Re: delete-selection-mode as default (WAS: Some developement questions)

From: Phil Sainty Subject: Re: delete-selection-mode as default (WAS: Some developement questions) Date: Fri, 07 Sep 2018 21:40:26 +1200 User-agent: Orcon Webmail

*Personally* I dislike `delete-selection-mode'; but FWIW I also don't have a big issue with disabling it in my init file -- at the end of the day it's an easy change to make to get back to the behaviour I prefer. I can't imagine that many users who use the current default behaviour would continue to use the default if the default were *changed*; so either way a sub-set of users will always be forced to set `delete-selection-mode' in their init files -- which means it's a question of whether we're more interested in minimising friction for existing users who still prefer the current default, or for new users who are probably used to the behaviour of other text-editors. I think what I'd be most in favour of would be a new link on the splash screen which invited users to customize some of the most fundamental aspects in which the default Emacs behaviours conflict with the typical behaviour of newer applications with which the user may be more familiar. I think this would be one of those options. CUA mode would be another. This set of options could be added to over time (as and when new user options were added to provide compatibility with the way that other editors and applications work), such that new Emacs users can always have a smoother introduction offered to them, without interfering with the upgrade experience of existing users. Such a feature would be like an improved/interactive alternative to the "Migrating to Emacs" section of the "Emacs Guided Tour" web page. Of course that entails someone spending their time implementing a feature which doesn't benefit them in any way -- because *they* already know how to set all the options in question. User options can belong to multiple groups though, can't they? Perhaps an initial implementation is as simple as identifying such options, adding them to a common group, and linking to that group from the splash screen? On 2018-09-07 18:47, Eli Zaretskii wrote:

Feel free to start a user poll, though: if it turns out I'm the only one who thinks delete-selection-mode is inappropriate in programming modes, we can make it the default; I can easily turn it off in my configuration. Though I would urge people to actually try this in programming modes before responding, and in any case the poll should request to provide the major modes used with the responses.

I am quite surprised by the notion that there are users who are using `delete-selection-mode' in some modes and not others?! My instinct is that that would be extremely confusing, so I wouldn't be in favour of any default behaviour where the mode was sometimes on and sometimes off. I think the default should be consistent one way or the other. -Phil