Re: A wish, a plea

[Karl Fogel <kfogel@red-bean.com>]

Sascha Wilde <wilde@sha-bang.de> writes:
> I'm actually using *scratch* quite often, as a scratch pad for stuff I
> don't want to save (and don't want to be asked, if I want to save them
> on exit), as well as for ad-hoc elisp stuff.

Unlike most users, you know how to change any default anyway.

> I like the feature of having *scratch* at hand from the beginning in
> every emacs session, and I would miss it...

We don't need to get rid of the *scratch* buffer.  (I wasn't actually
suggesting that, although I guess I wouldn't object to it either.)

We could retain it, but make one of these changes as well:

   a) the initial selected buffer be a Fundamental Mode or Text Mode
      buffer ("scratch", "notes", whatever), with buffer-offer-save
      turned on by default.

       -or-

   b) if we just want to retain *scratch* as-is, that we at least
      default to buffer-offer-save in that buffer, in stock Emacs.

Do you object to both (a) and (b)?

I prefer (a), my reasoning being that *scratch* is only useful to
people who know a bit of Elisp, and those people can easily figure out
how to change any default we set anyway.

We can keep the *scratch* buffer, if we must, but are you really
saying that it should also be the default selected buffer, and it
should not offer to save on exit by default?

I mean, step back for a moment: we have here a text editor that when
you open it, gives you a scratch space that's not really set up for
editing text, and that won't offer to save when you exit.

How can that be the best thing for most users? :-)

-Karl