Re: "like other editors" [was: Re: Poll about proposed change in DEL (aka Backspace) and Delete]

[S Boucher <stbya@yahoo.com>]

>
>  But if the keystroke assignments have changed, my fingers are constantly tripping over each other, which is distracting enough that it makes it hard to concentrate on debugging the problem I'm there to fix in the first place.


My configs are so big that no matter what, it's going to be a bit clumsy when I'm using emacs without all my own cruft.  Heck, there's the reverse scenario: someone I go help has his own cruft that makes emacs non-standard.


The key point is whether making it easier for non-hacker should take precedence over making it easier for hackers.  I think we should make it easier for non-hackers.  In the case of the menus, it therefore made more sense to leave them enabled. 


When it comes down to a line or 2 in .emacs, I think the burden should rest on hackers.

In the case of the present proposed change, I wouldn't even offer the choice to have the old behavior to keep the code easier to maintain. Anyone will get over this after at most a day or 2 of !@#$!@$.  And then, you won't have a problem when you go help a friend.

Reminds me of years ago when someone changed all the keybindings of Emacs to match what he was used too on some other Emacs.  Just get used to what the is defined.  It's not the end of the world (at least in the case of the present proposal).  The odd times when a binding changes in Emacs, I just get used to it.

I don't mean to insult anyone, but there's a ridiculous amount of obtuseness displayed in this thread over changes which any reasonably intelligent person will get used to quickly, without adverse effect.  The amount of time spent arguing in this thread is more than it would take anyone to get used to the change.

It's not like we're talking about moving C-x to C-^.