Re: Proposal: Bind backspace and delete like DEL in view-mode

[Kim F. Storm]

address@hidden (Kai Großjohann) writes:

> >> Of course, my suggestion is to advise people to use the kbd syntax,
> >> as it gives what you want.

> > And I don't disagree in general - but it is an even more complex
> > syntax for the novice user.

> I've been using the kbd syntax for years in gnu.emacs.help to tell
> people what keys to press.  There have been few complaints.

> I'm a little bit surprised to hear you say that novices won't
> understand it.

I don't think the kbd-style key syntax itself is a problem!

I was talking about the LISP syntax of using kbd with the define-key
command in .emacs.  For the novice user, I think
        (define-key global-map (kbd "bla") 'command)
looks quite complex.

But I agree with Richard that it would be nice if key bindings
could be handled through customize.

 
> > The problem is that define-key is built-in while kbd is not.
> 
> In what way is kbd not built-in?  No `require' statement is necessary
> to be able to use it.  Just put it in your ~/.emacs file and Bob's
> your uncle.

You suggested that define-key (written in C) should use some
heuristics to determine whether it should call the kbd macro (in
subr.el) to expand the string.  I'm not sure, but there could be a
problem doing this (if subr.el or edmacro.el isn't loaded yet).

-- 
Kim F. Storm <address@hidden> http://www.cua.dk