[Idle-dev] Re: IDLE on Linux

[Guido van Rossum]

> How did the bindings for "UNIX" get chosen?  what
> would make a sensible set, that is not likely to
> conflict with existing usage on a reasonable
> subset of UNIX machines (certainly including
> Linux where Python has the advantage of being
> included "standard")?  Is there any way to pick
> them so they're even slightly mnemonic (I find
> a number of entries in the current set non-intuitive,
> personally). Are such questions even answerable,
> or worth worrying about?

Certainly good questions!

The Unix key bindings came from several sources.

- Default edit keys in the Tk Text widget, mostly copied from Emacs
  (e.g. ^A)

- File operations (e.g. ^X^F), chosen by me, mostly copied from Emacs

- Alt-key combinations for menus and menu entries, provided
  semi-automatically by the Tk menu bar (e.g. Alt-W)

- Other things for which I didn't have an example I just made up, or
  borrowed from Windows

I think maybe two sets should be offered for Unix: one set more like
Windows, and one set more like Emacs...

--Guido van Rossum (home page: http://www.python.org/~guido/)