Re: Binding F11 and F12 to buffer-switching and file-saving by default

[Jason Spiro <jasonspiro4+news@gmail.com>]

Hi Juanma,

You make many good points.  However, I have replies to each of them.  :-)

"Juanma Barranquero" <lekktu@gmail.com> wrote:

> You'd have to define "practical"

I define it as "the benefits to new Emacs users with no .emacs file
outweigh the costs."  IMO, it is important that new users enjoy Emacs
as soon as possible.  If they enjoy it, they will continue using it
forever.

> Not all keyboards have F11 and F12

That's OK. People without those keys can use C-x C-s and C-x b.

> I don't think there's much agreement about the best way to switch
> buffers (I don't use iswitchb-buffer, for example, but bs-cycle-next,
> so your proposed binding is of no use to me)

We should pick one method.  People who don't like it can rebind the key.

> next-buffer and previous-buffer are already in C-x <left|right>

iswitchb-buffer is not bound to anything :-)

> save-buffer is in C-x C-s

On second thought, C-x C-s isn't that hard to type.  OK, so let's bind
M-x recompile to F11 instead?  Buffer switching can be bound to F12.

> Whether a command is used/useful enough to merit a one-key binding
> is highly subjective (I don't use save-buffer often enough to consider
> C-x C-s a burden, for example)

Agreed.

> It's easy for users to do their own bindings

True, but it can be handy to have useful bindings preset by default.

So, do the benefits to newbies outweigh the costs?
--Jason