Re: Rectangular regions

["Stephen J. Turnbull" <stephen@xemacs.org>]

Jambunathan K writes:

 > > Users who use the function frequently can put it on an more
 > > accessible sequence.
 > 
 > So, please provide multiple bindings - one on C-x r one on
 > whatever.

Let's not.  There's an obvious mnemonic and more discoverable place to
bind it, and there are a bunch of more or less plausible places that
screw other users, although they may be easier to type.  Why is it so
hard to figure out that this function is no more special than a couple
thousand other commands?

 > If the number and nature of what the new mode can potentially do is a
 > bit unclear, it might actually be better NOT to choose a prefix key
 > right now.

It's quite clear what it does: it works on rectangles in any buffer,
just as the region functions work on linear intervals in any buffer.
That makes the choice of prefix key obvious.

If, at some time, we decide that rectangle functions deserve to be
given the same prominence that region functions do, we can bulldoze
the whole keymap.  My money is on "nope, won't happen" (see that
concurrent thread on Emacsspeak-friendly Emacsen for why regions beat
rectangles).