RE: Emacs Book Vs Emacs Manuals

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

> selling emacs to students has led to lot of funny looks

Funny looks are good.  Encourage funny looks about Emacs.
Emacs needs more funny looks.

> and some significant hostility.

Stop selling, in that case.

> The tutorial with C-f C-b... for cursor movements was I guess the
> last straw

Really.  Stop selling, if something like that is "the last straw".
Don't bother.  Do yourself and your customers a favor.

Sounds like trying to get kiddies to eat their veggies.  Try it
when they're tiny, but if you can't make headway, give up and
wait till they come 'round later, sometime after adolescence -
some of 'em will; some of 'em won't.  Not your problem, then.

> what happens between noob and emacs when I am not around.

It doesn't sound like it gets much better when you are around. ;-)

> Student starts reading tutorial and sees the C-f C-b stuff:...
> - But a few notice that cursor keys work as they should but is
>   not documented and are a bit confused/bewildered

Teach 'em how to file a doc bug.  Show that Emacs is undergoing
development (still!) and that they are the developers.  How would
they improve this part of the tutorial?  (How would you?)

But of course the "doc" bug here concerns only the tutorial,
not the doc: "is not documented" is simply not true.

`C-h r i cursor TAB motion RET'.  Teach them how to *Ask Emacs*.

Should the tutorial mention this?  Ask your students.  That's
likely to engage them in a productive and interesting
discussion about Emacs design and use.  Why does Emacs bind
`C-f' etc.?  What were those old farts thinking?  Is this just
vestigial baggage?  Just hysterical raisins?

> - And of those few, a few get real HOSTILE

Move to a less privileged environment to teach, where the kids
have more important things to "get real HOSTILE" about.

> Now if the cursor-keys didn't work it would not be so bad

So unbind them in the Emacs version that you expose to your
congregation.

Erect a sign, like in Disneyland, with a bar 1.5m high, and
tell them that only those taller than the bar can go on the
Real Emacs ride.  Too risky for toddlers - they're limited
to the shallow end of the Emacs pool.  But someday...

Then maybe show some of them how to add cursor-key bindings
to the kiddie pool.  Look, Ma!  I made <right> work, all by
myself!  Tu m'as vu !?

Extra credit: Ask Emacs, instead of Rusi, how to add the key
bindings.

> And ideal would be for them to work AND be documented

Again: teach about doc bugs.  But again: they *are* documented.

> But works and NOT documented/demoed in tutorial... and there
> are serious allegations of ATTITUDE!

Take a nap.  This too will pass.