One of the great features of emacs is that it can handle pretty much any file type you throw at it, of any size. Admittedly, if you're opening a crazy huge encrypted file, it won't necessarily be useful but it will open. Most editors (and IDEs) will give you major heartache if you hand them a file that's too big and / or not one of their expected formats.
Try opening a 1 Gig file in Notepad for an example.
I started using Emacs somewhere around 1980 and it has always been a tool in my toolbox. It's not the only tool but it's always something that I can turn to and know that I'll be able to get some useful work done.
Obligatory inflammatory comment: On the other hand, I have nothing good to say about vi. I've always felt that vi would happily kill me and sell my organs just out of spite....
In real life, I use Netbeans for almost all forms of development and I use emacs every now and then to make a quick edit. There's almost nothing out there that is quite as convenient as emacs (for me) when it comes to getting something crazy done right now.
Anybody else ever have to edit static strings in compiled binary executables? Is there a better tool for that sort of thing than emacs? It certainly works for me.
