Canonical?

I would avoid using Notepad++ unless you compile it yourself with a libre compiler; the official binaries are compiled with Visual Studio, a proprietary compiler. This is the case for quite a lot of Windows binaries, actually.

It doesn't make sense to me when people say they are using GNU nano, and think GNU Emacs is difficult to learn.

Both programs work the same on a basic editor level. Many of their basic keystrokes are the same. The major difference between them is that GNU Emacs has tons more features, which you don't need to use, if you don't feel like learning.

The learning curve is basically the same, if you are using only features GNU nano has. But when you're writing a lot of text and especially code, many of the additional features GNU Emacs has come very handy.

Basic commands to get you started:

C-b means CTRL+B
M-b means ALT+B
C-x C-c means CTRL+X followed by CTRL+C (no need to let go of CTRL)

| command                  | nano    | Emacs       |
|--------------------------+---------+-------------|
| backward                 | C-b     | C-b         |
| forward                  | C-f     | C-f         |
| previous word            | C-Space | M-b         |
| next word                | M-Space | M-f         |
| previous line            | C-p     | C-p         |
| next line                | C-n     | C-n         |
| beginning of line        | C-a     | C-a         |
| end of line              | C-e     | C-e         |
| page down                | C-v     | C-v         |
| page up                  | C-y     | M-v         |
| delete character         | C-d     | C-d         |
|--------------------------+---------+-------------|
| kill (cut) word forward  | ?       | M-d         |
| kill (cut) word backward | ?       | C-Backspace |
| kill (cut) word backward | ?       | M-Backspace |
| select region            | C-^     | C-Space     |
| kill region (cut)        | C-k     | C-w         |
| copy region (copy)       | M-^     | M-w         |
| kill (cut) line          | C-k     |             |
| kill until end of line   |         | C-k         |
| uncut/yank (paste)       | C-u     | C-y         |
| undo                     | ?       | C-/         |
|--------------------------+---------+-------------|
| search                   | C-w     | C-s         |
| search and replace       | C-\     | M-%         |
| fill paragraph           | C-j     | M-q         |
| comment/uncomment region |         | M-;         |
| spell check word/region  | C-t     | M-$         |
|--------------------------+---------+-------------|
| save                     |         | C-x C-s     |
| save as                  | C-o     | C-x C-w     |
| exit                     | C-x     | C-x C-c     |
| help                     | C-g     | C-h C-h     |

You can also easily make tables like the one above using GNU Emacs's org-mode.