From mboxrd@z Thu Jan 1 00:00:00 1970 Path: news.gmane.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail From: Barry Margolin Newsgroups: gmane.emacs.help Subject: Re: Etymology of `visiting' files Date: Tue, 09 Aug 2016 11:37:02 -0400 Organization: A noiseless patient Spider Message-ID: References: <87y447oaaw.fsf@rudiments.goosenet.in> <87invbmkfg.fsf@lifelogs.com> <87lh06bizj.fsf@rudiments.goosenet.in> NNTP-Posting-Host: blaine.gmane.org X-Trace: blaine.gmane.org 1470762450 27869 195.159.176.226 (9 Aug 2016 17:07:30 GMT) X-Complaints-To: usenet@blaine.gmane.org NNTP-Posting-Date: Tue, 9 Aug 2016 17:07:30 +0000 (UTC) User-Agent: MT-NewsWatcher/3.5.3b3 (Intel Mac OS X) To: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org Original-X-From: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Tue Aug 09 19:07:26 2016 Return-path: Envelope-to: geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org Original-Received: from lists.gnu.org ([208.118.235.17]) by blaine.gmane.org with esmtp (Exim 4.84_2) (envelope-from ) id 1bXAUv-00077Q-VS for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 09 Aug 2016 19:07:26 +0200 Original-Received: from localhost ([::1]:36796 helo=lists.gnu.org) by lists.gnu.org with esmtp (Exim 4.71) (envelope-from ) id 1bXAUs-00052W-M9 for geh-help-gnu-emacs@m.gmane.org; Tue, 09 Aug 2016 13:07:22 -0400 Original-Path: usenet.stanford.edu!news.tele.dk!news.tele.dk!small.news.tele.dk!newsfeed.xs4all.nl!newsfeed9.news.xs4all.nl!feeder.erje.net!1.eu.feeder.erje.net!weretis.net!feeder4.news.weretis.net!eternal-september.org!feeder.eternal-september.org!news.eternal-september.org!barmar.motzarella.org!.POSTED!not-for-mail Original-Newsgroups: gnu.emacs.help Original-Lines: 30 Original-Injection-Info: barmar.motzarella.org; posting-host="2be9e9f5dd9af768b8861af71b85fc28"; logging-data="4736"; mail-complaints-to="abuse@eternal-september.org"; posting-account="U2FsdGVkX1+xu4yoJy2a1C34Z3s/EmMR" Cancel-Lock: sha1:a8WybO964Ott2tf8ugE7AEkt9fg= Original-Xref: usenet.stanford.edu gnu.emacs.help:218715 X-BeenThere: help-gnu-emacs@gnu.org X-Mailman-Version: 2.1.21 Precedence: list List-Id: Users list for the GNU Emacs text editor List-Unsubscribe: , List-Archive: List-Post: List-Help: List-Subscribe: , Errors-To: help-gnu-emacs-bounces+geh-help-gnu-emacs=m.gmane.org@gnu.org Original-Sender: "help-gnu-emacs" Xref: news.gmane.org gmane.emacs.help:111098 Archived-At: In article <87lh06bizj.fsf@rudiments.goosenet.in>, Udyant Wig wrote: > Ted Zlatanov writes: > > The term "visiting" does not show up in a 1978 guide to Emacs (but > > maybe it was already in use): > > https://web.archive.org/web/20110723033542/http://www.burlingtontelecom.net/ > > ~ashawley/gnu/emacs/doc/emacs-1978.html#Basic-File_002dHandling-Commands > > Thanks for the link. I was unaware of this one. > > > It shows up in 1981, in the RMS paper on Emacs: > > http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/emacs-paper.html > > I had checked this paper and also the Emacs manual for TWENEX users > (AIM-555). Both mention `visiting' but include no rationale for the > choice. Perhaps the technical meaning (of `visiting') was sufficiently > similar to regular English usage that it did not seem to need > explanation. I think it may also be a bit of a retronym. Emacs has two commands for opening files: C-x C-f and C-x C-v. They needed mnemonics that distinguished them, so the first is "Find" and the second is "Visit". GNU Emacs has abandoned the mnemonic name of C-x C-v. -- Barry Margolin, barmar@alum.mit.edu Arlington, MA *** PLEASE post questions in newsgroups, not directly to me ***