Path: utzoo!mnetor!uunet!cme-durer!leake
From: leake@cme-durer.ARPA (Stephe Leake)
Newsgroups: comp.emacs
Subject: function keys
Message-ID: <436@marvin.cme-durer.ARPA>
Date: 9 May 88 16:50:56 GMT
Organization: National Bureau of Standards, Gaithersburg, MD
Lines: 37


I support (mostly) Paul Davis's comments on function keys. I started
using Gnuemacs after learning LSE on a VT220, and my fingers "know"
where the editing functions are. In fact, I customized the keypad to
add more functionality (the edit keys on a VT220 replace some of the
EDT standard keypad functions, so I removed the redundancy). It took
awhile, but my gnuemacs is now customized to work the same (well,
mostly) as the LSE. I save by not getting my fingers confused every
time I change systems (which I do twice a week).

In the controversy of `C-M-cokebottle-ESC-c C-x g' vs F1, I lean
towards F1. I think this is because I am spatially oriented as opposed
to time-oriented; it is easier for me to think "cut" and do "finger to
up-left" than to think "cut" and do "this key, that key, the other
key". This is a personal preference, one not shared by everyone.

As for the process of binding function keys, I simply created a file
(global-keys.el) that contains bindings for _all_ the function keys,
initially all to 'undefined. I use define-key - it seems to be the
most straight-forward (and best documented) of the various binding
techniques. Each line ends with a comment labeling the key it defines.
Creating the file is somewhat tedious, but if it had been included in
/term, it would have been trivial. (Maybe someone could act on this
suggestion?). The files that are currently in /term are less easy to
understand and/or modify, since they typically do more than just bind
keys, and they additionally try to define some 'standard bindings'.

I vote for the VT220 keyboard as a 'standard'; it seems to be copied
by other vendors alot, and it has an adequate number of function keys.
Actually, I like the Microterm version slightly better; they put '<'
and '>' back where they belong.

Happy hacking!
-- 
NAME:   Stephe Leake                    TELE: (301) 975-3431
USMAIL: National Bureau of Standards    ARPA: leake@cme-durer.arpa
        Rm. B-124, Bldg. 220            UUCP: uunet!cme-durer!leake
        Gaithersburg, MD  20899