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Message-ID: <8607112136.AA16631@ucbvax.Berkeley.EDU>
Date: Thu, 10-Jul-86 11:20:57 EDT
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Posted: Thu Jul 10 11:20:57 1986
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From gjc%LMI-ANGEL.ARPA  Thu Jul 10 11:16:08 1986 remote from lmi-angel
Received: from LMI-MOE by lmi-angel.ARPA (4.12/4.7) with CHAOS id AA03571; Thu, 10 Jul 86 11:13:33 edt
Date: Thursday, 10 July 1986, 11:12-EDT
From: George Carrette <lmi-angel!gjc%LMI-ANGEL.ARPA>
Subject: VMS and unsophisticated programmer unfriendliness
To: mitccc!info-vax%sri-kl%mc@angel.ARPA
Message-Id: <[LMI-MOE].10-Jul-86 11:12:42.GJC>

The activation-character bitmask in SYS$QIOW to a terminal device
is actually quite easy to use in an EMACS editor given the proper
structure. The bitmask is recalculated if needed before each
call to SYS$QIOW, so there is no problem with dynamic redefinition of keys
to mean different things.

EMACS on ITS and Multics does similar things because those operating
systems provide the proper support.

However, probably the only version of EMACS on VMS that takes advantage
of this feature is the one written in VAX-NIL LISP.