messages override minibuffer input

[Roland Winkler]

I am always annoyed when emacs is waiting for input in the
minibuffer, and in the meanwhile an (idle-) timer function kicks in,
producing a message that overrides the content displayed in the
minibuffer. I was once told that timer functions should be designed
such that they do not produce any output. I do not know whether this
is always a good strategy. On the other hand, I do not know how many
(too many?) packages violate such a strategy. (Probably, it would
help if the elisp manual gave a recommendation concerning the usage
of noisy functions inside timer functions.)

However, I believe that interactive minibuffer input could compete or
cooperate in a more flexible / customizable way with noisy timer
functions. For example, I can think of a user option that allows one
to specify after how much idle time a noisy timer function may
override the content displayed in the minibuffer. (Nonetheless, such
messages could always go to the *Messages* buffer.) Or that option
could allow to specify a time minimum for minibuffer inactivity till
any timer function is allowed to kick in. Often, the problem occurs
for me while I am inactive for just a second or two. So it seems to
me that, anyway, there are not too many jobs emacs can get done
during that time.

Roland