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* Where does the magic 4 (C-u) come from?
@ 2009-07-31 17:00 Deniz Dogan
  2009-07-31 17:20 ` Thomas Lord
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 3+ messages in thread
From: Deniz Dogan @ 2009-07-31 17:00 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Emacs-Devel devel

Hi

I just had a discussion on #emacs on freenode about the origin of the
behavior of C-u and the multiplying by 4. None of us could find any
information about why 4 was chosen and if this behavior has been
borrowed from somewhere else.

So I figured someone here ought to know... What is the origin of the magic 4?

-- 
Deniz Dogan




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

* Re: Where does the magic 4 (C-u) come from?
  2009-07-31 17:00 Where does the magic 4 (C-u) come from? Deniz Dogan
@ 2009-07-31 17:20 ` Thomas Lord
  2009-08-01  3:22   ` Richard Stallman
  0 siblings, 1 reply; 3+ messages in thread
From: Thomas Lord @ 2009-07-31 17:20 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Deniz Dogan; +Cc: Emacs-Devel devel

On Fri, 2009-07-31 at 19:00 +0200, Deniz Dogan wrote:
> Hi
> 
> I just had a discussion on #emacs on freenode about the origin of the
> behavior of C-u and the multiplying by 4. None of us could find any
> information about why 4 was chosen and if this behavior has been
> borrowed from somewhere else.
> 
> So I figured someone here ought to know... What is the origin of the magic 4?


I don't know the historical answer but
4 is a natural choice if you count key
presses:

   x        1
   x x      2
   x x x    3
   C-u x    3

4 is the least, useful magic number (the
comma matters :-)

-t






^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

* Re: Where does the magic 4 (C-u) come from?
  2009-07-31 17:20 ` Thomas Lord
@ 2009-08-01  3:22   ` Richard Stallman
  0 siblings, 0 replies; 3+ messages in thread
From: Richard Stallman @ 2009-08-01  3:22 UTC (permalink / raw)
  To: Thomas Lord; +Cc: emacs-devel, deniz.a.m.dogan

    > So I figured someone here ought to know... What is the origin of the magic 4?


    I don't know the historical answer but
    4 is a natural choice if you count key
    presses:

The quantities 4, 16 and 64 seem convenient for repeat counts of
motion commands.  A base larger than 4 would make them too far apart.




^ permalink raw reply	[flat|nested] 3+ messages in thread

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2009-07-31 17:00 Where does the magic 4 (C-u) come from? Deniz Dogan
2009-07-31 17:20 ` Thomas Lord
2009-08-01  3:22   ` Richard Stallman

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