Re: Emacs learning curve

[Wojciech Meyer]

So what the vim users say? Out of curisoity. Sent from mobile...

On 7/22/10, David Kastrup <address@hidden> wrote:
> David Kastrup <address@hidden> writes:
>
>> "Alfred M. Szmidt" <address@hidden> writes:
>>
>>>    > Advanced users should have no problem adding a single line to their
>>>    > .emacs to switch on the compatibility mode
>>>    > e.g. (enable-classic-bindings) and new users would enjoy the
>>> familiar
>>>    > CUA-style bindings out of the box.
>>>
>>>    I side with Tom, I wouldn't mind adding one line to my .emacs in favor
>>>    of easing new users experience.
>>>
>>> There is absolutley no proof that CUA would 'ease' a new users
>>> experience; there is proof that it would make make the experience
>>> harder for all who are accustomed to emacs though.
>>
>> I don't see that adding mode-, selection- and keypress-timing dependent
>> behavior in order to arrive at something that magically works half the
>> time like Notepad, half the time like Emacs, does much to make an
>> editing application more accessible to a new user.
>
> To illustrate: do we really want to consider the following a suitable
> user experience for new users?  Once they type more than 5 keys per
> second, CUA behavior will get replaced by native Emacs behavior?  That
> sort of cleverness is not predictable to a new user.
>
> cua-prefix-override-inhibit-delay is a variable defined in `cua-base.el'.
> Its value is 0.2
>
> Documentation:
> *If non-nil, time in seconds to delay before overriding prefix key.
> If there is additional input within this time, the prefix key is
> used as a normal prefix key.  So typing a key sequence quickly will
> inhibit overriding the prefix key.
> As a special case, if the prefix keys repeated within this time, the
> first prefix key is discarded, so typing a prefix key twice in quick
> succession will also inhibit overriding the prefix key.
> If the value is nil, use a shifted prefix key to inhibit the override.
>
> You can customize this variable.
>
> [back]
>
> Try marking an active region in CUA mode, then jump to the other side of
> the region using a properly timed C-x C-x C-x.
>
> This is supposed to be an editor, not an arcade game.  And no, I don't
> think that this sort of user interface problem can be solved by
> discussing the dexterity to be expected from a new user.
>
> --
> David Kastrup
>
>
>

-- 
Sent from my mobile device