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Aucb.272 fa.editor-p utcsrgv!utzoo!decvax!ucbvax!C70:editor-people Tue Jan 12 14:48:40 1982 Meta Keys >From LAWS@SRI-AI Wed Jan 6 13:35:42 1982 I have followed the Emacs/Vi debate on Editor-People and on Human-Nets. There are advantages to both systems, and I would really like to see a combination of the two systems (with selected ideas from Zed and other editors, of course).

As to the meta key: It might be nice to have a keyboard with umpteen different prefix or shift keys, but I find the Emacs dependence on Control and Meta to be excessive. Like it or not, a shift key constitutes an editing "mode". Emacs tries to make do by overloading the few mode keys that are available. This muddies the underlying concept of each mode by adding other useful bindings that don't belong in the same mode. Users can customize the bindings to maximize the coherence on the keys they normally use, but this Tower of Babel approach has its own disadvantages.

Vi, unfortunately, has very minimal rebinding capabilities. Still, I find it easier to live with Vi's mnemonic mode prefixes. When I type "d" I am essentially entering the delete mode; I can then type "w" to delete a word, "}" to delete the next paragraph, or any of several other choices. I suppose I would be equally happy with a system that used "w" to enter word mode, then let me hit "d" to delete. [Of course Vi also provides a single-character "delete character" command. Syntactic rigor shouldn't be carried too far.]

Emacs users have chosen to give up this capability in order to minimize mode switching by always leaving the user in insert mode when no keys are pressed. Fine, for those who like it. (Personnally I find it dangerous since there is no undo facility when I have accidentally deleted a character.)

If I were forced to use Emacs I would add a sticky insert mode and would use many of the freed single-character commands as mode prefixes. Some of the modes would be sticky (like insert mode), others would last only until the full command was entered. The remaining single-character keys would be available for whatever uses I liked. I would probably end up with bindings much like Vi; others would bind things differently. There is no reason not to use Control and Meta keys as part of the command language: I just don't like them to be the entire command language.

-- Ken Laws -------

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