[comp.emacs] Vi word hopping in emacs

rbj@dsys.ncsl.nist.GOV (Root Boy Jim) (08/03/89)

? From: boris@prodigal.psych.rochester.edu  (Boris Goldowsky)

? But we already have syntax tables which specify which characters are
? part of words.  Couldn't this behavior be more easily gotten with
? modify-syntax-entry?

I don't think so. Emacs and vi both agree (more or less) on what makes
up a word. They disagree on what it means to move past one. The behavior
going backwards is the same, but not forwards. Emacs' forward is somewhere
between vi's `e' and `w' commands. This used to drive me mad when I first
learned emacs, but I got used to it tho.

I don't know if emacs' definition is based on sound theoretical premise
or merely on whim.

? Bng

	Root Boy Jim
	Have GNU, Will Travel.

sdk@oahu.cs.ucla.edu (Scott D Kalter) (08/09/89)

I'm not sure what you would consider a "sound theoretical basis" for
this particular item.  However, let me suggest the following...

In the emacs manual for Tops-20 Emacs written by RMS he states that
the cursor should be thought of as a thin vertical bar to the left of
the character it is currently on (somewhat like a WYSIWYG editor
cursor).  Given this way of thinking about it then the forward-word
and backward-word functions both work fairly intuitively (at least for
my intuition).  

Sorry if I'm beating a dead horse.

-sdk