* bug#1109: Suggestions on emacs's scratch buffer
@ 2008-10-07 14:31 xah lee
0 siblings, 0 replies; only message in thread
From: xah lee @ 2008-10-07 14:31 UTC (permalink / raw)
To: bug-gnu-emacs
Hi emacs developers,
Here's a suggestion on emacs scratch buffer i thought might be
interesting.
Last month there's a maybe 200 messages flamefeast in gnu.emacs.help
on this issue.
I am not sure this suggestion about removing *scratch* buffer is
sensible to most emacs developers, but i thought i'd put it in bug
database for what's its worth.
The full article of my reasons and suggestions is at:
http://xahlee.org/emacs/modernization_scratch_buffer.html
plain text version follows below my sig.
Thanks for your consideration.
Best,
Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/
☄
---------------------------------------------
Suggestions on Emacs's Scratch Buffer
Xah Lee, 2008-09
In the article The Modernization of Emacs, i suggested that emacs's
“*scratch*” buffer be removed. In this article, i give some detail
about it.
In the article, i gave the following as primary reasons that scratch
buffer should be removed:
• It is not useful by 99% of letter writers. If they wanted a
scratch pad, they can open a new document and not save it. This way
is familiar to all software users.
• The “*scratch*” “buffer” is primarily designed for
elisp programers. (it defaults to lisp mode) Majority of people who
use emacs are not lisp coders. For lisp coders, they can easily
customize their emacs to have a “*scratch*” “buffer”.
• The “*scratch*” “buffer” is a intrusive idiosyncrasy.
It is persistent, cannot be closed (it regenerates). It is foreign to
all programers. This idiosyncrasy is the first thing presented to
users, and it persists.
Here are few minor reasons:
• There is no easy, intuitive way to create multiple scratch
buffers. (it is done by using the switch-to-buffer command (C-x b)
and give name that is not one of existing buffers.)
• When the scratch buffer is closed, emacs does not prompt user
to save it. This easily causes data loss.
• A scratch pad can be very useful not just for temporary elisp
code but for any scratch notes or programing in other languages. (For
example, well known programer Stevey Yegg in his popular Effective
Emacs↗ blog list it as a top 10 tip in emacs productivity.)
Emacs's “*scratch*” buffer is narrowly geared for elisp editing
only, defaulting to emacs-lisp-mode.
• Emacs does not provide a user level function to create a new
buffer. It has menu “File‣Open file...” (a wrapper to the find-
file command), which immediately prompt user for a full file path.
This is annoying. Modern apps's New File command actually just create
a new untitled file without prompting, and only when user save it it
prompt a file name. If user closes it, it prompts for saving.
Proposed Fix
I propose that emacs should also add a menu command “New buffer”,
with the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+n”. Once called, it should create
a scratch buffer titled “untitled”. If one already exists, append
numbers such “untitled 2”. Here are the reasons:
• The menu command “New” is a widely adopted standard among
apps across Mac, Windows, unixes. It is familiar to all software users.
• The Ctrl+n shortcut for New is standard and familiar to all
software users.
• A New Buffer command (where the corresponding elisp command
name might be named new-empty-buffer), can completely cover the
functionality of emacs's “*scratch*” buffer.
• When users want to have a scratch buffer, he can create it by
simply pressing the shortcut, and when he doesn't want it, he can
simply close it with a standard keystroke Ctrl+w.
• By adopting the New Buffer and Ctrl+n, users can intuitively
create multiple scratch buffers for any purpose.
• The name “untitled” is conventional, far more widely
understood, and more general than “scratch”.
• For those who use scratch buffer for elisp coding, she can
set a preference (e.g. emacs customize feature) so that the new
buffer default to emacs-lisp-mode.
• Adopting the suggestion would fix several problems for those
who actually use emacs's “*scratch*” buffer. (1) emacs no longer
mysteriously spawn a “*scratch*” when emacs starts, or respawn
the “*scratch*” buffer when user tries to close all buffers. (2)
Multiple scratch buffers can be created by a keyboard shortcut. (3)
Data lose is prevented because closing a scratch buffer will prompt
for save.
Note: the proposed keybinding “Ctrl+n” and “Ctrl+w” need not
be part of this proposal because emacs already use “Ctrl+n” and
“Ctrl+w” for basic cursor movement and cut. However, it could be
adapted in conjunction with newly designed Ergonomic Keybinding. (see
below)
Draft Implementation
The above suggestion is experimentally implemented in my Ergonomic
Keyboard Shortcut Layout For Emacs. The following are the elisp files.
• ergonomic_keybinding_dvorak.el.
• ergonomic_keybinding_qwerty.el.
Some detail about the implementation:
• create-new-buffer will create a new empty buffer named
“untitled”. (this should be added to the menu under “File‣New
Buffer” but i haven't done that yet.)
• create-new-buffer has standard keyboard shortcut Ctrl+n.
• elisp command close-current-buffer will close the current
buffer, and if it is a buffer not associated with a file (such as
“untitled”), it'll ask user to save (unless it has no content)
• close-current-buffer has the standard keyboard shortcut Ctrl+w.
• close-current-buffer should have menu under
“File‣Close”, but it is not currently done. The existing
“File‣Close” menu command in emacs 22.2 calls kill-this-buffer,
which has 2 problems. (1) it doesn't have a shortcut. (2) it doesn't
ask users to save a buffer that are not associated with file (in
effect, any text in the buffer is irreversibly lost immediately). The
standard emacs command used to close a file is kill-buffer (Ctrl+x
k). It has a major problem of prompting user even if the file is
already saved.
I have been using the above code daily since late 2007, with
incremental improvement and bug fixes. i'm sure it can use a lot more
polishing for public use. The code is GPL'd, so feel free to grab
pieces for your own use or submit into GNU.
☄
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