Is it permissible to bind C-<backspace> and/or C-<delete> in a major mode?

Is it permissible to bind C-<backspace> and/or C-<delete> in a major mode?

[Alan Mackenzie]

Hi, Emacs!

I'm thinking about binding these key sequences in CC Mode.  In
particular, to c-hungry-backspace and c-hungry-delete-forward.  There is
an obvious mnemonic and systematic reason for this.

However.....  Will this offend any Emacs conventions?

The page "Emacs Lisp Coding Convention" in the Elisp manual gives no help
on such key sequences.  C-c C-<letter> and C-c C-[{}<>;:] are for major
modes,  C-c <letter> is for individual users, C-c <other punctuation> is
for minor modes.

But what of other C-c combinations?  There are no rules about them in
this Elisp manual page, and no uses of them in the Emacs manual "Key
Index".

Are they in a free-fire zone?

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)

Re: Is it permissible to bind C-<backspace> and/or C-<delete> in a major mode?

[Richard Stallman]

    But what of other C-c combinations?  There are no rules about them in
    this Elisp manual page, and no uses of them in the Emacs manual "Key
    Index".

There are no rules yet about C-BACKSPACE and C-DELETE.
They are analogous to control characters, which argues
for using them for major modes.

Does anyone think that is a mistake?



-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by: YOU BE THE JUDGE. Be one of 170
Project Admins to receive an Apple iPod Mini FREE for your judgement on
who ports your project to Linux PPC the best. Sponsored by IBM.
Deadline: Sept. 24. Go here: http://sf.net/ppc_contest.php

Re: Is it permissible to bind C-<backspace> and/or C-<delete> in a major mode?

[Kai Grossjohann]

Richard Stallman <rms@gnu.org> writes:

> There are no rules yet about C-BACKSPACE and C-DELETE.
> They are analogous to control characters, which argues
> for using them for major modes.

Other programs allow C-<backspace> to delete backwards a word and
C-<delete> to delete forwards a word.  (Like C-<left> and C-<right>
which move by words.)

I think these bindings could be or become popular.

What do people think?

Kai

Re: Is it permissible to bind C-<backspace> and/or C-<delete> in a major mode?

[Richard Stallman]

In my previous message I was thinking C-c BACKSPACE and C-c DELETE by
mistake.  Those, by analogy, would make sense for major modes to bind.
C-BACKSPACE is a different issue.

    Other programs allow C-<backspace> to delete backwards a word and
    C-<delete> to delete forwards a word.  (Like C-<left> and C-<right>
    which move by words.)

This is in fact what C-BACKSPACE and C-DELETE do in Emacs.  So major
modes should not change them, unless to a mode-specific better way to
delete words.


-------------------------------------------------------
This SF.Net email is sponsored by: YOU BE THE JUDGE. Be one of 170
Project Admins to receive an Apple iPod Mini FREE for your judgement on
who ports your project to Linux PPC the best. Sponsored by IBM.
Deadline: Sept. 24. Go here: http://sf.net/ppc_contest.php

Re: Is it permissible to bind C-<backspace> and/or C-<delete> in a major mode?

[Alan Mackenzie]

On Tue, 21 Sep 2004, Richard Stallman wrote:

>In my previous message I was thinking C-c BACKSPACE and C-c DELETE by
>mistake.  Those, by analogy, would make sense for major modes to bind.
>C-BACKSPACE is a different issue.

My apologies.  In my original post, I was indeed meaning C-c BACKSPACE
and C-c DELETE.  I know, that wasn't what I wrote.  :-(  So I'll take
RMS's previous answer as the answer to the question I tried to ask, not
the one I actually asked.

And I'll stop hassling you with my barely coherent gibberish, because
there are important things to do on Emacs.

Thanks!

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Munich, Germany)