akira@atson.asahi-np.co.jp (Akira Takiguchi) (02/05/91)
Hello editor historians :-),
You know, GNU emacs has a neat feature called `dabbrev-expand', a
dynamic abbreviation expansion mechanism. I like it very much.
My question is: Where did it come from? Is it an original feature
of GNU emacs (or original tecomacs)? If not, who invented it? I'm
interested in it because word processors from Sharp have similar mechanism
(though it is for Japansese text) for a long time, and I wish to know who
is the pioneer of this feature.
[Since I can't receive Email from outside Japan, please post replies here,
sorry for inconvenience ]
--
| Akira Takiguchi at ATSON, Inc. (a subsidiary of the Asahi Shimbun)
| WAKO GINZA bldg. 8-10-4 Ginza Chuo-ku Tokyo 104 Japan
| Phone +81 3 3289 7051 Fax +81 3 3289 7066 SORRY, EMAIL NOT AVAILABLEcosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) (02/07/91)
akira@atson.asahi-np.co.jp (Akira Takiguchi) writes: } Hello editor historians :-), } You know, GNU emacs has a neat feature called `dabbrev-expand', a }dynamic abbreviation expansion mechanism. I like it very much. } My question is: Where did it come from? Is it an original feature }of GNU emacs (or original tecomacs)? I believe that the old ITS-TECO based emacs macros included an abbreviation facility. Dunno if it was as fancy as dabbrev-expand (since I didn't use it then and don't use it now), but some sort of similar facility was there... /Bernie\
wand@corwin.CCS.Northeastern.EDU (Mitchell Wand) (02/07/91)
Not enough people know about dabbrev-expand. Oddly enough, there was a long article in the November, 1990, IEEE Computer, about something called the Reactive Keyboard, in which the authors seem to have reinvented it for use in the shell. They went on about how this was great, particularly for handicapped persons, but did not reference emacs at all. Let's hope they find about emacs and TECO when they do the patent search :-)
lee@sq.sq.com (Liam R. E. Quin) (02/08/91)
wand@corwin.UUCP (Mitchell Wand) writes: > Not enough people know about dabbrev-expand. Oddly enough, there was a long > article in the November, 1990, IEEE Computer, about something called the > Reactive Keyboard, in which the authors seem to have reinvented it for use in > the shell. [...] I remember reading an article in 1983 or so about such an idea... I think it was in an old edition of Machine Intelligence. Old enough to use teletypes, so that the savings were really worth-while. I don't know how old the article was when I read it, though. Lee -- Liam R. E. Quin, lee@sq.com, SoftQuad Inc., Toronto, +1 (416) 963-8337
akira@atson.asahi-np.co.jp (Akira Takiguchi) (02/08/91)
[Origination of dabbrev-expand] In article <62566@bbn.BBN.COM> cosell@bbn.com (Bernie Cosell) writes: >I believe that the old ITS-TECO based emacs macros included an abbreviation >facility. Dunno if it was as fancy as dabbrev-expand (since I didn't use it >then and don't use it now), but some sort of similar facility was there... I was ashamed to find the documentation in dabbrev.el (;_;). It was written in teco by Don Morrison for Twenex Emacs, based upon the idea by Bob Keller (Keller@Utah-20). No mention about the date written (I wish I had access to some twenex machine with tecomacs :-), but it seems like a pretty aged stuff. -- | Akira Takiguchi at ATSON, Inc. (a subsidiary of the Asahi Shimbun) | WAKO GINZA bldg. 8-10-4 Ginza Chuo-ku Tokyo 104 Japan | Phone +81 3 3289 7051 Fax +81 3 3289 7066 SORRY, EMAIL NOT AVAILABLE
victor@arnor.uucp (02/09/91)
I believe that the original "reactive keyboard" was invented by Calvin Mooers (also the inventor of TRAC -- how many of you remember that!?) sometime in the late '50's or early '60's. -- Victor S. Miller Vnet and Bitnet: VICTOR at WATSON Internet: victor@ibm.com IBM, TJ Watson Research Center
spencer@eecs.umich.edu (Spencer W. Thomas) (02/19/91)
In article <1127@anprda.atson.asahi-np.co.jp> akira@atson.asahi-np.co.jp (Akira Takiguchi) writes: > I was ashamed to find the documentation in dabbrev.el (;_;). It was > written in teco by Don Morrison for Twenex Emacs, based upon the idea by > Bob Keller (Keller@Utah-20). No mention about the date written (I wish I > had access to some twenex machine with tecomacs :-), but it seems like a > pretty aged stuff. Don was at Utah until 1981 or 82. I remember him writing the original dabbrevs, probably about 1980, but I can't be sure. We got our 20 in early 1978, but I don't think we ran Emacs on it for a while -- I know I used TV for at least a year. The 20 is long gone now, so it's not even possible to go back and look. I think Russ Fish did the port to Gosling emacs (back when jag was still at CMU, and the editor was free); I probably hacked on it some (there was very little of that editor that didn't feel my fingers at one time or another). -- =Spencer W. Thomas EECS Dept, U of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI 48109 spencer@eecs.umich.edu 313-936-2616 (8-6 E[SD]T M-F)
mf0w+@ANDREW.CMU.EDU (Michel Fougeres) (03/09/91)
I cannot speak in technical language since I use computers basically to
write stories and I am not a programmer, but I remember that when CMU
introduced the whole campus to Emacs (I guess in the late 70's) when the
campus was still using basically the mainframe, I discovered the abbrev.
system in the Emacs book and I used it a lot. I am sure, as a
correspondant here mentioned, that it was already quite many years in
existence. It is indeed annoying to find out that some people have
reivented the wheel and boast about it. But it is also very human. I
would not be surprised myself if the "new inventors" tried to patent
their re-invented wheel.
Michel Fougeres