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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