From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Thomas Lord Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Where does the magic 4 (C-u) come from? Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:20:23 -0700 Message-ID: <1249060823.6160.60.camel@dell-desktop.example.com> References: <7b501d5c0907311000m1153712bl3118d24e384965fb@mail.gmail.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1249060845 28185 80.91.229.12 (31 Jul 2009 17:20:45 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 17:20:45 +0000 (UTC) Cc: Emacs-Devel devel To: Deniz Dogan Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Fri Jul 31 19:20:38 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1MWvmY-0000Lx-5r for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 19:20:38 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:50207 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MWvmX-0003ri-Ds for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:20:37 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1MWvmR-0003py-MA for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:20:31 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1MWvmM-0003kV-Vt for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:20:31 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=51582 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MWvmM-0003kS-Qq for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:20:26 -0400 Original-Received: from smtp191.iad.emailsrvr.com ([207.97.245.191]:41077) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtps (TLS-1.0:DHE_RSA_AES_256_CBC_SHA1:32) (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1MWvmM-0005Dc-Ik for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:20:26 -0400 Original-Received: from relay29.relay.iad.mlsrvr.com (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by relay29.relay.iad.mlsrvr.com (SMTP Server) with ESMTP id 3B1D11B400F; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:20:25 -0400 (EDT) Original-Received: by relay29.relay.iad.mlsrvr.com (Authenticated sender: lord-AT-emf.net) with ESMTPSA id A74B31B4048; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 13:20:24 -0400 (EDT) In-Reply-To: <7b501d5c0907311000m1153712bl3118d24e384965fb@mail.gmail.com> X-Mailer: Evolution 2.22.3.1 X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.4-2.6 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:113467 Archived-At: On Fri, 2009-07-31 at 19:00 +0200, Deniz Dogan wrote: > Hi > > I just had a discussion on #emacs on freenode about the origin of the > behavior of C-u and the multiplying by 4. None of us could find any > information about why 4 was chosen and if this behavior has been > borrowed from somewhere else. > > So I figured someone here ought to know... What is the origin of the magic 4? I don't know the historical answer but 4 is a natural choice if you count key presses: x 1 x x 2 x x x 3 C-u x 3 4 is the least, useful magic number (the comma matters :-) -t