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> I expect one of the main reasons someone could evangelise Emacs for is the fact that defaults don't mean much when it's all configurable. So if you don't like

> I expect one of the main reasons someone could evangelise Emacs for is the fact that defaults don't mean much when it's all configurable. So if you don't like the keys, just bind them to whatever you like. Configurability is a strength of a system, but it is no an answer to a difficult learning curve. A user must first understand the system in order to configure it appropriately. Even at the level of key bindings, the user needs to understand the relative frequency and importance of an operation to choose an appropriate key combination. Universal reconfiguration may even make the system less learnable, if documentation and tutorials can't assume a reasonable default configuration. In my opinion, configuration is great as one of the final steps of a user's journey, taking the system from something that works to something that sings. It's just the wrong level to sell benefits to beginners.

medo-bear 4y ago
> Even at the level of key bindings, the user needs to understand the relative frequency and importance of an operation to choose an appropriate key combination. Universal reconfiguration may even make the system less learnable, if documentation and tutorials can't assume a reasonable default configuration. i have a feeling that people who write these things have never really tried emacs beyond opening it and getting annoyed that ctrl-c/v/x don't work (at first) the way they are used to emacs is not key-binding-based, it is command based. if you change a key binding its not like you can wreck anything as you can always call the command prompt by M-x and search for the command that you wanted some key binding to perform. key-bindings are just shortcuts to commands so i think its best to listen to your fingers and form muscle memory and then assign them what are your most basic commands? copy, paste, select, start/end of line/function/class/paragraph/etc, move by word/sentence/etc, save, exit? these are not that many to set to whatever key combinations you want. i wish my browser had at least this level of extensibility

medo-bear 4y ago

> Even at the level of key bindings, the user needs to understand the relative frequency and importance of an operation to choose an appropriate key combination. Universal reconfiguration may even make the system less learnable, if documentation and tutorials can't assume a reasonable default configuration. i have a feeling that people who write these things have never really tried emacs beyond opening it and getting annoyed that ctrl-c/v/x don't work (at first) the way they are used to emacs is not key-binding-based, it is command based. if you change a key binding its not like you can wreck anything as you can always call the command prompt by M-x and search for the command that you wanted some key binding to perform. key-bindings are just shortcuts to commands so i think its best to listen to your fingers and form muscle memory and then assign them what are your most basic commands? copy, paste, select, start/end of line/function/class/paragraph/etc, move by word/sentence/etc, save, exit? these are not that many to set to whatever key combinations you want. i wish my browser had at least this level of extensibility