Re: [CVS] f7, f8 bound..

[Juanma Barranquero]

On 27 Aug 2002 12:32:24 +0200, address@hidden (Kim F. Storm) wrote:

> I really don't understand why binding function keys by default is
> worth making a fuzz about. 
> 
> f1, f2, and f10 are already bound, I don't see why binding f3 and f4
> should upset anyone (as it obviously does).

Obviously, the F1..Fn space is much smaller than a control-whatever
multikey binding.

Yes, I feel strongly about anything using F keys. F1 is to all effects a
"standard" for Help, but from F2 and F10 I have removed the default
bindings, that I simply don't use.

I like kmacro a lot, but if standard Emacs packages start to use the
F-space, well, there's very little and I'm sure many other packages
would benefit from using F keys (bs functions for cycling buffers, for
example). IMHO, the decision about how to manage these keys is best left
in user's hands.

> There's nothing preventing a user (even a novice user) from changing
> the default bindings, but what's wrong with providing default bindings
> which makes emacs easier to use?

Nothing, of course. But there are *lots* of things in Emacs that the
user must access through several keystrokes and that would be easier if
bound to an F-key. I certainly use list-buffers (bs-show, in fact, but
that's irrelevant) a lot more than macros, so it is much much better for
me to bind list-buffers to a single key that any macro function...
Obviously YMMV.

> I did that originally, but removed it since the new C-x C-k bindings
> are better than the original bindings (which included M-f7, C-f8, S-f8
> etc).

As all that wonderful functionality is available through C-x C-k, the
fact is that you're reserving two F-keys basically to start recording a
macro (inserting counters is useful, but secondary), to finish recording
it and to recall it. The last use I can understand, but you don't record a
macro that often. What's wrong with having a multikey binding? 

All that said, I'm not opposing in any way to using F3/F4 or F7/F8; is
not that important an issue. I'm just venting my opinion that I feel
vaguely "wrong" to steal the F-keys from the user.


                                                           /L/e/k/t/u