C70:editor-people (06/04/82)
>From POURNE@MIT-MC Fri Jun 4 04:13:40 1982
I guess I did not see the original flames, and thus I can comment
with some detachment from a user's viewpoint. I've put several
million words through machines, starting with old portable
typewriters and going on to what I've got now. Thus I know something
of text creation and what's convenient, or at least I can delude
myself into thinking I do. I have also written some programs, so I
can at least see that what programmers may want will be different --
sometimes -- from what writers may want.
First: I completely agree that cursor controls ought to be
"directional". Old Electric Pencil would let the cursor go anywhere
on the screen. I find it was FAR more convenient than the EMACS-like
method that WRITE (my favorite editor) uses now. I don't WANT the
cursor to go wandering over to the left side of the screen (as it
inevitably does) when I am trying to drive it to the center or
somewhere like that.
Next: you certainly ought to have a way to drive the cursor quickly.
WRITE uses control W,A,S,Z for the obvious directions; with control E
to jump ahead a word, (control x jump back a word) and control T to
erase the next word. This works nicely; it's easy to do. If the
terminal has arrows, WRITE implements them in addition to the "cross"
over on the left. Now after a few days of using WRITE I find that I
can use the control key with left little finger and cursor controls
with forefinger and never take my eyes off the screen; a big PLUS
when typing in new text. For editing older text the system is even
better since (unlike EMACS) it is one-handed and you can use a pencil
or thumb through notes with the other. I can see how left-handed
users might want a different arrrangement, though.
I prefer replace mode to insert, although that I suppose would be a
matter of custom; still, I find that it is easier to go back and type
over mistakes, and I don't know how to kill them so easily in insert
mode; if I hit two keys at once or get extraneous stuff in the text
stream, I don't like to have to go delete it; it is easier to type
over it. But I certainly want a very simple toggle to get from one
to the other (control f does it in WRITE). (With control-f the cursor
changes from transparent blob to underline so you can tell which mode
you are in.)
I rather prefer delete to do complex things, but I don't have what I
prefer; an older version of WRITE made delete in replace mode kill
the previous character by replacing it with a space. Now it always
sucks it up and closes the text. I can live with that, but I liked
the other way a little better.
Incidentally, WRITE automatically rejustifies the paragraphs; you
needn't do anything about that when you edit. I think it is the
failure to do automatic rejustification that causes me to really
dislike emacs, mince, and word star. It is just so much better not
to have to think about that. I find that I do not want cr/lf at the
ends of lines; in fact I do not want lines marked at all, just
"paragrphs" ie "breaks" in the fill mode. Alas, many languages today
including micro implementations of Pascal stubbornly refuse to
believe that text doesn't come from Hollerith cards. Sigh.
Enough flame; I do believe that discussions of what is wanted in
editors are valuable. I may see if we can get the "rubber mode"
implemented in WRITE. But I'll have to think about it.