Re: A vision for multiple major modes: some design notes

[John Wiegley <jwiegley@gmail.com>]

>>>>> Alan Mackenzie <acm@muc.de> writes:

>> I don't agree that this is the essence of major mode support. Another
>> aspect of major modes is an expectation of which text properties might
>> occur throughout the buffer, and where and why.

> OK. Shall we agree that the buffer local variables are a crucially important
> part of what constitutes a major mode? :-) Clearly text properties are
> important (indeed, in the case of, e.g., CC Mode critically important) too.

I'm sorry, after reading this again today I'm not sure why my reaction sounded
so strong.

Surely buffer local variables are a key, essential component to the picture.
There is a "context" that defines what a mode is (buffer local vars, text
properties, event bindings, etc), and we need a way of scoping such contexts
within buffers, which you've begun describing in your proposal.

-- 
John Wiegley                  GPG fingerprint = 4710 CF98 AF9B 327B B80F
http://newartisans.com                          60E1 46C4 BD1A 7AC1 4BA2