Re: Is Elisp really that slow?

[Ergus via help-gnu-emacs <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org>]

On June 11, 2019 3:37:00 PM GMT+02:00, "Óscar Fuentes" <ofv@wanadoo.es> wrote:
>Ergus via help-gnu-emacs <help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org> writes:
>
>> Hi Stefan:
>>
>> I agree with you about the prefix. After some suggestions in private
>> (from this same thread) I have been using the composable package [1]
>and
>> it works like a charm.
>>
>> I didn't use it before because I didn't know about it (it is in
>> melpa). But it really improves the emacs editing experience a lot
>> without affecting the default behavior. It has the best of modal
>editing
>> (the consistency) but without the annoying modes.
>>
>> There are some missing details, and things that can be improved, but
>I
>> see a lot of potential there. Probably this package (or a similar
>> design/reimplementation) may finish with the arguments about vim's
>modal
>> editing vs emacs memorize command and inconsistencies. Because it
>> provides the best of both worlds. It is compatible with transient and
>> delete-selection modes.
>>
>> The same applies to some commands and functions that will be not
>needed
>> anymore (or needed to remember) as explained in the project's Readme.
>>
>> [1] https://github.com/paldepind/composable.el
>
>That indeed is an interesting package, but keep in mind that what you
>consider "annoying modes" on Vi(m) is the Right Thing for other users.
>Specifically, those modes allow to avoid the Control-Meta Emacs hell.
>

For users that like modes there is evil and similar modes. I was just referring to an approach to improve-simplify editing and memory usage keeping the modeless behavior.

This is actually my main concern (and complain) about emacs bindings. That the inconsistencies forces to abuse of memory (most commands are bind where there is space and  it's needed to read a documentation to know what the prefix will do) or make very long commands combinations for simple frequent tasks (like copy a whole line or 3 consecutive words)

>The demographics of Evil's users consists on Vim emigrees looking for a
>more powerful Vim, Emacs users who came to think that Vim's model is
>more efficient and/or elegant (some of those could find composable.el
>interesting) and Emacs veterans trying to alleviate their RSI-related
>maladies.

I think composable.el works very fine now but it needs some small improvements in order to make more people happy and provide a 100% standard experience (Display useful information in the modeline for example). Maybe (I have a dream) something similar to composable will be included in emacs (like vile or CUA mode). But this really looks to me like a right approach: it keeps the modeless philosophy, reduces commands to remember and inconsistencies, it is a very original solution/improvement to the key bindings limitation issues, and reduces some binding combinations to the half while keeping the backward compatibility and simplicity.