Re: Emacs Book Vs Emacs Manuals

[Phillip Lord]

Rusi <rustompmody@gmail.com> writes:
>> Has emacs changed that much?  I don't think it has.  It is still very
>> much the same.
>
> Sad but true
>
> After 20 years of using, teaching with, and making my students use
> emacs, for the first time this year I taught python using Idle rather
> than emacs. Some nuisances... C-a now means Select-all whereas my
> nerve-pathways know it as Beginning-of-line etc etc Also some
> sadness... however one needs to get real and selling emacs to students
> has led to lot of funny looks and some significant hostility.
>
> The tutorial with C-f C-b... for cursor movements was I guess the last straw

I have exactly the same experience, and use idle for the same reason. I
have sat behind some students and looked at them staring at the front
page of the tutorial in despair. I mean, they are leaning Python
already?

This is despite the fact that idle is not that great.

I give them cart blanche to choose as they will, although I do plug
Emacs (while admitting that I am biased). Very few of them use it,
and the initial hurdle is getting it to work at all.

Phil