RE: [External] : Re: Current mode command discovery

[Drew Adams <drew.adams@oracle.com>]

> Since the first time I've read the tutorial, the
> notion of C-f etc. being a kind of command was
> very clear to me.  The tutorial has this all over
> the place.  Here's a typical example, of which
> there are many:
> 
>   The following commands are useful for viewing screenfuls:
> 	  C-v	Move forward one screenful
> 	  M-v	Move backward one screenful
> 	  C-l	Clear screen and redisplay all the text,

Yes, that's all over the tutorial.  It's not all
over Emacs, however - and rightfully so.

A tutorial need not present all distinctions in an
exact way.  The point there is to give users the
idea that when they use the key `C-v' they are, in
effect, invoking a command to scroll the text.

I personally think that even for the tutorial it
would help users to introduce the concept of key
binding, and tell them that each key you press is,
in general, bound to a command, which is a function
that gets invoked when you press the key.

I mention that pretty early on, when I present
Emacs to newbies.  I think it's an important
notion to grasp.  That, together with the fact
that you (anyone) can easily _change_ which
command is invoked by a given key, pretty much
gets across the basic idea and mechanics of Emacs.

Newbies are of course often used to the idea that
an app lets them change some "hot key" bindings -
set some "keyboard shortcuts".

But the fact that in Emacs _every_ key - every
action - is configurable with key bindings, is
something newbies are typically not used to.

It's not _essential_ that this be introduced in
the tutorial, but I think it would help.  It's
key to understanding Emacs that even when you
type a key such as `a', and the result might be
to insert the letter `a', you are invoking a
char-insertion command that is bound to the key.
___

Whether the tutorial or some other help support
glosses over the difference between a key and a
command it's bound to is something different
from whether in fact there _is_ a difference
between a key and a command.

IOW, we might, for pedagogical reasons, decide to
gloss over this distinction in some presentation.
That doesn't mean there's no distinction.