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From: marick%cthulhu@GSWD-VMS.ARPA (Brian Marick)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: GNU Emacs and X -- advice needed
Message-ID: <8701140348.AA06567@gswd-vms.ARPA>
Date: Tue, 13-Jan-87 22:48:16 EST
Article-I.D.: gswd-vms.8701140348.AA06567
Posted: Tue Jan 13 22:48:16 1987
Date-Received: Wed, 14-Jan-87 06:09:04 EST
Sender: daemon@mit-eddie.MIT.EDU
Lines: 42


I think it would be useful for GNU Emacs under X windows to be able to
spawn new windows to use.  I have several reasons:

1.  I find Emacs somewhat cumbersome with more than two windows.
(Granted, I may not have tried hard enough to get used to using more
windows.)  Consequently, I usually run with my screen tiled into three
windows, each running Emacs, with other Emacs processes hidden or
iconified.

2.  Stacking and overlapping and sliding windows is useful.

3.  The X cut buffer between separate Emacs processes isn't enough.
I'd like to be able to use registers, etc.

So, for example, I'd like my version of find-file-other-window to wait
for mouse input.  If I wanted to replace a window's contents with the
new buffer, I'd point and click left mouse.  If I wanted to split a
particular window and put the new buffer into one half, I'd point and
click middle mouse.  If I wanted to spawn a new window, I'd click right
mouse and get the usual X rubber band for sizing the new window.

First Question:  Is this sort of thing worth having?

If so, I'd like to throw some money at a graduate student.  I don't have
the time, and lots of grad students need money.  I only have enough
money for about half-time support over a summer.  I haven't grovelled
around very much in the Emacs C code, so I don't have a good feel for
how hard it would be.

Second Question: Could a reasonable job be done in a summer?  I'm
assuming someone who's a reasonable programmer, proficient with C, basic
knowledge of Lisp, knows how to use Emacs but hasn't ever gotten down to
the C level.  A "reasonable" job means that I expect that the end result
will need cleaning up, will sometimes break, and will be missing some
features.


Brian Marick, Wombat Consort
Gould Computer Systems -- Urbana
...ihnp4!uiucdcs!ccvaxa!marick
ARPA:  Marick@GSWD-VMS