The Modernization of Emacs: terminology buffer and keybinding

[Martin Gregorie]

Twisted wrote:
> 
> First, I didn't claim the ideal WP was necessarily perfectly WYSIWYG.
 >
Maybe I should have clarified my viewpoint. When it comes to programs 
that operate on the content of textual documents a word processor is 
WYSIWYG by definition. Anything else is a text editor. You may have a 
different view but that's mine.

> Your quiet change from discussing word processing to discussing
> WYSIWYG is interesting.
 >
See above. We were actually discussing text editors whose formatting 
capabilities (unless they are syntax-sensitive) are generally limited to 
line wrapping and auto-indentation. You introduced more complex document 
reformatting - something that I regard as a capability of word 
processors rather than text editors.

> Programming in role-playing game? And I meant my roguelike-filesystem-
> interface suggestion at least partly in jest...
>
RPG is "Report Generating Program" in the context of programming 
languages. The RPG language is horrid: its a bastardized, fixed column 
assembler derivative that's been shoehorned into a typical report 
generator's processing loop. Even PL/1 and COBOL shine as paragons of 
programming language design by comparison.

> If it's so great, why hasn't it, and why hasn't OS/400 managed to
> escape from persistent obscurity?
>
A fair question. I don't know, but it probably has a lot to do with AIX 
and the UNIX command shell with its great power but lack of consistency 
in naming, etc.

> In other words, the implementation was a dog. That doesn't refute the
> basic concept's validity.
 >
True, but doing better would be really hard because of all the 
information and context that would need to be associated with every 
mouse click in case it was needed to record a macro. At best it might 
make macro recording tedious. At worst it could make the whole GUI 
unresponsive.


-- 
martin@   | Martin Gregorie
gregorie. | Essex, UK
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