From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Barry Margolin Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Emacs key bindings through the ages Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:16:16 -0500 Organization: Symantec Message-ID: References: <1195020235.983333.46390@o38g2000hse.googlegroups.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1195090849 21100 80.91.229.12 (15 Nov 2007 01:40:49 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Thu, 15 Nov 2007 01:40:49 +0000 (UTC) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Thu Nov 15 02:40:52 2007 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1IsTir-0004e5-Fj for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Thu, 15 Nov 2007 02:40:51 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1IsTie-00041K-Pg for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Wed, 14 Nov 2007 20:40:36 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!headwall.stanford.edu!newsfeed.news2me.com!nx01.iad01.newshosting.com!newshosting.com!216.196.98.140.MISMATCH!border1.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.giganews.com!local01.nntp.dca.giganews.com!nntp.comcast.com!news.comcast.com.POSTED!not-for-mail Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 14 Nov 2007 19:16:16 -0600 Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Mail-Copies-To: nobody User-Agent: MT-NewsWatcher/3.5.2 (PPC Mac OS X) X-Copies-To: never Original-Lines: 35 X-Usenet-Provider: http://www.giganews.com Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.34.108.171 Original-X-Trace: sv3-4QuQn5Ob05hZ+c+3nz8UmjNLSYzHYhDwHv4LIhRxtg24oBKy/cUig/7eIYtLqjJInkLeC/iQoIF5yNl!W9E13tksUW7k6gW3cNSHMr41TOolnJl7DXd3Yp9yz3rwrjy0I7+naTtIJLq/rFcJyrOzMsBptjQy!w9Tg1W1qU7FDgiO5ngJnXq2jfxnr3dSMXTBSiExbFw== Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@comcast.net X-DMCA-Complaints-To: dmca@comcast.net X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Please be sure to forward a copy of ALL headers X-Abuse-and-DMCA-Info: Otherwise we will be unable to process your complaint properly X-Postfilter: 1.3.36 Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:153824 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:49256 Archived-At: In article <1195020235.983333.46390@o38g2000hse.googlegroups.com>, bramble wrote: > The default GNU Emacs key bindings seem to work very well. They seem > particularly well-thought-out, in fact. Like stones in a stream, worn > by movement and time to have very few rough edges... They mesh well > with the ascii control characters, and I particularly like how M- > is often used as a sort of "turbo boost" to C- (like C-f vs. M-f, > for example). In cases where it makes no sense to boost the C-key, > Emacs often has elegant mnemonic bindings, for example, M-u, M-l, M-c. > > Were the bindings designed as such right from the beginning by only > RMS? Or have they morphed over the years, with user and developer > requests guiding changes? Can anyone shed any light on the history of > the default key binding choices? Almost all the simple Control and Meta bindings are pretty much the same as they were on the original ITS EMACS 30 years ago. C-x was the common prefix character at that time, C-c came later (my guess is that he didn't want to put an EMACS key binding on the OS's default interrupt character), and the basic file read/write operations were on C-x C-f, C-x C-s, and C-x C-w just as they are now. Many of the Control-Meta (s-expression) commands are also the same or similar. So someone who entered the time machine that was developed at MIT in 1980 could come out today and have little problem using Emacs. It's mostly grown by accretion, not by reassigning too many existing key bindings. The use of C-c as the mode-specific prefix has prevented conflicts with the old bindings. -- Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me *** *** PLEASE don't copy me on replies, I'll read them in the group ***