> The way you would hear it on most forums, emacs blocks whenever you do anything that takes time. Nevermind compilation mode being a thing basically forever.

Sure, it’s possible to write code that doesn’t block the UI, but it’s very difficult in Emacs and just about every built-in functionality is an offender. This includes network operations, which can block forever. You’d be laughed out of the room if you implemented a text editor today that can lock up completely and indefinitely with M-x package-list-packages.