From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!not-for-mail From: Richard Stallman Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.devel Subject: Re: Where does the magic 4 (C-u) come from? Date: Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:22:13 -0400 Message-ID: References: <7b501d5c0907311000m1153712bl3118d24e384965fb@mail.gmail.com> <1249060823.6160.60.camel@dell-desktop.example.com> Reply-To: rms@gnu.org NNTP-Posting-Host: lo.gmane.org Content-Type: text/plain; charset=ISO-8859-15 X-Trace: ger.gmane.org 1249097076 14363 80.91.229.12 (1 Aug 2009 03:24:36 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@ger.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Sat, 1 Aug 2009 03:24:36 +0000 (UTC) Cc: emacs-devel@gnu.org, deniz.a.m.dogan@gmail.com To: Thomas Lord Original-X-From: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Sat Aug 01 05:24:28 2009 Return-path: Envelope-to: ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([199.232.76.165]) by lo.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.50) id 1MX5Cu-0004sJ-JD for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Sat, 01 Aug 2009 05:24:28 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([127.0.0.1]:49196 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MX5Ct-0008FD-UN for ged-emacs-devel@m.gmane.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:24:27 -0400 Original-Received: from mailman by lists.gnu.org with tmda-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1MX5Ao-0006VY-BE for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:22:18 -0400 Original-Received: from exim by lists.gnu.org with spam-scanned (Exim 4.43) id 1MX5Aj-0006Tp-Hv for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:22:17 -0400 Original-Received: from [199.232.76.173] (port=49741 helo=monty-python.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.43) id 1MX5Aj-0006Tl-DU for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:22:13 -0400 Original-Received: from fencepost.gnu.org ([140.186.70.10]:38304) by monty-python.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.60) (envelope-from ) id 1MX5Aj-0000JD-8H for emacs-devel@gnu.org; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:22:13 -0400 Original-Received: from rms by fencepost.gnu.org with local (Exim 4.67) (envelope-from ) id 1MX5Aj-0008L8-2Q; Fri, 31 Jul 2009 23:22:13 -0400 In-reply-to: <1249060823.6160.60.camel@dell-desktop.example.com> (message from Thomas Lord on Fri, 31 Jul 2009 10:20:23 -0700) X-detected-operating-system: by monty-python.gnu.org: GNU/Linux 2.6, seldom 2.4 (older, 4) X-BeenThere: emacs-devel@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.5 Precedence: list List-Id: "Emacs development discussions." List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Original-Sender: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Errors-To: emacs-devel-bounces+ged-emacs-devel=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.devel:113497 Archived-At: > So I figured someone here ought to know... What is the origin of the magic 4? I don't know the historical answer but 4 is a natural choice if you count key presses: The quantities 4, 16 and 64 seem convenient for repeat counts of motion commands. A base larger than 4 would make them too far apart.