Re: Proposal: "C-z <letter>" reserved for users

[Marcin Borkowski <mbork@mbork.pl>]

On 2021-02-08, at 11:03, Colin Baxter <m43cap@yandex.com> wrote:

>>>>>> S Boucher via Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> writes:
>
>     > C-z is bound to a low frequency use function
>     > (suspend-frame)... and speaking for myself, I probably can count
>     > on one hand the number of times I've used it in the last 25years
>     > :-)
>
>     > I would suggest:1) move suspend-frame to "C-c C-z" (that is still
>     > a quick shortcut) 2) reserve C-z <letter> for users That still
>     > leaves a whole lot with C-z C-... C-z M-...
>
> As way of an illustration of the legion of different emacs usages, I use
> C-z to suspend the frame several times a day. This is because I have an
> emacs always open in a terminal and C-z is a simple way of getting back
> to the terminal - easier, I find, than opening a shell in the already
> terminal-running emacs. C-c C-z is not as convenient.

But I think nobody is arguing to put anything to C-z by default - only
to make it unbound and free for the user to do whatever s/he wishes.
Many of us have bound C-z to our custom keymaps, nothing prevents you to
bind it to `suspend-frame' - at least if it is free.  Even if it were
not, you can still do it, of course.  (I have C-0 bound to something
else than the default - but if I accidentally hit it on someone else's
Emacs, nothing terrible happens, it's just a minor inconvenience then.)

The main argument here, I guess, is "people sometimes use other people's
Emacsen, and in such a case having C-z bound to `suspend-frame' is not
only inconvenient, but also dangerous".  I don't think anyone can argue
with that.

Best,

--
Marcin Borkowski
http://mbork.pl