RE: if vs. when vs. and: style question

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

> Notice, that I asked the reader to compare the ease of input.

Before I comment further, let me say that I agree with your point.

> =>  super easy, two keys to type.
> The unicode correspondance?  I would start typing C-x 8 RET double TAB
> and not find it in the list.  So I would have to launch clisp,
>    C-- slime RET clisp RET
> wait for it to boot then type:
>    (lschar :name "RIGHT_ARROW") RET
> the search for double, and not find it, then copy and paste it from your
> message, 
>    (char-name #\⇒)
> obtain the character name as "RIGHTWARDS_DOUBLE_ARROW", then type
>    C-x 8 RET rightward double arrow RET
> which, even if I had know it from the start, is still much more
> difficult to type than just =>.

Yes and no.  Yes, if you haven't used a particular Unicode char
before or use it rarely.  No, if you use it often.

If you use a particular Unicode character often, just give its
insertion a command and bind that to a key.  If you have 30 such
chars, put them all on a prefix key.  Or use completion on their
command names (names you created, so easy for you to type, remember,
complete to,...).

IOW, it's not a big deal to insert Unicode characters, especially
if you insert the same ones over and over.  You do not need to use
`C-x 8 RET' each time.