From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Mathias Dahl Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Hard to switch from vi Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:25:24 +0200 Message-ID: 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 1161690090 1368 80.91.229.2 (24 Oct 2006 11:41:30 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@sea.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 24 Oct 2006 11:41:30 +0000 (UTC) Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Oct 24 13:41:28 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 1GcKer-0002qH-Lo for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 13:41:25 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1GcKer-00010C-6U for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 24 Oct 2006 07:41:25 -0400 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!newsserver.news.garr.it!fu-berlin.de!uni-berlin.de!individual.net!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 25 Original-X-Trace: individual.net PQei5NfF0uWXlwRuwAqwzgtbbrQca/riN6eEcWFLxuQzRLvSuo User-Agent: Gnus/5.11 (Gnus v5.11) Emacs/22.0.50 (windows-nt) Cancel-Lock: sha1:iqcHJ2eoFX6lHZ3V02ZJnfsxn5s= Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:142615 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:38236 Archived-At: 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. /Mathias