Not sure if it did at the time, but today emacs comes with a tutorial. You’re not expected to learn it by starting on page 1 of the manual.

Why not? I expect to learn how to use a software by reading its manual.

Surely you can still do that, but starting with the tutorial will be easier and more efficient.

I got familiar with vi by reading a book that had the main vi commands listed out. First learnt how to quit without saving changes, the rest was just practice.

> How do you get familiar with the software, if the manual expects you to be an expert in it already?

It's surely to the detriment of the manual if the first sentence on the first page assumes you already know the software, but, if nowhere in the manual can it address expert users, then the manual isn't going to be very useful for expert users—and it should be!

By reading introductory material.