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)
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| 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 :-)