RE: GNU Emacs raison d'etre

[Drew Adams]

> > I don't have any experience using 'transient', so
> > I'd need more explanation from you to understand
> > what you meant by that part.  (I tried to understand
> > 'transient' from reading [2] and [3], but unfortunately
> > -- and somewhat surprisingly! -- the documentation at
> > those pages does not give a single concrete example
> > of transient's use.)
> 
> You press 'C-x', wait a while - and it pops up a
> window with the descriptions of all commands whose
> bindings start with 'C-x'. Same for all other
> "incomplete" key sequences. Looks pretty handy for
> beginners.

https://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/Icicles_-_Key_Completion#AutomaticKeyCompletion

FWIW.  Key completion since 2007.

> > one of the things we should prioritize is teaching
> > newcomers how important those help facilities are
> > and how to use them in a smart way.  I'm specifically
> > saying that this is *more important for Emacs than
> > it is for other editors*.  ... it's a difference in 
> > prioritization: for Emacs users, using that
> > built-in help is more important than it would be in
> > other editors, and the methods and circumstances of
> > using the help are different too.  So we should
> > incorporate that fact into how we present Emacs to
> > new users.
> >
> > I believe we'll make better decisions if we keep in
> > mind that "friendly to newcomers" is not, in itself,
> > the primary goal.
> 
> It's not like extreme user-friendliness was ever a
> guiding principle here. :-)

I disagree.  There is a difference between "extreme
user-friendliness" - which I think is, and should be,
a guiding principle here, and prioritizing "friendly
to newcomers".

Just because something (a great book, a great work of
art or science or craft) doesn't immediately reflect
the preconceptions and baked-in expectations of a
newbie to it, that doesn't mean it's not rewarding
and "friendly" to its "users".  Not at all.