RE: right-char and left-char

[Drew Adams]

> This lands us in the unfortunate situation where a command named
> `left-char' sometimes moves right, and a command named `right-char'
> sometimes moves left.  Their names seem to imply that what 
> distinguishes these commands from `forward-char'/`backward-char'
> is their directionality.

http://lists.gnu.org/archive/html/emacs-devel/2011-05/msg00836.html

Wrt the _key_ named `left', Eli said:

"Because `left' and `right' behave differently depending on the bidirectional
context,"...

and  "if `left' sometimes moves _forward_ in the buffer, binding it to a command
called `backward-char' [would be] a lie."

[Of course back then he also said, "[Bidi] _is_ optional: you can set
bidi-display-reordering to nil" (his emphasis).  Now he says that that variable
is not to make bidi optional for users but is only for bidi debugging.  (I hope
the paraphrase is accurate.)]

> Another question: how come C-<right> is bound to `right-word' but
> M-<right> is still bound to `forward-word'?  An oversight?

Eli spoke to that to some extent, as well:

"the same "problem" exists with `M-f'/`M-b' and
`C-<right>'/`C-<left>' as well.  We even discussed the possibility to
make `<Home>' and `<End>' behaving differently"

It can perhaps help to read the whole thread ("`C-b' is backward-char, `left' is
left-char - why?"), if the doc is not clear enough about some of these things.