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Re: line-move-visual
From: |
Xah Lee |
Subject: |
Re: line-move-visual |
Date: |
Wed, 08 Dec 2010 15:11:47 -0000 |
User-agent: |
G2/1.0 |
On Jun 4, 6:39 am, brendan.hal...@ul.ie (Brendan Halpin) wrote:
> Attempted thread-jack: why use visual-line-mode instead of
> longlines-mode?
longlines-mode has serious bugs, i believe still so even i haven't
used it since emacs 23.1 a year or 2 ago.
basically, whenever large chunk of text is inserted or removed in a
buffer (either manually, or sometimes automatically by commands such
as patch and version control etc), then the text will be screwed up...
missing parts or something i forgot.
there are 1 or more bug reports of it in emacs bug track. If i recall
correctly, the situation is that it's hard to fix, because longlines-
mode was a hack for lack of visual line move, and i think it is done
by basically just inserting line-breaks in the background but display
and save it otherwise. (i haven't actually looked at the code though)
the visual line move feature is a critical feature in emacs. Before
emacs 23, there are a few packages or code that tries to introduce the
visual line move feature (see emacswiki), and longlines-mode is one of
them. However, because it is such a fundamental feature, it is hard
for a 3rd-party elisp package to get it correct. They all have major
problems...
i think Emacs 23.2's move by visual line feature is great because:
• it fixed a frequently asked feature. (e.g. i think ALL editors/IDEs
after mid 1990s, move by visual line )
• it fixed a issue that 3rd party elisp packages cannot address well.
Btw, who actually coded the visual line mode? I can't find the info. I
like to document it in my emacs pages.
--------------------------------------------------
Personally, i find moving by visual line is not just a good feature,
but a critical one, with consequences that effect the evolution of
language design and thinking, long term. The hard-coded lines is
fundamentally introduced by unix and C gang, and brain damaged a whole
generation of coders.
I've written about 7 essays addressing this point in the past 10
years. See:
• Xah on Programing Languages
http://xahlee.org/Periodic_dosage_dir/comp_lang.html
See the articles under the Formatting section.
Each of these is written in a different context, but they essentially
discuss the same thing. That is, the importance of separating
appearance/formatting from semantic or logical structure.
Here's a synapses on how each article relates to the line move visual
issue.
------------------------------
• The Harm of Hard-wrapping Lines
http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/writ/hard-wrap.html
A introduction. (written as a diatribe )
------------------------------
• Tabs versus Spaces in Source Code
http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/writ/tabs_vs_spaces.html
introduces the idea as semantic based formatting vs hard-coded
formatting.
------------------------------
• Plain-Text Email Fetish
http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/writ/plain_text.html
• Unix, RFC, and Line Truncation
http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/writ/truncate_line.html
Shows some connection of the hard-coded habit from unix.
------------------------------
• A Simple Lisp Code Formatter
http://xahlee.org/emacs/lisp_formatter.html
A example of what actually can happen when hard-coded formatting
hasn't become the conventional thought.
------------------------------
• A Text Editor Feature: Extend Selection By Semantic Unit
http://xahlee.org/emacs/syntax_tree_walk.html
Another example of what could happen if unix didn't made people to
think about hard-coded short lines.
------------------------------
• Fundamental Problems of Lisp
http://xahlee.org/UnixResource_dir/writ/lisp_problems.html
Half of the essay, discuss the above issues with respect to lisp the
language, and consequences.
Xah
∑ http://xahlee.org/
☄
- Re: line-move-visual, (continued)
- Message not available
- Message not available
- Re: line-move-visual, Tassilo Horn, 2010/12/08
- Message not available
- Message not available
- Re: line-move-visual, Brendan Halpin, 2010/12/08
- Re: line-move-visual, Stefan Monnier, 2010/12/08
- Re: line-move-visual, Tassilo Horn, 2010/12/08
- proposed keyboard-macro to record to elisp (was Re: line-move-visual), Joseph Brenner, 2010/12/08
- Re: proposed keyboard-macro to record to elisp (was Re: line-move-visual), LanX, 2010/12/08
- Message not available
- Re: line-move-visual,
Xah Lee <=
- Re: line-move-visual, Mark Crispin, 2010/12/09
- Re: line-move-visual, Xah Lee, 2010/12/08
- Message not available
- Message not available
- Re: line-move-visual, Uday S Reddy, 2010/12/08
- Re: line-move-visual, David Kastrup, 2010/12/08
- Message not available
- Re: line-move-visual, Alain Ketterlin, 2010/12/08
- Message not available
- Re: Wrong use of format=flowed antidote, Uday S Reddy, 2010/12/08
- Re: line-move-visual, Joost Kremers, 2010/12/08
- Message not available
- Re: line-move-visual, Tassilo Horn, 2010/12/08
- Re: line-move-visual, Uday S Reddy, 2010/12/08
- Re: line-move-visual, Helmut Eller, 2010/12/08