Re: `*' interactive spec in some text-killing functions

["Juanma Barranquero" <lekktu@gmail.com>]

On 6/28/07, Stefan Monnier <monnier@iro.umontreal.ca> wrote:

> The result is not irrelevant because you may do C-x C-q afterwards.

Yes, and David (before embarking on a crusade to convince me of what
do I find confusing, or why I shouldn't) already pointed out an
example of how switching to overwrite in a read-only buffer can
sometimes be useful. I don't know how common is, but it is certainly
useful.

> But maybe a little warning reminding the user that the buffer is not yet
> writable could be added.

Well, thanks! That was exactly my point: that it could warn "Buffer is
read-only".

> It doesn't seem tremendously useful, tho: she'll
> figure it out soon enough.

Agreed: it's not tremendously useful, not even very useful; just nice
to some people, newbies perhaps. That's why I've been using the PgUp
example: the warning about "Beginning of buffer" is not very useful,
but it can be helpful to a newbie that suddenly doesn't understand why
the buffer is not scrolling. David and others have reminded me a
couple times or four that the read-only status is visible on the
modeline. And it is: `--' turns into  `%%', or `-*' to `-%'. Not the
most conspicuous of clues, if you're new to Emacs, I think.

Thanks,

             Juanma