Path: utzoo!lsuc!maccs!gordan
From: gordan@maccs.UUCP (gordan)
Newsgroups: comp.editors
Subject: Inputting characters to an editor (was Re: EMACS better than Vi?)
Message-ID: <1181@maccs.UUCP>
Date: 10 May 88 01:59:25 GMT
References: <449@novavax.UUCP> <10000003@snail> <52207@sun.uucp> <1197@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU>
Reply-To: gordan@maccs.UUCP ()
Organization: Worldwide Phlogiston Cartel
Lines: 37

In article <1197@udccvax1.acs.udel.EDU> fowser@vax1.acs.udel.EDU (Scott Fowser) writes:
-
-One feature about vi that I like is the ability to keep you fingers in
-one place during the whole editing session, whether inserting or
-editing.  Having to press escape to leave insert mode is inconvenient, but
-I define "K" to mean escape from insert mode with

You're right, the most annoying part about using Emacs (for me, anyway)
is hitting Control keys and Escape sequences.  But once you get used to
the extra power Emacs provides, it will be a case of "how did I ever
live without all these capabilities?"

However, many modern keyboards (PS/2, and I believe one of the keyboards
available for the Mac) have two symmetrically placed Control and Alt keys.
This is an excellent idea for the same reason that symmetrically placed
Shift keys is an excellent idea -- touch-typists can hit one of these
modifier keys without losing keyboard finger positioning.  Use one of
these keyboards (and define the Alt key as Emacs's Meta key) and you're
laughing.


On a more general note, now that standards like ISO 8859 have arrived,
character sets have increased in size from plain old US ASCII.  What
provisions will there be for inputting these characters?  Say you want
to enter the copyright symbol into your text -- will every editor and
word processor simply define some haphazard set of inputting methods or
is anyone thinking about defining a standard keyboard layout?

In the long run, perhaps, chord keyboards would be preferable.  There
would probably be a sizeable learning curve, but for sheer speed they'd
be hard to beat, and they could be used to input a virtually unlimited
number of distinct characters.  Perhaps the Japanese, for whom the
problem of a large character set is even more acute, might come up with
something along these lines...
-- 
                 Gordan Palameta
            uunet!mnetor!maccs!gordan