From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Marcin Borkowski Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Upcoming loss of usability of Emacs source files and Emacs. Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 20:30:14 +0200 Message-ID: <87twu62nnt.fsf@mbork.pl> References: <20150615142237.GA3517@acm.fritz.box> <87y4jkhqh5.fsf@uwakimon.sk.tsukuba.ac.jp> <557F3C22.4060909@cs.ucla.edu> <5580D356.4050708@cs.ucla.edu> <87si9qonxb.fsf@gnu.org> <87ioamz8if.fsf@petton.fr> <32013464-2300-46c6-ba46-4a3c36bfee5d@default> NNTP-Posting-Host: plane.gmane.org Mime-Version: 1.0 Content-Type: text/plain; charset=utf-8 Content-Transfer-Encoding: quoted-printable X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1434565885 15611 80.91.229.3 (17 Jun 2015 18:31:25 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Wed, 17 Jun 2015 18:31:25 +0000 (UTC) To: Nicolas Petton , rms@gnu.org, Tassilo Horn , acm@muc.de, stephen@xemacs.org, eggert@cs.ucla.edu, emacs-devel@gnu.org Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Wed Jun 17 20:31:09 2015 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by plane.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.69) (envelope-from ) id 1Z5I7A-0004hC-36 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 17 Jun 2015 20:31:08 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:48499 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Z5I79-0003T5-77 for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:31:07 -0400 Original-Received: from eggs.gnu.org ([2001:4830:134:3::10]:36532) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Z5I6h-0003T0-1E for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:30:40 -0400 Original-Received: from Debian-exim by eggs.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Z5I6c-0001uw-RU for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:30:38 -0400 Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([2a01:5e00:2:52::8]:38177) by eggs.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1Z5I6c-0001uN-K0; Wed, 17 Jun 2015 14:30:34 -0400 Original-Received: from localhost (localhost [127.0.0.1]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTP id 9D47B4F6083; Wed, 17 Jun 2015 20:30:29 +0200 (CEST) X-Virus-Scanned: Debian amavisd-new at mail.mojserwer.eu Original-Received: from mail.mojserwer.eu ([127.0.0.1]) by localhost (mail.mojserwer.eu [127.0.0.1]) (amavisd-new, port 10024) with ESMTP id psGf1RpM7aI5; Wed, 17 Jun 2015 20:30:24 +0200 (CEST) Original-Received: from localhost (unknown [109.232.24.146]) by mail.mojserwer.eu (Postfix) with ESMTPSA id 078C14F607E; Wed, 17 Jun 2015 20:30:22 +0200 (CEST) In-reply-to: <32013464-2300-46c6-ba46-4a3c36bfee5d@default> X-detected-operating-system: by eggs.gnu.org: Error: Malformed IPv6 address (bad octet value). X-Received-From: 2a01:5e00:2:52::8 X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.14 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:187251 Archived-At: On 2015-06-17, at 18:03, Drew Adams wrote: > As another example, starting next month all Emacs text will appear > mirrored (derorrim). This is a test to see if you prefer such a > presentation - it is regarded by some as a convenient (and modern!) > brain-eye strengthening aid. Surely this must be part of a global conspiracy. I'm not sure, however, whether this one comes from Jews or Arabs... ;-) Personally, given that Emacs users are heavily into efficiency, and that the community will undoubtfully be divided on this one, I would suggest a compromise. It is called "Boustrophedon" (see https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Boustrophedon), and it reduces the effort of moving your eyes from the right end of the previous line to the left end of the next one. With this clear efficiency booster, we will finally be able to beat Vim users, eh? Just in case someone would like to test it immediately, here is a quick-and-dirty implementation: --8<---------------cut here---------------start------------->8--- (defun boustrophedonize-buffer () "Convert Emacs buffer into boustrophedon so that reading is faster and more pleasant." (interactive) (save-excursion (goto-char (point-min)) (forward-line) (while (not (eobp)) (let* ((beg (line-beginning-position)) (end (line-end-position)) (line (buffer-substring beg end))) (delete-region beg end) (insert (reverse line)) (forward-line 2))))) --8<---------------cut here---------------end--------------->8--- On a more serious note, I have to say that even I am surprised that I agree (mostly) with Emanuel Berg. Even though my language does not fit into ASCII - we have 9 letters outside the (modern) Latin alphabet - I'm in favor of using ASCII alone - at least unless there is a *convenient* method of typing all the "funny" symbols, reliable in all relevant contexts (so also in isearch, for instance). On the other hand, it would be great if we had an "ascii-folding" option, making (some reasonable subset of) Unicode "equivalent" to ASCII, so that we could easily search for e.g. the Polish word =E2=80=98=C5= =BC=C3=B3=C5=82w=E2=80=99 (meaning "turtle") by typing `zolw'. (I have to say that lack of this is one of my main gripes with A****n's K****e e-book reader - this renders the "search" option unusable for non-English texts...) Best, --=20 Marcin Borkowski http://octd.wmi.amu.edu.pl/en/Marcin_Borkowski Faculty of Mathematics and Computer Science Adam Mickiewicz University