Re: Honoring traditional defaults - how to do it. [was: Transient Mark Mode on bydefault]

[Alan Mackenzie]

'Evening, Richard!

On Mon, Mar 31, 2008 at 12:24:42PM -0400, Richard Stallman wrote:
>     >    "You are running an Emacs configuration designed to be easy to
>     >    _learn_.  When you have become somewhat proficient in its use,
>     >    you may wish to switch to a standard Emacs setup, which is
>     >    optimised for ease of _use_ rather than ease of learning."

>     I like how you formulate the difference between ease of learn and
>     ease of use.

> Making Emacs easier to learn is an improvement, in general.  But what
> use is there in having a different Emacs configuration which is easier
> to learn, if it is not the recommended mode of use?

It is useful if it makes it easier to get to the final result, getting
there in two stages rather than going straight there - a bit like first
teaching skiers to turn by skidding their skis on the snow, to give them
confidence, then in the advanced classes getting them to edge their skis
and get proper carved turns.

> That seems like telling people a shortcut leading to somewhere other
> than their destination.

The "somewhere else" should be regarded as an intermediate stepping
stone.

-- 
Alan Mackenzie (Nuremberg, Germany).