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