Micro-EMACS 3.7i -- bugs and comments
Ashwin Ram
Hi... uEmacs 3.7i works and is wonderful. But, as always, we unsatisfied
users want more! Here are 5 bugs and 3 suggestions which I would appreciate
your help with:
1. It looks like ^U (control-U) still isn't bindable in 3.7i. I can
BIND-TO-KEY something to ^U, and DESCRIBE-KEY shows ^U as being bound to this
new thing, but hitting ^U still does an ARG (i.e., I get 4 in the command
line, then 16, etc.). I suspect ^U is hardwired into the code at the point
where ARG is done, along with the ESC-number sequence.
2a. I'm not sure you'd agree this is a bug, but I think it is. When
searching for something, hitting ^J, ^M or RETURN in the command line (in
response to the STRING: prompt) all result in <NL> becoming part of the
search string (even if I precede it with a ^Q). How, then, can I search for
or replace a ^M or a ^J? (Some Kermits, for example, insert spurious ^M's at
the end of each line, which one may want to replace.)
2b. Using ESC to delimit search strings is silly. If you really don't want
to use RETURN, why not use ENTER? Better still, I would suggest using
RETURN, and making ^J insert a ^J in the search string, and ^M a ^M. That
way you can use ^J to get a NL in the search string (since ^J is a NL), and
RETURN can still delimit the search string which is makes more sense since I
think it's more intuitive. In fact, I usually use control-RETURN to delimit
search strings since it is faster to type ^S-^RETURN when you want to repeat
a search than ^S-RETURN (you don't have to lift your finger off the control
key in the former). I would suggest using RETURN and ^RETURN to delimit
search strings. If you have ^Q, you can always type ^Q-RETURN anyway to get
a NL, though with ^M and ^J you really shouldn't need to. Hitting ESC to
delimit the string is inconvenient.
3. There should be a way to turn off the BIND-TO-KEY echoing when uEmacs
reads in the EMACS.RC file.
4. Is there documentation available for 3.7i? I was thinking of the syntax
of regular expressions in particular, but a brief description of each
function and customizable flags would be nice too.
5. I can't bind ABORT-COMMAND to anything (say, ^G) in the EMACS.RC file.
It doesn't bomb; it just doesn't do anything. But if I type BIND-TO-KEY
ABORT-COMMAND ^G using ESC-X once I'm in Emacs, the binding does go through,
even though the exact same line in EMACS.RC does nothing.
6. The SHELL COMMAND function restores HIREZ mode even if I start out in
MEDREZ mode. uEmacs still thinks there are 24 lines, however, so I get a
screen that's scrunched up towards the top. (What does the SHELL escape do
anyway? What commands does it (and FILTER-REGION) recognize?)
7. uEmacs should provide command completion in the add/delete-mode commands.
It's a pain to type out the name of the mode in full.
8. How do I get mouse movement to move my cursor? All I get when I move the
mouse are various unbound-key or undefined-macro error messages.
In summary:
bug -- 1. ^U isn't bindable.
bug -- 2a. Can't search for ^M and ^J.
sugg -- 2b. Inconvenient and unnecessary to use ESC for delimiting strings.
sugg -- 3. Should be able to turn off BIND-TO-KEY echoing.
query -- 4. Documentation?
bug -- 5. Can't bind ABORT-COMMAND.
bug -- 6. SHELL restores HIREZ.
sugg -- 7. Command completion for mode names.
bug -- 8. Mouse movement doesn't move cursor.
That's about all for now (I'm sure I'll think of more later!) Not to detract
from your program though -- I think you guys have done an amazing job. 3.7i
is definitely and by far the best editor I've used on *any* micro.
Cheers -- Ashwin.
ARPA: Ram-Ashwin@yale
UUCP: {decvax,linus,seismo}!yale!Ram-Ashwin
BITNET: Ram@yalecs
-------
Greg Franks
(from net.micro.atari16)
>[So you thought there were no bugs left, eh?]
>
>Hi... uEmacs 3.7i works and is wonderful. But, as always, we unsatisfied
>users want more! Here are 5 bugs and 3 suggestions which I would appreciate
>your help with:
>
>
>to use RETURN, why not use ENTER? Better still, I would suggest using
>RETURN, and making ^J insert a ^J in the search string, and ^M a ^M. That
>way you can use ^J to get a NL in the search string (since ^J is a NL), and
>RETURN can still delimit the search string which is makes more sense since I
>think it's more intuitive. In fact, I usually use control-RETURN to delimit
>search strings since it is faster to type ^S-^RETURN when you want to repeat
>a search than ^S-RETURN
The search terminators should be bindable (like the meta key). I have
to type ^3 (control-3) on my vt220 terminal for <escape> right now :-(.
I would rather bind the terminator to something else (like FN^N). (I use
sys V curses, so I can get 10 function keys and the cursor keys - .emacsrc
takes care of the rest).
We in terminal land don't have control-return, so I don't think it
should be used as a terminator. I bind the function "hunt-forward" to a
function key (1 keystroke instead of 2 or 3). (The backwards function is
"hunt-backward" (Before flaming, see item 4. - he can't RTFM)).
>4. Is there documentation available for 3.7i? I was thinking of the syntax
>of regular expressions in particular, but a brief description of each
>function and customizable flags would be nice too.
>
Regular expressions! Gee - I wish - but then again, I only have 3.7 (from
mod.sources). Can I get sources (I suspect search.c is all that's needed)?
Better yet, could the pattern matching stuff goto either net.sources or
mod.sources?
Happy hacking!
Greg Franks
Warner Young
unlike the older uEmacs, it uses <NL> at the end of a line, as opposed to a
<NL> and a <CR>. Try writing any sort of file, or modifying anything with
uEmacs 3.7, and SHOWing it from the Desktop. Also, if your Desktop.Inf file
doesn't end with a sequence of NL and CR on each line, the Desktop will do
strange things. After the first task (SHOW) or application, the mouse button
speed will suddenly slow down. Has anyone else had this happen?
No quote worth saying.
Warner Young
D'arc Angel
uEmacs was written to run on a variety of machines, some use LF (unix) and
some use CRLF (atari, ibm). i corrected the problem in the latest version,
but because of the joys of posting, and reposting part xx etc. i am asking
people to send me a SASE with a SSDD disk and i will fill it with the
latest version and documentation. i realize that this is a pain but so is
all of the repost msgs to the net in general and me in particular. sorry
if i sound grumpy but its before coffee.
--
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