the Modernization of Emacs
in [Lisp]
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From: Xah Lee on 10 Apr 2006 03:17 Things emacs need to change for modern world: * Change the keyboard shortcut of Copy & Paste to meta-C and meta-V as to be the same with all modern applications. * Change the undo behavior so that there is a Undo and Redo, as the same with all modern applications. * Get rid of the *scratch* buffer. * Make longlines-mode the default editor behavior for any file. Things emacs should do now, even though it eventually will do. * When opening a HTML document, automatically provide highlighting of HTML, CSS, and Javascript codes. Similarly for other multi-language files such as PHP, JSP, et al. This behavior must be automatic without requiring user to customize emacs. Possible Documentation Change Proposals * Reduce the use of the word “buffer†in the emacs documentation. Call it “opened file†or “unsaved documentâ€. * Switch the terminology of Window and Frame so it is more standard. That is, Emacs's “Window†should be called Panes or Frames. While Emacs's “Frame†should be termed Window. * Change the terminology of keybinding to “keyboard shortcut†in emacs documentation. Use the term keybinding or binding only in a technical context, such as in elisp documentation. Xah xah(a)xahlee.org ∑ http://xahlee.org/
From: fredrik.bulow@gmail.com on 10 Apr 2006 04:59 I agree with Burton on this one. It might be a good idea to distribute emacs with an alternative beginners .emacs file. Not all buffers are "open files". I see no reason why the difference between files and buffers should be swept under the rug. Even beginners like having a *scratch* buffer for temporary stuff. What have you got against it? /Fredrik
From: Greg Menke on 10 Apr 2006 06:38 "Xah Lee" <xah(a)xahlee.org> writes: > Things emacs need to change for modern world: > > * Change the keyboard shortcut of Copy & Paste to meta-C and meta-V > as to be the same with all modern applications. > * Change the undo behavior so that there is a Undo and Redo, as the > same with all modern applications. > * Get rid of the *scratch* buffer. > * Make longlines-mode the default editor behavior for any file. > > Things emacs should do now, even though it eventually will do. > > * When opening a HTML document, automatically provide highlighting > of HTML, CSS, and Javascript codes. Similarly for other multi-language > files such as PHP, JSP, et al. This behavior must be automatic without > requiring user to customize emacs. > > Possible Documentation Change Proposals > > * Reduce the use of the word ?buffer? in the emacs > documentation. Call it ?opened file? or ?unsaved document?. > * Switch the terminology of Window and Frame so it is more > standard. That is, Emacs's ?Window? should be called Panes or > Frames. While Emacs's ?Frame? should be termed Window. > * Change the terminology of keybinding to ?keyboard shortcut? > in emacs documentation. Use the term keybinding or binding only in a > technical context, such as in elisp documentation. > Sounds great. Download the source, make the changes but do please keep it to yourself. Gregm
From: Pascal Bourguignon on 10 Apr 2006 08:21 "Xah Lee" <xah(a)xahlee.org> writes: > Things emacs need to change for modern world: > > * Change the keyboard shortcut of Copy & Paste to meta-C and meta-V > as to be the same with all modern applications. For the innocent bystanders, I should mention that the whole point of programmable editors such as emacs, is to be sufficiently automatic that you rarely have to do copy-and-paste yourself, contrary of slaving editors such as MacWrite or Microsoft Words, where you, the user, have to do all the editing work using intensively copy and paste. > * Change the undo behavior so that there is a Undo and Redo, as the > same with all modern applications. And of course, since the editing is programmed, in emacs, it rarely err and rarely needs to be undone. > [... blah blah blah ...] > Xah Xah, if you want Microsoft Word, then just use Microsoft Word. I hear it even contains a Basic programming language to let you write scripts, just like in emacs! -- __Pascal Bourguignon__ http://www.informatimago.com/ PLEASE NOTE: Some quantum physics theories suggest that when the consumer is not directly observing this product, it may cease to exist or will exist only in a vague and undetermined state.
From: robert.thorpe on 10 Apr 2006 09:22
Pascal Bourguignon wrote: > "Xah Lee" <xah(a)xahlee.org> writes: > > > Things emacs need to change for modern world: > > > > * Change the keyboard shortcut of Copy & Paste to meta-C and meta-V > > as to be the same with all modern applications. > > For the innocent bystanders, I should mention that the whole point of > programmable editors such as emacs, is to be sufficiently automatic > that you rarely have to do copy-and-paste yourself, contrary of > slaving editors such as MacWrite or Microsoft Words, where you, the > user, have to do all the editing work using intensively copy and > paste. > > > * Change the undo behavior so that there is a Undo and Redo, as the > > same with all modern applications. > > And of course, since the editing is programmed, in emacs, it rarely > err and rarely needs to be undone. I rarely find that the programmable functions of Emacs negate the need for undo and redo. I also find I have to use copy and paste quite often too. The programmability only helps in circumstances where it's faster to record a macro or write elisp to do something, than it is to do it manually, those situations aren't that common. Anyway, GNU Emacs does have undo and redo. If you use C-x u or C-_ to undo, it will do successive undos, until you type something else. Then after that it will do successive redoes. It could definetely be more flexible, but it is certainly present. |