Re: delete-selection-mode

[Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@ieee.org>]

On Sun, Mar 21 2010, David Kastrup wrote:

> Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@ieee.org> writes:
>
>> On Thu, Mar 18 2010, Stefan Monnier wrote:
>>
>>
>>> I take it for granted that if we enable something like
>>> delete-selection-mode, we'll only make it do something when the region
>>> is active, so people who turned t-m-m off will only be affected when
>>> they do C-u C-x C-x or when they do C-SPC C-SPC to explicitly activate
>>> the region (or when they select with the mouse).  In this sense, people
>>> who turned off t-m-m pretty much won't be affected.
>>
>>         I like the functionality of highlighting the region whenever
>>  the mark is active -- which is the only reason I have t-m-m turned
>>  on. Is there another way of achieving that, without having all the
>>  highlighted region disappearing on me accidentally, as it does now?
>
> While I would love to use your experience to bolster my stance,
> delete-selection-mode has not been enabled by default yet.
>
> So it would appear that we should find a different culprit.  Either
> delete-selection-mode has been enabled by your distribution defaults, or
> you are experiencing a different problem.
>
> It would be good to know.  Do you consider any of the following likely?
>
> a) you marked the region with the mouse, then hit DEL or backspace.
>    This currently deletes the whole active region.

        I often use my mouse to highlight the region. I might have hit
 backspace, though I thinhk it is more likely that I pasted something
 with my mouse. Could that have caused the region to be delete?

        (I have now set it so that only [delete] actually depetes the
 highlighted region, not backspace or c-d)

> b) you clicked on one end of the region with mouse-3 _twice_.  That is
>    the Emacs way to kill a region with the mouse.

        No, that I was aware of, and my fingers  are trained not to do so.

> I don't have a good idea what, short of delete-selection-mode, would
> cause your pains.  So what is the output of
>
> M-: delete-selection-mode RET
>
> for you?

        Well, it is nil now.  I do not think I it turned on, though. I
 definitely know that I would _not_ want it turned on; and I would like
 to request the Emacs developers to consider that long time Emacs users
 who are not necesarrily elisp experts or follow eacs devel list are
 also a resource that should nto be squandered; and so _always_
 prioritizing potential new users over older users might turn out to be
 counter productive.

        The potential new users are often fickel, us old times have
 loyally stuck with  Emacs. Changing the defauls ought to come with
 warnings, and explicit instructions on how to get the old behaviour
 back, for those of us who merely use Emacs as a tool, and do not follow
 development. 

        I still miss the old behaviour of copying text by using
 shift-button 3 over an area of text to past the text at point (though I
 now have a local hack to enable it for me)

        manoj
-- 
Q: How many WASPs does it take to change a lightbulb? A: One.
Manoj Srivastava <srivasta@acm.org> <http://www.golden-gryphon.com/>  
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