Relay-Version: version B 2.10 5/3/83; site utzoo.UUCP Path: utzoo!linus!philabs!cmcl2!harvard!seismo!mcvax!enea!erix!erisun!leif From: leif@erisun.UUCP (Leif Samuelsson) Newsgroups: net.emacs Subject: Re: Proposal for key bindings Message-ID: <572@erisun.UUCP> Date: Fri, 9-May-86 01:34:10 EDT Article-I.D.: erisun.572 Posted: Fri May 9 01:34:10 1986 Date-Received: Sun, 11-May-86 04:02:43 EDT References: <571@tjalk.UUCP> <370@yetti.UUCP> Reply-To: leif@erisun.UUCP (Leif Samuelsson) Organization: None Lines: 48 Keywords: common bindings, emacs, scame In brief: Make a "Common Emacs Standard" independent of operating system. Ban C-S and C-Q. Keep one key for "Prefix Control". Keep M-[ (and maybe M-O) open for function keys. Let C-Z be a prefix. Being the author of one of the editors mentioned, I must say that I would like very much to see a common standard for key bindings. When I wrote Scame back in 1980, I had only RMS' original Twenex EMACS and the TOPS-10 look-alike called AMIS to compare with. These had the same key bindings, and since we used both these operating systems as well as Unix at the time, I chose to make as little deviations from this standard as possible. I think it is essential that the basic standard does not include anything that is operating system specific. There must be a common set of operators which work on any Emacs a user may choose to use on any operating system. Therefore, the use of C-S and C-Q must be banned from the basic set right from the beginning. I sort of like the idea of having C-_ be "I-Search Forward" and C-\ be "I-Search Backward" since C-_ is placed on "control-slash" on many keyboards and C-\ is placed on "control backslash" in many countries (not mine). I would also like a key reserved for "Prefix Control", since many keyboards can't send all control characters. As I am writing this article on my screwed-up Tele-Tec keyboard, I constantly use the sequence C-^ @ to set the mark. (Which works fine, but I can never get over the feeling of not having a C-D key). Scame does not have the function "Suspend" bound to any key as default. This is because Scame is restartable anyway, and many machines do not have job control. I personally use C-C for exit, C-X C-Z for suspend and M-+ for push to shell. In order to be able to map ANSI function keys, the standard should provide for the use of M-[ as a prefix. Since the popular VT100 terminal also uses M-O to start escape sequences, then maybe this should also be kept open. So what do we do with C-Z ? I say keep it as a prefix character. Allow the user to make up his own set of two-stroke commands from the vast set of unbound functions and macros available. ----- Leif Samuelsson enea!erix!erisun!leif (From July 1986: sun!lsamuelsson)