From: Xah Lee <xah@xahlee.org>
To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org
Subject: Re: What does 'run' do in cperl-mode?
Date: Mon, 28 Jul 2008 08:02:09 -0700 (PDT) [thread overview]
Message-ID: <6a01ec87-795c-4306-a698-d6d6ba85afdd@n33g2000pri.googlegroups.com> (raw)
In-Reply-To: 86wsj66sby.fsf@lifelogs.com
On Jul 28, 6:39 am, Ted Zlatanov <t...@lifelogs.com> wrote:
> Meta is not the name of the key, it's the modifier name in today's
> Emacs.
As i mentioned previously, Meta was the name of a key, of which
emacs's term Meta came from.
> As I said, the modifier can be bound to any key (sorry I didn't
> state the terminology clearly originally). Many think this is a plus.
It doesn't make sense to use a name that's obsolete.
> I doubt your suggestion will find much support because it would break a
> convention that goes back (AFAIK) far further than Windows or Linux.
In technology, terminologies and meaning change rather fast. Some
stays, some gone, not necessarily corresponding to better or worse
with respect to the quality of terms.
> You have to consider the *cost* of breaking something like the Meta
> convention, not just the benefit.
The cost of changing emacs's notation from “M-‹key›” to “Alt+‹key›” in
emacs's manual is about maybe 4 hour's work by a few interactive find-
replace operations in emacs, helped with eye balling.
There is basically no cost to users. Any new user will immediately
understand “Alt+‹key›” and perhaps feel this is a great improvement.
Old emacs users might get a mental shock for the first hour when their
hear about this change in emacs 23's change log, that's about it. Same
for “C-” vs “Ctrl+” notation.
> But feel free to suggest it through
> the proper channels as others have mentioned.
Thanks. If you find this point about notation in manual has some
merit, please help me set records straight. You can mention it to
your emacs buddies, or link to my article in your blog, etc.
When this issue came up, a lot tech geekers will just think “Oh i
don't want emacs to become another Microsoft Word or be dumbed down”,
which is not rational.
-----------------------
PS I clarified and extended some points about the issue today, please
see:
“Emacs's M-‹key› Notation vs Alt+‹key› Notation”
http://xahlee.org/emacs/modernization_meta_key.html
The essay's sub headings pretty much summarize it:
• Universally understood
• Notation Same as Key Label
• Meta is Alt in practice
• Keyboards don't have Meta key today
• Misc
Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/
☄
next prev parent reply other threads:[~2008-07-28 15:02 UTC|newest]
Thread overview: 86+ messages / expand[flat|nested] mbox.gz Atom feed top
2008-07-24 17:36 What does 'run' do in cperl-mode? formido
2008-07-25 3:02 ` formido
2008-07-25 14:55 ` Xah
2008-07-25 16:41 ` Ted Zlatanov
2008-07-25 21:55 ` Xah
2008-07-26 0:05 ` Florian Beck
2008-07-26 2:04 ` Xah
2008-07-26 0:33 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
[not found] ` <mailman.15432.1217032437.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-26 1:41 ` Xah
2008-07-28 11:42 ` Nikolaj Schumacher
2008-07-28 11:58 ` Thien-Thi Nguyen
2008-07-28 13:39 ` Ted Zlatanov
2008-07-28 15:02 ` Xah Lee [this message]
2008-07-28 16:34 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
[not found] ` <mailman.15504.1217262880.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-28 17:42 ` Xah Lee
2008-07-28 22:44 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-07-28 19:57 ` Ted Zlatanov
2008-07-28 20:28 ` Xah Lee
2008-07-28 21:31 ` Ted Zlatanov
2008-07-28 22:09 ` Xah Lee
