From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: main.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Paul O'Donnell Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Learning emacs Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 08:12:19 GMT Sender: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+gnu-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Message-ID: <3E2A5DE3.3000405@rogers.com> NNTP-Posting-Host: main.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii; format=flowed Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit X-Trace: main.gmane.org 1042964122 17548 80.91.224.249 (19 Jan 2003 08:15:22 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@main.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 08:15:22 +0000 (UTC) Return-path: Original-Received: from monty-python.gnu.org ([199.232.76.173]) by main.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 3.35 #1 (Debian)) id 18aAbx-0004Ys-00 for ; Sun, 19 Jan 2003 09:15:21 +0100 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1] helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.10.13) id 18aAci-0005SU-03 for gnu-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Sun, 19 Jan 2003 03:16:08 -0500 Original-Path: shelby.stanford.edu!newsfeed.stanford.edu!cyclone.bc.net!sjc70.webusenet.com!news.webusenet.com!news03.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com!news02.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com.POSTED!not-for-mail User-Agent: Mozilla/5.0 (X11; U; Linux i686; en-US; rv:1.0.1) Gecko/20021003 X-Accept-Language: en-us, en Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 26 Original-NNTP-Posting-Host: 24.102.194.139 Original-X-Complaints-To: abuse@rogers.com Original-X-Trace: news02.bloor.is.net.cable.rogers.com 1042963939 24.102.194.139 (Sun, 19 Jan 2003 03:12:19 EST) Original-NNTP-Posting-Date: Sun, 19 Jan 2003 03:12:19 EST Original-Xref: shelby.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:109174 Original-To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1b5 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Help: List-Post: List-Subscribe: , List-Archive: List-Unsubscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+gnu-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: main.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:5698 X-Report-Spam: http://spam.gmane.org/gmane.emacs.help:5698 Hi All, I am completely new to emacs, and looking forward to learning how to use this much praised editor. I am also new to Linux in general. I am a programmer, currently teaching myself Lisp and want to use a tool like emacs that I can use for all the languages that I write code in. Coming from the Windows world emacs is not at all what I am used to. I am not much of a typist, maybe 45 wpm, as long as I don't have to use Control and Alt keys, which brings me to my question. I don't know which fingers to use to press these keys. It seems obvious to me that the baby finger of the opposite hand should be used for the Control key, but what about the Alt key? The thumb of the opposite hand maybe? I don't want to download typing tutorial software. I really don't have time for that. I just want to know which fingers to use. I apologize if this seems off topic for this newsgroup, but there doesn't seem to be a usenet group for touch typing. I figured at least one of you out there prides himself in his speed when working with emacs and knows the answer.As it is now, I am having a hard time enjoying this editor because of its extensive use of these keys. Thanks. Paul