language programming on a PC) and various line editors, so although I used it, I never became an Em", "context": "wrote JOE in the 1980s", "use_case": "text editor", "switched_from": "", "story": "Emacs Turns 50"}], "threads": [{"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48694853", "title": "WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)", "mentions": 3}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50058242", "title": "Ask HN: What's the oldest software tool you still rely on every day?", "mentions": 2}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50273171", "title": "Emacs Turns 50", "mentions": 1}, {"url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48033483", "title": "The vi family", "mentions": 1}], "sentiment_by_month": {"2025-11": {}, "2025-12": {}, "2026-01": {}, "2026-02": {}, "2026-03": {}, "2026-04": {}, "2026-05": {"neutral": 1}, "2026-06": {"recommend": 2, "neutral": 1}, "2026-07": {}, "2026-08": {}, "2026-09": {}, "2026-10": {"recommend": 2}}, "quotes": [{"id": 800971072, "item_id": 50060692, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50060692", "by": "josefcub", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "JOE still remains my preferred editor as a result.", "excerpt": "1995 for me and Slackware but I had the tiniest advantage in having used WordStar in DOS quite a bit beforehand. JOE still remains my preferred editor as a result.", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "Ask HN: What's the oldest software tool you still rely on every day?"}, {"id": 800934640, "item_id": 50058415, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=50058415", "by": "kevinsync", "date": "2026-10-12", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "JOE [0] for editing directly in terminal (Linux, macOS)", "excerpt": "JOE [0] for editing directly in terminal (Linux, macOS) Somebody gave me Slackware Linux [1] floppies in 1994 and schooled young me on worlds beyond MS-DOS and Windows 3.11 For Workgroups; I had accidentally discovered MS-DOS Editor [2] by being frustrated one day and typing edit into the command line (while muttering \"HOW DO I EDIT A FILE?\", barely understanding what a file was in the first place), so I was shown th", "context": "", "use_case": "terminal editing", "switched_from": "MS-DOS Editor", "story": "Ask HN: What's the oldest software tool you still rely on every day?"}, {"id": 779187170, "item_id": 48699198, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48699198", "by": "jmclnx", "date": "2026-06-27", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "Slackware comes with joe, which I hear is close to WordStar.", "excerpt": "> I've used WordStar, WordPerfect, Word, MultiMate, Sprint, XyWrite, and just about every other MS-DOS I bet you never used Wang WP or Wang WP Plus for DOS :) That is what I used back then, WP+ was good but I liked WP original better. I never saw WordSstar but Slackware comes with joe, which I hear is close to WordStar.", "context": "", "use_case": "text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)"}, {"id": 779136112, "item_id": 48696007, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48696007", "by": "EvanAnderson", "date": "2026-06-27", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "you may appreciate JOE", "excerpt": "If you're like me and grew up using pseudo-Wordstar keybindings (me by way of Turbo Pascal and Turbo C) you may appreciate JOE: https://github.com/joe-editor/joe", "context": "grew up on WordStar-style keybindings via Turbo Pascal and Turbo C", "use_case": "WordStar-style text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)"}, {"id": 779123984, "item_id": 48695249, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48695249", "by": "toast0", "date": "2026-06-26", "stance": "recommend", "quote": "I use joe for mostly everything", "excerpt": "I thought freedos could use usb? Get something with built in ethernet or serial and you can transfer that way pretty easy too. Or just run joe as jstar and close enough, maybe? I use joe for mostly everything, but I never used WordStar (well, I ran into it once)", "context": "", "use_case": "general text editing", "switched_from": "", "story": "WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)"}, {"id": 769887330, "item_id": 48117958, "url": "https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=48117958", "by": "DeathArrow", "date": "2026-05-12", "stance": "neutral", "quote": "When I don't have a GUI available, I use micro, nano, joe.", "excerpt": "I have nothing against Vi or Emacs, but since I strongly prefer GUI and mouse over terminal I use GUI editors. When I don't have a GUI available, I use micro, nano, joe.", "context": "prefers GUI and mouse", "use_case": "terminal editing without GUI", "switched_from": "", "story": "The vi family"}]}