Re: A wish, a plea

[Taylor Venable <taylor@metasyntax.net>]

Nic James Ferrier <nferrier@tapsellferrier.co.uk> writes:

> Karl Fogel <kfogel@red-bean.com> writes:
>
>> Emacs gives the user total control, but that does not diminish the
>> importance of choosing reasonable defaults.  The current *scratch*
>> buffer is a punitive default; Hacksaw is suggesting that we choose
>> another default.
>
> I agree.
>
> I don't use it as a default.
>
> I really do use *scratch* for all sorts of things. But it shouldn't be
> the default.
>
> Maybe a ~/notes or ~/.emacs.d/notes ?

As far as ~/notes goes, what if it already exists?  And doesn't have
anything to do with Emacs?  If I started Emacs for the first time and
saw some seemingly random text file, I'd be confused.

An empty buffer, on the other hand, may not be a bad idea.  Maybe in
fundamental mode.

I actually don't have a problem with *scratch* because I see it as
kind of a starting area.  Emacs isn't second-guessing what I want to
do, it's very close to having a blank slate.  In fact, it's a lot like
booting your computer -- once it loads you've got the whole command
set available to you.  If you want to write a file, read your email,
or play Tetris, it's up to you to input the command to do so.  And
besides, I do use *scratch* frequently to work on various smaller
Emacs customizations.

My counter-wish (and plea) would be that if any changes are made to
the default behavior, that an option be added to ensure that my
*scratch* is dutifully created each time I load Emacs.

Best regards.

-- 
Taylor Venable
taylor@metasyntax.net
http://www.metasyntax.net/