RE: [External] : Re: finding stuff

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

> > I meant that I'm guessing that people who do a lot of
> > software development are maybe less likely to use menus (and
> > a mouse) - as opposed to your average computer user.
> 
> This sounds like The Computer Chronicles in 1985...

It's also the case in 2021, I'm afraid.

> Maybe back then "real programmers" didn't use menus but then
> also came the whole desktop paradigm with Apple (Finder) and
> Windows so by now there are many, many skilled programmers
> that use menus all the time and they don't even know other
> skilled programmers have the habit, and perhaps takes some
> small pride in, not using menus!
> 
> It is just a matter of style ... doesn't say anything
> about skill.
> 
> Like they say, you have to be a bit modest, because somewhere
> on the planet there is a coder who is more skilled than
> you. Ha.

One might hope that you are right.  My experience
suggests otherwise.

Anecdotally based on comments in Emacs mailing
lists, the proportion of Emacs users who turn off
the menu-bar seems quite large.  Likewise, those
who eschew use of a mouse (in Emacs at least).

Also based on comments I see in mailing lists, I
think that many/most Emacs users are programmers.
___

To be clear, _I_ do use the menus.  The point of
my post was to _recommend_ them, for discovery.

The Help command that OP found to be so helpful
in this thread, and that was thought to be so
hard to discover, is right there in the `Help'
menu, hiding in plain sight.  But you have to
have a reflex to look under `Help', to find it.

FWIW: Not only do I use menus, but I go to great
lengths to ensure my libraries have good menus.

And I wrote library La Carte, which lets you
navigate Emacs menus using the keyboard.

Especially if combined with powerful incremental
matching, you can easily discover and access
menu stuff at all levels, directly - no need to
drill down layer by layer (though that's possible
too, as well as going back up).

https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/LaCarte

https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/download/lacarte.el

https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/LaCarte#IciclesEnhancesDining