Path: utzoo!attcan!uunet!littlei!omepd!mipos3!nate
From: nate@mipos3.intel.com (Nate Hess)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Re: vi vs. emacs
Summary: Help *is* available in Emacs
Keywords: help
Message-ID: <2716@mipos3.intel.com>
Date: 11 Aug 88 16:32:28 GMT
References: <16697@brl-adm.ARPA> <517@uva.UUCP> <661@buengc.BU.EDU> <2679@mipos3.intel.com> <700@buengc.BU.EDU>
Reply-To: nate@mipos3.intel.com (Nate Hess)
Organization: Intel Corporation, Santa Clara, CA
Lines: 72

In article <700@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
>In article <2679@mipos3.intel.com> I write:
>>In article <661@buengc.BU.EDU> bph@buengc.bu.edu (Blair P. Houghton) writes:
>>>I once went into the info mode of Emacs, saw the menu of commands [...]
>>
>>Did you try going into the on-line tutorial?  (C-h t)
>>
>Yeah, it was a worse abomination.  Someone had left the write-protect off
>the original version, and I couldn't even read half the instructions.

Hmmm.  Doesn't sound like the fault of Emacs, at all.  Get someone to
fix the write-protectedness of the file.

>Plus, if I'm looking for something to quickly alleviate a lapse
>of function, I don't want to have to go on a major hunt through
>the tutorial.
>
>				--Blair
>				  "No help is better than Emacs 'help.'"

Emacs' help is better than the help for any editor I have seen.  Try
typing 'C-h C-h C-h' (in response to prompts for additional help), and
you get something like:


You have typed C-h, the help character.  Type a Help option:

A  command-apropos.   Give a substring, and see a list of commands
              (functions interactively callable) that contain
	      that substring.  See also the  apropos  command.
B  describe-bindings.  Display table of all key bindings.
C  describe-key-briefly.  Type a command key sequence;
	      it prints the function name that sequence runs.
F  describe-function.  Type a function name and get documentation of it.
I  info. The  info  documentation reader.
K  describe-key.  Type a command key sequence;
	      it displays the full documentation.
L  view-lossage.  Shows last 100 characters you typed.
M  describe-mode.  Print documentation of current major mode,
	      which describes the commands peculiar to it.
N  view-emacs-news.  Shows emacs news file.
S  describe-syntax.  Display contents of syntax table, plus explanations
T  help-with-tutorial.  Select the Emacs learn-by-doing tutorial.
V  describe-variable.  Type name of a variable;
	      it displays the variable's documentation and value.
W  where-is.  Type command name; it prints which keystrokes
	      invoke that command.
C-c print Emacs copying permission (General Public License).
C-d print Emacs ordering information.
C-n print news of recent Emacs changes.
C-w print information on absence of warranty for GNU Emacs.


There is an entire, indexed, cross-referenced Emacs manual available
on-line if you type 'i' at this point.  This goes into Info mode, which
allows you to browse documentation quickly and easily.  There is a
"primer for first timers" available once you get into Info mode.  Give
it a try.


There are some editors (vi, for example) that are user-hostile.  There
are some users that are system-hostile.  (Hi, Blair!)  You can either
bitch and complain, or you can experiment and *learn*.

"If you plant ice, you're gonna harvest wind..."

--woodstock
-- 
	   "How did you get your mind to tilt like your hat?"

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