what is the point of point-min?

[Joe Corneli]

Here is a handy rebinding of <delete> that I found on the web.

(global-set-key [delete] 
         (lambda () (interactive) 
                   (if mark-active
                             (kill-region (point) (mark)) 
                     (delete-char 1)))) 


and here is an alternative suggestion with one small change that I do
not fully understand.  Why would this be better?

(global-set-key [delete] 
         (lambda () (interactive)
                   (if mark-active
                             (kill-region (point) (mark)) 
                     (delete-char (point-min)))))