Re: Doc of keyboard macros

[Joost Kremers <joostkremers@fastmail.fm>]

On Mon, Sep 24 2018, Eli Zaretskii wrote:
>> From: Juri Linkov <juri@linkov.net>
>> Cc: Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca>, 
>> emacs-devel@gnu.org
>> Date: Mon, 24 Sep 2018 22:23:03 +0300
>> 
>> There is a current tendency towards deprecating F1-F10 function 
>> keys
>> by hardware manufacturers.  These keys are already hard to 
>> press by default
>> on PC: a special additional key <Fn> needs to be pressed in 
>> combination of
>> <Fn>-<F3>, and a Chromebook has no row of function keys at all: 
>> in order
>> to get <F4>, you have to press <Search>-4.
>
> Those are still faster than "C-x (", since they are a single key
> combination, whereas "C-x (" is 2 key combinations.

I think that's debatable. Personally, if I want to hit a function 
key, I need to move my hand from the home row to reach for it, and 
I need to look at the keyboard to do it. Also, the <Fn> special 
modifier key is not in my muscle memory, which means I'd need to 
look at that as well.[1]

So hitting `C-x (` is definitely faster for me and requires no 
conscious action, quite unlike the function keys. I never use 
F3/F4 to define keyboard macros.

In fact, I never quite understood why (some) function keys have 
default bindings at all in Emacs. To me, function keys are as 
cumbersome as cursor keys, Home/End, or PgUp/PgDn.[2] Not that I 
mind, of course, it's just puzzling to me.

Joost



[1] My laptop's BIOS allows me to switch the effect of the Fn key, 
so I could actually get <F3> by pressing just the relevant key 
without Fn if I wanted to. But I'd still need to look at the 
keyboard to press it.

[2] Admittedly, those have default bindings as well, but they are 
standard across applications and operating systems. Function keys 
are not.


-- 
Joost Kremers
Life has its moments