2008-07-29 14:33 ` Ted Zlatanov
2008-07-29 23:20 ` Xah
[not found] ` <mailman.15488.1217245359.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-28 15:22 ` Xah Lee
2008-07-28 22:14 ` Nikolaj Schumacher
[not found] ` <mailman.15520.1217283300.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-28 22:54 ` Xah Lee
2008-07-29 3:32 ` Eli Zaretskii
[not found] ` <mailman.15531.1217302334.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-29 7:25 ` Xah
2008-07-29 7:46 ` Juanma Barranquero
[not found] ` <mailman.15537.1217317612.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-29 8:41 ` Xah
2008-07-29 12:56 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-07-29 13:34 ` William Case
2008-07-29 9:39 ` Phil Carmody
2008-07-29 12:55 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-07-29 18:19 ` Colin S. Miller
2008-07-30 12:29 ` David Hansen
2008-07-30 13:34 ` Juanma Barranquero
2008-07-29 19:33 ` Eli Zaretskii
2008-07-29 22:25 ` Andreas Eder
2008-07-29 23:35 ` Xah
2008-07-30 8:47 ` Andreas Eder
2008-07-30 9:49 ` Xah
2008-07-30 17:58 ` Eli Zaretskii
[not found] ` <mailman.15606.1217440713.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-30 18:17 ` David Kastrup
[not found] ` <mailman.15565.1217360044.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-29 19:45 ` Joost Diepenmaat
2008-07-29 21:16 ` Xah
2008-07-30 3:34 ` Eli Zaretskii
[not found] ` <mailman.15577.1217388899.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-30 3:55 ` Xah
2008-07-30 18:06 ` Eli Zaretskii
[not found] ` <mailman.15607.1217441187.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-30 18:37 ` Xah
2008-08-23 21:22 ` David Combs
2008-08-23 21:41 ` Barry Margolin
2008-08-24 0:15 ` origin of the Meta key Xah
2008-08-24 3:38 ` Barry Margolin
2008-08-26 12:19 ` Allan Gottlieb
2008-07-29 11:13 ` What does 'run' do in cperl-mode? Nikolaj Schumacher
2008-07-29 11:52 ` Alan Mackenzie
[not found] ` <mailman.15542.1217330058.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-29 12:05 ` Xah
2008-07-29 21:55 ` David Kastrup
[not found] ` <mailman.15545.1217332445.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-29 12:44 ` Xah
2008-07-29 15:16 ` Nikolaj Schumacher
2008-07-29 18:27 ` Alan Mackenzie
[not found] ` <mailman.15550.1217344626.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-29 21:32 ` Xah
2008-07-29 23:06 ` Nikolaj Schumacher
[not found] ` <mailman.15574.1217372768.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-29 23:29 ` Xah
2008-07-31 19:07 ` Ted Zlatanov
2008-08-01 3:34 ` Xah
2008-08-01 7:18 ` Eli Zaretskii
[not found] ` <mailman.15688.1217575142.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-08-01 8:00 ` Xah
2008-08-01 8:12 ` Nikolaj Schumacher
2008-08-01 15:17 ` Ted Zlatanov
2008-08-06 22:42 ` Harry Putnam
[not found] ` <mailman.15964.1218062567.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-08-06 23:22 ` Xah
2008-08-07 6:39 ` David Kastrup
2008-08-07 8:24 ` Xah
[not found] ` <mailman.15564.1217356016.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-29 22:50 ` Xah
2008-07-30 15:15 ` Alan Mackenzie
[not found] ` <mailman.15602.1217430872.18990.help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>
2008-07-30 17:32 ` Xah
2008-07-30 17:45 ` Joost Kremers
2008-07-30 18:33 ` Xah
2008-07-30 19:40 ` Bastien
2008-07-30 0:28 ` namekuseijin
2008-07-27 3:05 ` formido
2008-07-27 11:36 ` Lennart Borgman (gmail)
2008-07-27 11:56 ` Thierry Volpiatto
-- strict thread matches above, loose matches on Subject: below --
2008-08-06 23:27 Xah
2008-08-07 14:27 ` Harry Putnam
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