What many of us emacs users understand, but can't convey adequately, is that he seems to be asking the question "I want to learn Common Lisp, without learning Lisp". Or, "Lisp is just a language like Ruby or Python. Editor is irrelevant." Neither of these statements make sense.
Emacs integration with Lisp distinguishes it from other programming languages, in the same way Smalltalk and it's environment does. You could learn Common Lisp without learning emacs, but you wouldn't want to.
Emacs isn't just an editor. It's arguably one of the best examples we have of how to think in, architect, and use Lisp, Common or otherwise.
The way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it, and emacs gives you that opportunity, while other editors do not.
Emacs integration with Lisp distinguishes it from other programming languages, in the same way Smalltalk and it's environment does. You could learn Common Lisp without learning emacs, but you wouldn't want to.
Emacs isn't just an editor. It's arguably one of the best examples we have of how to think in, architect, and use Lisp, Common or otherwise.
The way to learn a language is to immerse yourself in it, and emacs gives you that opportunity, while other editors do not.