Re: Assignment of misc packages for emacs

[storm@cua.dk (Kim F. Storm)]

"Stefan Monnier" <monnier+gnu/emacs@rum.cs.yale.edu> writes:

> > I've never liked M-x grep for the very reason that I have to edit the command.
> 
> I like it precisely because I can write any command I want ;-)

Sure -- that's fine when you need it.
But most of the time, I dislike the interface...

I think the consensus is that it would be ok to provide an alternative 
user interface (to grep-find) which prompts in a more "user friendly" way.

> > One additional trick is that M-x match prompts you for the directory
> > using ido-read-directory, meaning that it is very easy to navigate to
> > a completely different base directory.
> 
> Hopefully we can merge some of that functionality into eshell's
> command completion and use eshell's completion for M-x grep (and
> M-! and M-| and M-x compile and ...).


> 
> > Right.  I'll look at the new grep code (I wasn't aware that grep had been
> > rewritten) as well as my own code again to see whether I can enhance the
> > standard code rather than add a separate package.
> 
> It hasn't been rewritten at all.  I've just slightly improved the default
> command offered when you hit C-u M-x grep.  A couple one-liners at most.
> 
> > BTW, M-x match uses jit-lock to fontify the matches in the *Match*
> > buffer.
> 
> It would be great to use jit-lock for *compilation* buffers as well,
> but a lot more work than for the specific case you're dealing with :-(
> 
> > And when you visit a match, it is temporarily highlighted in
> > the target buffer (using an overlay).
> 
> That might be a good feature as well.  I have a similar feature for
> sml-mode where the compiler's output includes a start and end point
> for errors (the type-inference algorithm used by the language means
> that some type errors are difficult for the compiler to locate).
> But it's an ugly hack.  We should make such support more widespread
> for all compilation buffers.

That would be great.

If C-x ` could just (temporarily) highlight the error line, it would
be fine for most modes -- if other modes (like grep) wants to refine
this, it should be made simple.

It could be based on a "compile-highlight-target-regexp" which would
be something like "^.*$" by default.  And if it is set to a symbol,
that could a function to call to do the highlighting (or nil to turn
it off).

> 
> > I wasn't aware of the HierarKey feature (it's a very well hidden "fact").
> > It compares almost 1:1 ... except I don't like HierarKey menus
> > to show the full key bindings, e.g.
> > 
> >   Set face: default  (M-g d), bold  (M-g b), italic  (M-g i), l = bold-italic  (M-g l), undeline  (M-g u), Other ...  (M-g o) 
> 
> I tend to agre.  Maybe we should just change it.  Or move the M-g prefix
> to the beginning of the line (so it appears only once).

I don't see the need to show the prefix at all  (I just typed
it to get the menu).

I'll make the change and see what people think [can always be reverted].

-- 
Kim F. Storm <storm@cua.dk> http://www.cua.dk