Re: Emacs learning curve

[Eli Zaretskii <eliz@gnu.org>]

> From: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>
> Cc: Tom <levelhalom@gmail.com>,  emacs-devel@gnu.org
> Date: Mon, 02 Aug 2010 11:19:20 +0200
> 
> >> Is there a compelling reason to still use yank/kill, instead of copy/cut/paste?
> > From the Emacs manual:
> 
> Maybe we should make a concerted effort to change the terminology.
> If someone could go through the manual and docstrings to replace
> yank=>paste (and kill => cut|copy), and also find new names for
> variables, functions, and commands (which will need aliases so both the
> new and old names work), that would be a good start.  I'd be happy to
> review such a patch.
> 
> >> Why do we call the cursor the point?
> > Because point is not the cursor.  The cursor only shows the position
> > of point in the visible windows (and on character terminals, only in
> > the single selected window).  We still need a term for the ``current
> > position in the buffer''.
> 
> I'm not sure that's a good reason: most other applications don't bother
> with this distinction, they just call both concepts "cursor" and then
> rely on context to disambiguate.  So here as well, I'd be willing to
> entertain the idea of changing terminology if someone were to send
> a patch for it.

Sorry, but I happen to think this would be a waste of our time and
energy.  If we have resources for improving the docs, there's a lot of
much more useful jobs to be done with the manuals than rephrasing
everything in terms of cut/paste etc.

If someone needs a data point that terminology doesn't matter much,
read the manual for Vim -- it uses non-standard terminology (including
"yank", btw, and other weirdly named commands), and yet is very
popular.

I already wrote long ago in this thread that to make Emacs more
attractive, we need to add to it hot new features that target software
developers.  If we do that, and do it well, terminology differences
and weird keybindings will not prevent hackers to come on board,
because hackers want productivity features.  The sooner we understand
that and start doing something towards that goal with enough
developers to provide a critical mass, the sooner will Emacs begin
gaining new users.