From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: floyd@apaflo.com (Floyd L. Davidson) Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Hard to switch from vi Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 10:23:06 -0800 Organization: __________ Message-ID: <87u01tzi7p.fld@apaflo.com> References: <45299CB0.5090003@speakeasy.net> <4529A0E4.60403@charter.net> <873b9e509s.fld@apaflo.com> <87y7r6yqco.fld@apaflo.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii X-Trace: sea.gmane.org 1161715334 17596 80.91.229.2 (24 Oct 2006 18:42:14 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 18:42:14 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Oct 24 20:42:10 2006 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by ciao.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GcRDS-0001NN-EY for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 20:41:39 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GcRDR-0005CU-F3 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 14:41:33 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!newsfeed00.sul.t-online.de!t-online.de!feeder.news-service.com!138.199.65.86.MISMATCH!sn-xt-ams-06!sn-xt-ams-05!sn-post-ams-01!sn-post-sjc-01!supernews.com!corp.supernews.com!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help User-Agent: gnus 5.10.6/XEmacs 21.4.15/Linux 2.6.17-11 Cancel-Lock: sha1:VBUd/hOm/sKoqDQTaDI/rciq8cE= Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@supernews.com Original-Lines: 36 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:142630 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:38250 Archived-At: Mathias Dahl wrote: >floyd@apaflo.com (Floyd L. Davidson) writes: > >>>To be fair, Emacs is full of modes, all the time you are working in >>>different ones. Most are very similar when it comes to basic text >>>editing, but think about Dired or the M-x prompt, or isearch or... >> >> To be specific, the type of interface used by emacs is known as >> modeless. It has many modes, but it *automatically* defaults back >> to insert mode when any of the other modes is completed. > >>From wikipedia (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Modeless): > > Modelessness is a property of computer user interfaces. In a > modeless interface, the same input from the user will always trigger > the same perceived action. This is opposed to a modal interface, > where the action perceived to have been executed is dependent on the > current state of the system. > > The purpose of modeless interfaces is to avoid mode errors by making > it impossible for the user to commit them. > >If we agree on the definition above, Emacs is indeed a modal >application in many ways. That definition is not particularly good. Using it make a modeless editor impossible. I'll stick with VI being modeful and Emacs modeless. And will reject as obviously flawed *any* definitions that do not work with that premise. That is an intrinsic difference between those two editors. -- Floyd L. Davidson Ukpeagvik (Barrow, Alaska) floyd@apaflo.com