Re: delete-selection-mode as default

["Elias Mårtenson" <lokedhs@gmail.com>]

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On Fri, 14 Sep 2018 at 21:43, Yuri Khan <yurivkhan@gmail.com> wrote:


> One other thing that I want is that the region be highlighted if and
> only if it is going to be the target of the next command I give,
> because I like to look before I leap. It seems transient-mark-mode is
> intended to give me this by adding the concept of active region and
> highlighting the region when it is active. However, many commands act
> on the region even if it is inactive. kill-region and
> copy-region-as-kill are two such commands. I am sure there are many
> more, because it is much easier to write:
>
> (defun my-command (BEGIN END)
>   (interactive "r")
>   ;; do something between BEGIN and END
> )
>
> than:
>
> (defun my-command (BEGIN END)
>   (interactive (if (use-region-p)
>                    (list (min (point) (mark)) (max (point) (mark)))
>                  ;; figure out what to do when no region is active
>                  ;; * act on the whole buffer
>                  ;; * act on the current narrowing
>                  ;; * signal an error
>                  ;; * do something else sensible
>                  (list ?? ??)))
>   ;; do something between BEGIN and END
> )
>

I've seen functions implemented like that, and I would consider those
buggy. It's going directly against the concept of the point and mark as
being the region. I know some people want the same behaviour as gedit or
whatever editor is default in desktop environments these days, but the
Emacs way really is powerful and it would be useful if people who want to
change things at least understood this concept first.

Regards,
Elias

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